Community grants recipients announced

Ten community projects have been awarded $2000 each in this year’s Community Open Round Grants. The projects support a wide range of community-led initiatives.

They range from peer support for fathers with premature babies to a bus tour of less-visited local Indigenous sites, from purchasing new sports equipment for young people to supporting women who have experienced domestic and family violence.

The ten successful projects were voted on by grant-round finalists at a special presentation event held early in April. Fifteen finalists showcased their projects in four-minute presentations comprising slides, speeches, songs or skits.

Each finalist voted for the best presentations. The only rule – finalists couldn’t vote for their own project.

 “The event was a wonderful opportunity for grassroot community organisations to showcase their incredible impacts on our community,” said Onkaparinga Mayor Moira Were, who attended the event.

“The participating groups are primarily volunteer-driven and passionate about what they do.

“It was a privilege to see them pitch their projects to their peers and then see them work together to provide input into the allocation of the grant funds.”

The ten grant recipients and their projects are:

• Anti-Poverty Network SA
  Deliver information sessions about Centrelink entitlements, obligations and related matters to local people on very low incomes and who receive Centrelink payments
• Campus Tornadoes Pedal Prix Team
  Purchase an additional Pedal Prix trike for participants
• Create a Book Challenge
  Inspire a kickstart to literature
• Emmaus Out of School Sport
  Purchase sports equipment and uniforms for students
• Fleurieu Films Inc
  Conduct a bus day tour to less visited significant locations where Indigenous stories and knowledge will be told
• Healthy Cities Onkaparinga
  Design and deliver a program for community groups to increase health literacy and encourage advocacy for health and wellbeing
• Ibis Timber Creations
  Purchase a dust extraction system for Ibis’s small workshop
• National Trust of SA–Willunga Branch
  Officially open the Wirra Creek Community Garden and host the neighbourhood gathering event
• Parents Who Have Been There
  Support dads or carers of premature babies by providing a free meal and a chance to meet and chat with other dads and carers with earlier experience of premature parenting
• Southern Domestic Violence Action Group
  Run ‘The Time for Me’ project and support group for women who have experienced domestic violence.

The City of Onkaparinga’s Community Open Round Grants are available for small projects that address a demonstrated need or benefit the wider community or marginalised groups.

See the council's grants webpage for more information on the range of council community grants.

PICTURE: All smiles for community spirit at the Onkaparinga Community Open Round Grants showcase