Field Law, a regional law firm with offices in Calgary, Edmonton and Yellowknife, is pleased to announce four winners of the 2014 Field Law Community Fund Program. The Program, which was created to support local community initiatives, had 84 applicants in its second year, with 13 stemming from the Northwest Territories.  

Field Law granted two grand prize awards and two additional awards in the Northwest Territories market, providing funds to help launch or grow each local project.

Winners were selected through a combination of online votes and deliberation by a local judging panel composed of Field Law people, interested clients and community members, allowing the public to weigh in on the projects closest to their hearts and communities. This allowed the panelists to know which projects resonated most with the local community so that they could factor this into their decision-making along with other criteria. Field Law's preferred causes (but not exclusive) are those that support education, healthcare, at-risk youth, homelessness, women's organizations, community and sports or arts and culture.

Corporate social responsibility and community engagement is front of mind for the team at Field Law, both at a professional and personal level.

"Building strong relationships with the communities we serve is important to us," says Jack Williams, Partner at the Yellowknife office. "As an active member of Canada's northern communities, we have direct knowledge of the affairs in the Northwest Territories. We're happy to be able to contribute to our communities' needs and make a difference in the lives and future of those we live, work and interact with on a daily basis."

Field Law congratulates the following winners of the 2014 Community Fund Program:

FOXY Peer Leader Retreat ($5,000 recipient)

FOXY (Fostering Open eXpression among Youth) is a youth-driven arts-based sexual health and peer leadership program for young women from across the Northwest Territories. During a 10-day retreat, the participants will experience arts-based sexual health education workshops and leadership training led by Northern female artistic facilitators and be able to digitally record and edit projects in order to extend their reach and really 'pay-it-forward. In its current form, FOXY is directed at young women in the Northwest Territories between the ages of 13 and 17 and has reached over 250 young women across the North through its school programs and pilot retreat last year. These funds will allow the project to expand its reach and help many more people.

Lutsel K'e Community Garden ($5,000 recipient)

The Lutsel K'e Community Garden is a community volunteer based garden project. It is a collective and collaborative project benefitting volunteers, volunteer families and the community as a whole. The funds will allow the expansion and diversification of the project to more sites in the community.

Aurora Arts Society's Visual Arts Gallery ($3,000 recipient)

The Aurora Arts Society (AAS) recently took over the management of The Gallery on 47th Street in downtown Yellowknife and intends to build on the Gallery's previous successes by hosting commercial and non-commercial exhibitions of local visual art and artists. These funds will offer a few non-commercial artists the chance to create and exhibit their work.

Weledeh Catholic School Community Playground Project ($2,000 recipient)

The Weledeh Catholic School Program is seeking to improve upon their current playground environment to provide its students and surrounding neighbourhood the ability to have an adequate playtime resource.

In addition to the $15,000 distributed in 2014 in the Northwest Territories market, Field Law will distribute $30,000 in both the Northern Alberta and Southern Alberta markets to deserving projects, for a total of $75,000. The Program launched through all three of Field's offices in Alberta and Northwest Territories in 2013 and is now an annual initiative.