Council & Business
2 October, 2023
Groups boosted by community grants
Several projects across the region are set to benefit from a financial boost as part of the Central Goldfields Shire Council’s 2023-2024 Community Grants Program — with 19 local groups sharing in more than $40,000 worth of funding. At the...
Several projects across the region are set to benefit from a financial boost as part of the Central Goldfields Shire Council’s 2023-2024 Community Grants Program — with 19 local groups sharing in more than $40,000 worth of funding.
At the ordinary meeting held last Tuesday, councillors moved to award a total of $46,000 through council’s annual grants initiative to organisations and events including the Goldfields Community Festival, Zonta Club of Central Goldfields, Light Up Talbot Christmas Festival and Pride 24.
According to the report tabled at the meeting, the funding was divided among four grant categories — Infrastructure, Creativity/Innovation, Community Development, and Climate Action, which was a new addition this year.
The report also noted that the financial support program received 42 applications, seeking a total amount of $202,861, and after being assessed against the criteria outlined in the 2023-2024 Community Grants Guidelines, 19 applications were selected to be either partially or fully funded — the allocated budget for the grants program is $46,000, of which $5000 is funded from the Climate Action Plan implementation budget.
Mayor Grace La Vella congratulated this year’s recipients and said it was important for council to support local groups through similar initiatives.
“It’s good to see so many vital groups from all over the shire receiving this funding,” she said.
“Money is hard to come by and these organisations work really hard with fundraising and it’s never enough, but now they can finally get their projects off the ground and that’s exciting to me because it’ll be a huge benefit for the community.
“I think it’s critical that we uplift these organisations. Our job is to help our community, without a community we don’t have the groups, and without these groups we wouldn’t have a community.”
Among the 19 beneficiaries, the Maryborough District Girl Guides were awarded $5000 — making it the recipient of one of the highest amounts.
“We’re going to use the money to create a shade sail for the Guide Hall’s yard,” the organisation’s local support group member Caroline Thoroughgood said.
“It will let us do more things outdoors, which is one of the main aims of guiding — to have our kids doing activities outside.
“Having that shaded space outdoors is so important, it’s a pretty sunny area and our hall gets used quite frequently by other community groups since it’s a fenced space and there aren’t a lot of similar spaces around so it will benefit everyone who uses the facility.”
Ms Thoroughgood said the grant was reaffirming the contributions of the group to the wider community.
“I think it’s imperative that the council support groups such as ours,” she said.
“The Girl Guides is really doing a lot for the community, especially for the young women in the region, they will be our future leaders. This funding also means that the group can now focus on our youth members instead of trying to organise fundraisers — it alleviates that stress.
“It also shows that the council recognises that what we’re doing is very important.”
Another organisation recognised for its efforts through the grants program, in the Climate Action category, was the Dunolly and District Neighbourhood Centre, which received $1500 for its Solar Panel Project.
“We have worked so hard to get our solar panels, we’ve been fundraising and applying for various grants — the funding we’ve gotten from the shire was just that last piece of the puzzle that we needed,” the centre’s coordinator Kath Ryan said.
“Now we can pay the full amount and get things rolling, our plan is to install 15 panels.
“It’s very exciting and it just goes to show how important it is for larger organisations like the council to support smaller grassroots groups.”
Out of the 42 groups, the ones that were unsuccessful for funding this time around will be provided with feedback and, where possible, guidance on other options to source funding for their project, according to the report tabled at the meeting.