Community Building Fund Grant Virtualizes Victory Kids Programming

Media Release 29 April 2022

Picton, ON - In 2021, The Naval Marine Archive received a $47,400 grant from the Government of Ontario's Community Building Fund - Operating stream. This funding, delivered by the Ontario Trillium Foundation, supports staffing and equipment costs to help the organization develop digital programming. This support allows the Archive to virtualize their existing Victory Kids programming and deliver unique, exciting and educational digital outreach programming. The project is currently underway, and once complete, will allow children aged 7 to 11 to sign up for live content and on-demand programming to follow for years to come.

"The Naval Marine Archive extensively chronicles the important maritime tradition that has helped to build our Canadian heritage," said Todd Smith, MPP for Bay of Quinte. "This OTF Community Building Fund investment in digitization and enhanced educational programming will attract waves of new interest in this cultural attraction on Picton's Main Street."

In addition to the development of digital outreach programming, the Virtual Victory Kids Program will empower local youth to be inquisitive in their search for historical knowledge and facts while enhancing their skills. In the future, the Naval Marine Archive aims to expand this digital programming to a variety of age groups. Thanks to this Community Building Fund grant, children and youth from across Ontario will be able to access unique, innovative learning experiences.

"For more than twenty years we have reached out to our community on the northern shores of Lake Ontario and beyond, encouraging research and learning; we have been proud of our results with youth groups, in particular our Victory Kids program," said Dr. Paul Adamthwaite, Chair of the Naval Marine Archive. "The Ontario Trillium Foundation, through the Naval Marine Archive Digital Inclusion Project, has allowed us to expand our outreach into young peoples' homes and eventually set our sights on other demographics. This represents a most exciting and fruitful expansion of our activities in pleasurable learning. Today's choices and actions create the future of which we all dream."

The Naval Marine Archive - The Canadian Collection's mission is to create for people of all backgrounds the most comprehensive Canadian centre for knowledge and archival research in maritime and aeronautical history. This is accomplished by a totally unique library, archive and cultural collection of over 350,000 publicly catalogued items. Our holdings constitute the largest grouping in Canada of naval, marine and aeronautical titles with associated subjects. The board extends its gratitude to the Ontario Trillium Foundation for assisting in the pursuit of this mission. For more information please visit the website at: Naval Marine Archive.

The Ontario Trillium Foundation (OTF) is an agency of the Government of Ontario, and one of Canada's leading granting foundations. Last year, nearly $112M was invested into 1,384 community projects and partnerships to build healthy and vibrant communities and strengthen the impact of Ontario's non-profit sector. In 2020/21, OTF supported Ontario's economic recovery by helping non-profit organizations rebuild and recover from the impacts of COVID-19. Visit: otf.ca to learn more.

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