On Jan. 17 at the District of Houston council meeting, the Houston Mountain Bike Association (HMBA) presented to council a quest of support through the District of Houston’s charitable tax status for an application grant to the Bulkley ValleyCommunity Foundation, and to recommend that the District of Houston create a process and criteria for other small community groups in Houston to partner with the District of Houston to receive that charitable tax status.
“In order for HMBA to get grant funding from the Bulkley Valley Foundation we need an organization with a charitable status to receive then distribute the funds to us. This was a service the District of Houston has done in the past. HMBA and Morice Mountain Nordic Ski Club, among others, can greatly benefit from this type of community service. Many small non-profit organizations can not afford to be a charitable status organization due to more administration and audit requirements,”explained Miake Elliot, director of HMBA.
“[We] also want to push for a process because these little groups, we’re going to come, we’re going to bug [the District ofHouston] a bit, so it’s a big opportunity to get recreational dollars into [Houston] from outside, and I think it’s a great opportunity to set it up so that the delegations can answer the criteria,” said Sue Jones, director of HMBA.
Houston Mountain Bike Association’s application to the Bulkley Valley Community Foundation is for $3000. This is to help cover some of the costs for the HMBA start up project, which is to develop and maintain the new trail system at Mount HarryDavis, to purchase a shuttle trailer, as well as trail clearing tools, add a small park feature, some picnic areas, and prepare the trails towards hosting regional competitive bike events.
Summary of the total project cost is $10,000. HMBA is currently applying to other organizations to receive additional funding.
Houston Mountain Bike Association also has access to $20,000 from the Ministry of Forests, however this money is controlled by rec site and its intended use is specifically for the creation of downhill trails. So at this time, that money can not helpHMBA’s start up project, but this does allow the creation of trails on Mount Harry Davis to continue to be funded by theMinistry of Forests until 2018.
No decision has been made yet by the Houston council to support HMBA’s request of support.