Information, Linkages and Capacity Building – Social and Community Participation Grant Opportunity

The Information, Linkages and Capacity Building (ILC) program provides information and capacity building supports for all people with disability, regardless of whether they are National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) participants. The ILC program also helps people with disability benefit from a more inclusive, accessible and connected Australia.

Funding of up to $50 million will be available over 2 years to deliver one-off, time-limited activities under the Social and Community Participation program to connect people with disability to supports and activities in their local community.

Eligible activities may include:

• support for community organisations to become more inclusive of people with disability, their families and carers and
• projects that improve or reshape community services and activities to meet the needs of people with disability.

This grant opportunity will assist providers and community groups to deliver tailored information, resources and supports, addressing the needs of all people with disability, their family and carers across Australia.

It is anticipated that successful funding recipients will be able to deliver grant activities via both face-to-face and online forums.

This grant opportunity will be released in the coming weeks and will be open for a period of up to 6 weeks.

Information, Linkages and Capacity Building - Individual Capacity Building Grant Opportunity

The Information, Linkages and Capacity Building (ILC) program provides information and capacity building supports for all people with disability, regardless of whether they are National Disability Insurance Scheme participants. The ILC program also helps people with disability benefit from a more inclusive, accessible and connected Australia.

Funding of up to $90 million will be available over 3 years to deliver one-off, time-limited activities under the Individual Capacity Building program to support systemic, nationwide access to peer support, mentoring, self-advocacy and other skills building for people with disability, their family and carers.

Eligible activities may include:

• peer-led support groups for people with disability
• activities assisting people with disability to build their autonomy or ability to self-advocate and
• skill building activities relevant to the disability environment.

This grant opportunity will assist providers and community groups to deliver tailored information, resources and supports, addressing the needs of all people with disability, their family and carers.

It is anticipated that successful funding recipients will be able to deliver grant activities via both face-to-face and online forums.

This grant opportunity will be released in the coming weeks and will be open for a period of up to 3 months.

2023–24 Volunteer Grants

Volunteer Grants support the work of local community organisations by enabling the inclusion of vulnerable people and promoting awareness to increase participation in volunteering.

The 2023–24 Volunteer Grants Opportunity is open for Expressions of Interest (EOI) through Members of Parliament (MPs). Organisations interested in a grant must contact their local MP to submit an EOI and confirm when their EOI closes.

Organisations that are nominated by their MP will be invited to apply for a grant in November 2023.

Grants of between $1,000 and $5,000 will be available to assist eligible not-for-profit community organisations support the efforts of their volunteers. Examples of what grant funding can assist with include small portable equipment purchases, contributions towards the cost of training volunteers, reimbursement of fuel costs for volunteers and undertaking background screening checks for volunteers.

The Grant Opportunity Guidelines are on GrantConnect, with other supporting documentation to be published when the grant opportunity is open for application.

Continuing Professional Development for Legal Practitioners on Coercive Control

As part of the National Plan to End Violence against Women and Children 2022–2032 the Australian Government announced funding to support a nationally coordinated approach to education and training on family, domestic and sexual violence for community frontline workers, health professionals, and the justice sector. This funding included $0.9 million over 4 years to develop and deliver continuing professional development (CPD) training for legal practitioners on coercive control.

The Attorney-General’s Department is consulting with stakeholders to inform the design of a grant opportunity for a suitably qualified organisation or consortium to develop and deliver a family safety professional competency package to educate and train legal practitioners on coercive control. A discussion paper and further information is available on the Attorney-General’s Department website.

The department welcomes ideas and feedback from interested stakeholders, and would like to invite you to share your input. Contributions can be provided online via the above link.

The consultation process will run until 21 July 2023. Following the consultation process a grant round is anticipated to open to eligible service providers at the end of 2023 and for agreements to be in place with service providers in early 2024.

Disability Worker COVID-19 Leave Grant

Funding will be available to support eligible members of the disability workforce who are unable to deliver supports to National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) participants due to a COVID-19 infection.

Employers that pay sick leave to disability workers who deliver close personal support to NDIS participants, contract COVID-19 and have insufficient or no sick leave, will be eligible for a reimbursement payment.

Available funding will be at a flat rate of $450 per worker where the worker has lost at least 8 hours but less than 20 hours of work, and $750 per worker where the worker has lost more than 20 hours of work.

The payment will provide support towards the costs associated with leave from 1 April 2023 to 31 December 2023. Eligible providers can claim a payment once every 3 months for each eligible worker they have paid, where the worker has insufficient sick leave.

