TDCALA requests funding for their new location

Posted on August 30, 2024 by Taber Times

By Heather Cameron
Taber Times
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

During the M.D. of Taber Council meeting that took place on August 13, a delegation from the Taber and District Community Adult Learning Association (TDCALA) requested $150,000 in the form of a ten-year interest-free loan and an additional $100,000 grant to purchase and renovate a new location for TDCALA. The delegation included Executive Director Shehzad Bandukda and Programs Director Kirsti Forsyth. 

TDCALA, Bandukda stated, also requested $150,000 each from the Municipal District of Taber and the Town of Taber; as well as a $250,000 CFEP grant from the Alberta Government.

“We had requested $150,000 earlier, and hopefully MD of Taber is willing to match the CFEP grant of $250,000 from the Government of Alberta,” Bandukda said. “Since we can no longer make amendments to our original request for funding from the Town of Taber nor the Alberta Government, we request the Municipal District of Taber to amend our funding to a grant (instead of a loan), towards the purchase of the building as well as closing costs.”

Bandukda explained to Council that TDCALA was first organized in 1972 in response to the Taber School Division with language classes in both German and French and the first Council was organized in 1974. 

“We serve approximately 800 learners and clients residing in Taber, the Municipal District of Taber, and County of Warner,” said Bandukda. “TDCALA serves barriered community members to find employment, help improve language, literacy, digital, and numeracy skills; providing settlement services to newcomers in Taber and District, and community capacity building programs.”

In addition to that, Bandukda stated, TDCALA serves 52 percent of the Low German Speaking population of Taber and Warner County and the Low German population do not read or write English or French well or comprehend legal terms or DL, Passport, or CRA GST application forms. 

“Since the COVID-19 lockdown, TDCALA language and settlement staff have been going over and above to assist the Low German Mennonite community with their requirements of forms, applications, and renewals; and has become the go-to organization for all the community needs,” said Bandukda.

The Taber registries, Bandukda explained, do not have a Low German speaking staff at their sites, and says that their clients have told them that the Lethbridge registries refer the clients to TDCALA.

“TDCALA does not charge the community members for the additional services that we provide, even though we’re not funded by the government or receive additional grants subsidies for such services,” said Bandukda. “TDCALA serves the community from two separate locations that do not meet the community or the staff’s requirements. We have reduced community interest in English and settlement classes as many parent(s) are unemployed and/or do not have childcare, and due to lack of resources, we aren’t able to provide child-minding continually.”

The youth site, Bandukda stated, is located at 5327 48th Avenue and the TDCALA site is located at 5011 49th Avenue.

For both the sites, Bandukda explained, TDCALA pays a cumulative rent of $69,208 per year and that amount includes $2,400 for parking. Banduka also explained that TDCALA has an operational budget of $1.5 million and employs 12 full-time staff, is governed by a seven-person board of directors and is funded primarily by grant revenues from the Government of Canada and Alberta.

In 2023, Bandukda explained, TDCALA had budgeted $1,198,865 for wages and $698 for rent and received $1,076 and $65,071 in funding. Annual budgeted wages for 2024, Bandukda explained, will be close to $1,200,000 and unrestricted reserves are $547,214.

The new location, Bandukda explained, will be located at 5324 48th Avenue in Taber and will accommodate both the site and staff in Taber and will have an additional 1900 square feet with the option to build on the second floor. The mortgage for the site, Bandukda said, will be significantly lower than the rent that TDCALA is currently paying, calculated to approximately $54,216.54 annually.

“TDCALA will be centrally located around non-profit and community organizations for easy referrals, with an enhanced capacity to serve 30-40 clients/day, with 50 percent of them being unique clients,” said Bandukda. “With the enhanced capacity and infrastructure, we will be able to apply for additional programs and services; for example, small business entrepreneurship, business incubator for startups, coding for youth, light warehouse training for women, and with our recent partnership with Colere College we will be able to roll out our agricultural training program for employer/employees in the farming industry.”

Town of Taber, Bandukda said, has approved the $150,000 as a 10-Year Loan, while the CFEP grant’s Expression of Interest has been accepted by the Government of Alberta.

“Each loan and grant are contingent of approval from all three levels of funding, hence, it’s imperative that our request is also accepted by the MD of Taber,” said Bandukda. “Each one was originally submitted as funding for renovations, as TDCALA was planning to pay for the building purchase from our reserves. That plan leaves our reserves with less than $10,000 for operational expenses, whereas we require a minimum of 25% of reserves for unforeseen circumstances.”

Bandukda explained that in terms of their fundraising journey, Friends of Taber Literacy is TDCALA’s Charity Arm for the purposes of fundraising. TDCALA, Bandukda says, also offers 500+ industry standard online training as fee-for-service, which has been ineffective due to lack of marketing and awareness.

“TDCALA is moving towards rebranding to be more inclusive of the community and the demographics that we serve, including striving to be the leading organization in the region for online training,” said Bandukda. “We serve Ukrainian evacuees, government assisted refugees, temporary foreign workers, and youth; and shall present legacy and major gifts donors across Canada with success stories and whom/where the donations are going towards. To achieve our goal, we will be engaging a marketing specialist, new website development, Blogs/Success stories, and possibly in-house IT Tech Support.”

The results, Bandukda explained, will include all sites, programs, and services being amalgamated into a central location, enhancement of capacity which will allow for service to be delivered to more clients and the delivery of new and unique community programs, an MOU with Colere College that will allow for the opportunity to establish an agricultural training program, capacity to hire more staff to serve the program, and deliver fee-for-service-programs.

“What both the Town and the MD of Taber will witness is an enhanced and coordinated access to services, a collaborative society, a vibrant community, successful small businesses, and a growing neighbourhood,” said Bandukda.

TDCALA also invited an individual by the name of Maria Friesen, one of their success stories who now works for them after originally coming to the organization as a client, to speak to Council on how TDCALA has helped her. 

Council thanked TDCALA for their presentation.