In launching the blueprint project in early February, we worked through our regional program officers across the country, who had been working with organizations closely. We consulted them to find out what the predominant issues were that organizations wanted to work on.
We developed six themes that were recurring across the country. We developed what the proposals could be like, with a number of areas that could be filled in by the organizations themselves. We launched the project and invited groups to come in with their proposals.
We've received over 320 proposals. Organizations said that this was an innovative way of reducing the work they had to undertake before they could come and obtain funding from Status of Women.
Sisters in Spirit was an NWAC project that ended on March 31. The work between Status of Women Canada and NWAC, however, did not end on March 31. We had a project funded with NWAC for $500,000 at the end of March, and now a $1.9-million, three-year, community work project that has been recently announced.