First Light St. John’s Friendship Centre will be taking another large step forward to continue its growth, thanks to $3-million federal funding announced this morning.

First Light offers support to the Indigenous community in the metro area through cultural and recreational programs and services.

The money will be used to renovate Caledonia Place on Quidi Vidi Road, which will act as the new First Light Headquarters.

They will also be renovating Cochrane Centre to house an Indigenous creative arts and performance centre.

Daniel Pottle, executive director of First Light, says the bigger headquarters is necessary, and it may not be their last move. The Indigenous community is the fastest growing demographic in the province, and they expect that the population will increase exponentially over the next few years.

The group started in 1983 with a small office and one staff member and have grown since then to around 140,000 contacts a year and three to six thousand members using their services in the St. John’s area.

Big funding announcement for First Light St. John’s Friendship Centre. The Federal Minister of Infrastructure land Communities is in the capital city to announce federal government is investing over $3M to relocate and expand First Light’s HQ to Caledonia Place ⁦@VOCMNEWS⁩ pic.twitter.com/jEN739PKdO

— AmyFitzpatrickVOCM (@AmyVocm) August 12, 2019