Donor support transforming mental health

Donor support transforming six community-led mental health initiatives for Manitoba children, youth and families

Winnipeg, MB (January 21, 2026) – Six community organizations are receiving grants to support the design and delivery of innovative mental health initiatives, thanks to donors to the research theme PRIME – Partnering for Research Innovation in MEntal Health – at Children’s Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba (CHRIM). PRIME is funded by Children’s Hospital Foundation of Manitoba supporters, and the research theme has awarded six organizations with PRIME X Community grants.

Each project now working with PRIME X Community, and the PRIME research theme co-led by Dr. Leslie Roos and Dr. Mandy Archibald, will support the delivery of improved mental-health supports through front-line organization partners. They are all evidence-informed, culturally relevant programs, with an emphasis on upstream prevention and early intervention. 

“These projects are especially innovative because they are community-led and designed to cultivate new partnerships that build on the strengths of the many incredible organizations that support family mental health. We want to help grow the mental health ecosystem in Manitoba,” says Dr. Leslie E. Roos, Team Co-Lead, PRIME. “We expect a strong return on investment potential in terms of both cultivating child and youth health and support for organizations to secure future grants in this area. We’re very excited about strengthening community partnerships as a central goal of our program, which awarding these funds will directly enable.”

The six community-led projects include:

• Pinaymootang First Nation Health Centre – A culturally grounded family-child lands-based mental wellness project led by community health representatives, with strong feasibility and direct alignment with Indigenous wellness priorities and equity commitments.
• Immigration Partnership Winnipeg – A newcomer-focused suicide prevention initiative addressing urgent gaps in culturally safe supports for immigrant youth and families, led by a highly capable community team.
• Canadian Mental Health Association – A youth-led Indigenous mental-health promotion initiative (“My Path Forward”) using community-based participatory approaches and positioned for scalability through provincial and national networks.
• Afro-Caribbean Mentorship Program – A community-embedded program strengthening culturally responsive mentorship and mental-health supports for Afro-Caribbean youth and families, emphasizing identity, belonging, and safe spaces for connection.
• Resilia Community Wellness Centre – A community-driven project examining settlement-related mental-health consequences of changing immigration policies among newcomer families, with strong organizational partnerships and significant in-kind contributions supporting feasibility.
• Mood Disorders Association of Manitoba – A co-developed peer-coaching program for maternal depression to pilot integrating evidence-informed strategies with clinician leadership to expand accessible family mental-health supports across Manitoba.

The PRIME research theme is possible thanks to generous donors to the Children’s Hospital Foundation of Manitoba. RBC is supporting PRIME X Community Grants with a transformative $250,000 gift, while Sobeys Family of Support fully funded the PRIME research theme at $150,000 a year with additional funding going towards the PRIME X Community Grants.

“Mental health is the spark that ignites a community’s promise and potential,” says Candace Hodgins, Vice President, Commercial Financial Services, RBC.  “When we come together as a community to help create culturally relevant spaces for individuals to heal and thrive, we are ensuring that spark burns brighter than ever before.”

“Thanks to incredible donor support, from both RBC and Sobeys Family of Support, these devoted researchers are able to team up with community leaders in developing innovative programming for families’ mental health care – which is now more important than ever before,” says Stefano Grande, President and CEO of Children’s Hospital Foundation of Manitoba. “We are thankful to have generous partners who recognize this critical need to fund a diverse range of impactful mental health programs.”