Backgrounder - Government of Canada launches call for proposals for community projects to support seniors  

The New Horizons for Seniors Program (NHSP) is a federal grants and contributions program that funds projects that empower seniors in their communities and contribute to improving seniors’ health and well-being.

Seniors lead and inspire projects to make a difference in the lives of others and in their communities.

The objectives of the NHSP are to:

• promote volunteerism among seniors and other generations;
• engage seniors in the community through the mentoring of others;
• expand awareness of elder abuse, including financial abuse;
• support the social participation and inclusion of seniors; and 
• provide capital assistance for new and existing community projects and programs for seniors. 

The NHSP provides seniors access to important recreational and social programs and initiatives that reflect the current realities of seniors and senior-serving organizations. The program continues to empower and support seniors through curated program parameters, delivery and access to ensure their needs.

Since 2004, the NHSP has funded more than 36,500 projects in hundreds of communities across Canada. The total Government of Canada investment has been more than $780 million. Program funding supports community-based projects and pan-Canadian projects.

Community-based projects

Community-based project funding supports activities in which seniors are engaged, connected and actively involved in their communities. Organizations are eligible to receive up to $25,000 in grant funding.

As part of the 2023–24 NHSP community-based call for proposals, organizations are able to apply for funding that supports the NHSP national priorities for this cycle.

Priority 1: Supporting healthy aging, which includes:

• addressing social isolation, including through supporting seniors’ digital literacy;
• addressing ageism; and
• supporting mental health and dementia.

Priority 2: Preventing senior abuse, which includes:

• providing measures to reduce crimes and harm against seniors, including elder abuse; and
• developing educational material to prevent unscrupulous practices, financial fraud and scams from happening to seniors.

Priority 3: Celebrating diversity and promoting inclusion, which includes:

• promoting intergenerational mentoring and engagement;
• advancing reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples and helping to secure a better quality of life for Indigenous seniors; and
• collaborating with diverse communities, notably by serving members of the following vulnerable groups: low-income seniors, Indigenous Peoples, members of 2SLGBTQI+ communities, members of official language minority communities, seniors who primarily speak languages other than English and French, members of racialized and newcomer groups, persons with disabilities, veterans, and seniors living in rural or remote areas.

Priority 4: Supporting financial security, which includes:

• helping seniors navigate and access government services and benefits and providing support to file their taxes; and
• supporting financial empowerment of seniors.

For more information, visit the New Horizons for Seniors Program – Community-based projects website.

Pan-Canadian projects

Pan-Canadian funding supports multi-year projects using a call for concepts approach to address seniors’ issues. This call for concepts uses a collaborative, multi-partner strategy. It brings together a group of organizations from different sectors to commit to a common concept for a collective impact plan that will measurably increase the social inclusion of vulnerable seniors. The objectives of collective impact projects funded through this stream are to: 

• build the collective capacity of organizations to recognize and address barriers to social inclusion faced by vulnerable seniors;
• provide access to information, programs and services for vulnerable seniors to enhance their social inclusion within their communities;
• support service to seniors as part of action research to better understand effective approaches for increasing the level of social inclusion of vulnerable seniors in their communities;
• develop innovative approaches to engage and retain senior volunteers to improve their social inclusion in their communities; and
• address systemic barriers that contribute to the social isolation of vulnerable seniors.

For more information, visit the Pan-Canadian projects under the New Horizons for Seniors Program website.

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