Registered and unregistered NDIS providers, including sole traders which provide specified classes of supports to participants will be eligible. 

This grant will help to lower the risk of COVID-19 transmission in high-risk disability settings.

The Grant Opportunity Guidelines are on GrantConnect, with other supporting documentation to be published when the grant opportunity is open for application.

Community Child Care Fund (CCCF) Round 4

The Australian Government has approved funding of around $84 million (GST exclusive) from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2026 for the Community Child Care Fund (CCCF) Activity under Support for the Child Care System. This activity is a part of Outcome 1: Improved early learning, schooling, student educational outcomes and transitions to and from school through access to quality early childhood education and care, support, parent engagement, quality teaching and learning environments.

This funding will help support early childhood education and care services address barriers to participation, particularly targeting disadvantaged and vulnerable families and communities, and services in regional, remote and very remote areas.

Further information about the grant opportunity, including the Grant Opportunity Guidelines and application form will be available in early 2024, on the GrantConnect website.

Australia’s Disability Strategy - National Disability Conference Initiative

Grant Opportunity – coming soon.

The National Disability Conference Initiative 2023-24 (NDCI) grant opportunity is expected to open for applications in March 2023. This grant opportunity provides grants of up to $10,000 to disability conference organisers to assist people with disability participate in nationally-focused, disability-related, conferences held in Australia. Grants will support eligible conference organisers to provide accessibility measures that will maximise the inclusion and participation of people with disability at their disability focused conferences.

This grant opportunity will be administered by the Community Grants Hub on behalf of the Department of Social Services.

To receive the latest information on the upcoming NDCI Grant Opportunity, please subscribe to the Community Grants Hub.

Tourism Local Navigators Pilot - a new place based approach expanding tourism job opportunities for people with disability

Grant opportunity - coming soon

The Pilot is focussed on businesses operating in the tourism industry including but not limited to accommodation, hospitality, attractions, food and beverage and transport. The Pilot will address barriers previously identified by small and medium sized business in recruiting, retaining and progressing jobseekers with disability.

It will test a new approach to supporting tourism employers with place-based local Navigators assisting small and medium sized businesses to connect with employment service providers/jobseekers with disability by:

• providing expert advice in supporting small and medium sized businesses
• leveraging existing networks and connections with employers at the local level
• utilising JobAccess resources and support
• connecting small and medium sized businesses to local employment service providers and potential jobseekers with disability.

The estimated period of release for this grant opportunity is 10 January to 21 February 2023.

Future Drought Fund (FDF): Long Term Trials of Drought Resilient Farming Practices Program

Grant opportunity - coming soon.

The FDF Long-term Trials of Drought Resilient Farming Practices Program is a $40 million, 6 year, program that will investigate innovative and transformational farming practices of cropping and/or grazing systems through the lens of drought resilience and associated risk management.

The trials will test, refine, and demonstrate the effectiveness (or otherwise) of farming practices in a robust scientific manner, that will underpin and drive widespread adoption by providing farmers with the information and confidence they need to try the practices themselves.

It is expected that the program will support 4 to 10 trials, chosen through an open competitive process. Trials will include at least one location where activities can be assessed in scientifically and statistically valid ways. Trials making use of a network of sites may also be appropriate and could involve combinations of experimental plots, paddocks, farms. The use of contemporary technologies and trial techniques will be encouraged.

Trials will also undertake extension activities to increase the uptake of drought resilience innovations on farms with the aim of reducing exposure to drought risks and improving economic, environmental, and social resilience to drought.

Applications will be encouraged from collaborative, multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional consortia, including farmers.

Women’s Leadership and Development Program (WLDP) – Women in Public Office

Grant opportunity – coming soon.

The Government has committed $5 million to fund organisations to prepare and encourage more women across the political spectrum to run for public office at local, state and federal levels.

The Women in Public Office (WIPO) grant opportunity is a targeted competitive grant round, restricted to organisations currently delivering programs/resources that support and prepare women in Australia for public office.

Projects must:

• complement or expand, and not duplicate, existing available programs of this type, including state government funded programs or other non-government, local programs
• be nationally available
• be non-partisan
• work with a diverse range of women, with appropriate cultural considerations.

Applications from consortia are strongly encouraged and will be prioritised to ensure the objectives of the grant opportunity can be met effectively.

The WIPO grant opportunity will be supported by an Opportunity Information Briefing, to be delivered following release of the opportunity, on Wednesday 16 November 2022. The briefing date and details will be advertised on GrantConnect and all potential applicants are encouraged to attend.

The grant opportunity will be administered by the Community Grants Hub on behalf of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.