The Active Communities Fund helps communities encourage movement through policies, social initiatives or physical environments. The program supports community-wide approaches and plans for simple movement that people can fit easily into their day. Projects should support community members who are less active or who have fewer opportunities for movement.

Eligible Activities

Funding can be used to:

• Plan, develop or evaluate policy
• Plan, create, improve or evaluate physical environments (limited to supporting low-cost physical environment initiatives)
• Plan, create, improve or evaluate social environments

Initiatives That Qualify

Initiatives that encourage simple movement people can fit easily into their day, such as:

• Reducing sitting time (e.g., walking meetings)
• Active play
• Cycling
• Gardening
• Walking (including using cane, walker or wheelchair)

Initiatives that encourage unstructured movement that may not fit as easily into the day (e.g., paddle boarding, cross country skiing) may be considered for up to $5,000 per application period. Such initiatives should be flexible for participants and encourage regular movement over long term.

Support for initiatives that encourage other types of physical activity (e.g., fitness classes) will be considered for up to $1,000 per application period (community applicants only).

Target Populations

Initiatives must aim to enhance physical activity among at least one of the following groups:

• Youth ages 12-18
• Aging population (anyone 45 years or older)
• Equity-deserving groups
• Less active adult population (in general)

Applicant-Specific Requirements

Community Applicants (Municipalities, Villages, First Nations):

• Eligible for up to $25,000
• Applications over $5,000 must be accompanied by and reflect part of one-year multi-faceted community-wide movement plan
• Applications over $10,000 must be submitted between April 1 and June 15
• Additional applications accepted until December 1 (if $25,000 limit not exceeded)
• Municipalities with more than 90,000 people may be eligible for more funds (contact regional office)

Community Organization Applicants (Non-profits, Regional Centres for Education):

• Organizations serving at community level eligible for up to $5,000
• Initiatives spanning more communities may be eligible for more depending on nature of project and ability to support local community-wide plans
• Applications accepted until December 1

Key Requirements

• Must contact CCTH regional office before submitting application to discuss proposed initiatives and application requirements
• Separate application forms for communities and community organizations
• Applications must clearly show how initiatives will meet needs of at least one target population
• Budget must meet government assistance limits
• Must acknowledge financial assistance of Province of Nova Scotia