Casey Council has awarded 101 community groups with grants totalling $415,773, as part of the annual community grants program.
At its general meeting on 7 July council endorsed a recommendation to distribute grants of up to $5000 to various groups including charities, residents’ association groups, faith groups, RSLs, community centres, sports organisations, cultural groups and more.
Council’s administrators said they were impressed by the “great diversity” of successful applicants.
“It really is a representation of the diversity of what exists in this municipality from community and other sports services,” administrator Cameron Boardman said.
Mr Boardman added some facilities would be beneficiaries of capital works and other upgrades to “provide much better ongoing facilities to the community commensurably”.
Council administrators noted the selection process had been a “rigorous and very independent process” that had been robust, fair and diligent.All administrators thanked all applicants but noted some community groups would be disappointed after missing out on funding – “primarily because they didn’t meet the criteria or that their application was incorrect”.
Of those to be awarded a grant was Casey Neighbourhood Watch which received $5000. Rob Ward, president of Casey Neighbourhood Watch, said the money would go towards updating and printing brochures to improve safety and security of community life.
The funding would also help buy a second marquee which would be set-up at community events, Mr Ward said.
“We’re very grateful to the council for their support,” he said. “We have an excellent relationship with the council and we really work closely with them and the CFA and the SES together to keep our community safe.
“The city’s growing … people are stilling moving in at an incredible rate so we need to keep out there and keep the education going.”
The independent assessment panel consisted of five community representatives who represented the community in terms of geography, interest areas, community knowledge and experience.
A total of 121 eligible applications were received for the 2020-21 community grant program.
