The Downtown Kamloops BIA is going to be headed to City Hall to try to secure funding to bridge a gap for its summer CAP Team – the downtown ambassador program.

Due to policy changes by Ottawa, the normal funding to add an additional six summer CAP Team members on a part-time basis hasn’t come to fruition.

“The Canada summer funding did not come through, and then it might come through, and then it wasn’t going to come through,” said KCBIA Executive Director Howie Reimer. “Canada Summer Jobs came back and said you’re not a non-profit, you’re a public entity. We’re going to give you half of minimum wage, no MERCs [Mandatory Employment Related Costs], for only eight weeks.”

As such, Reimer says they’re going to be asking the city to fund that gap, noting they’ll pitching it as a plan to split resources with the North Shore BIA.

“We would split the team. Then, we’ll make sure our events don’t overlap. Then those CAP Team members, as needed, we can shift resources from the north side to the south side,” Reimer said, noting the ask of the City is around $50,000.

Reimer also tells RadioNL the Summer Jobs Program has since reversed course on its policies for grant applications, though suggests it is not clear if the KCBIA will be able to get that grant for this summer.

“We’re proceeding with the City as if we’re not going to get any funding from Canada Summer Jobs,” said Reimer. “If we do get that funding, we’ll certainly work with the City on if we’re going to give the money back to them, or whatever the case may be.”