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A record-breaking $2.3 million awarded to rural groups

Menchie Khairuddin March 30, 2023

3 min read

$2.3 million in grants awarded to 176 community groups for COVID recovery, climate-related impacts and Small & Vital projects.

FRRR has awarded $2,309,331 in grants to 176 community projects across remote, rural and regional Australia as part of their Strengthening Rural Communities (SRC) program.

This is the largest SRC round on record in terms of both funding awarded and the number of projects being funded.

Collaboratively funded by a number of donors, this program gives small communities across rural Australia access to funds for a broad range of initiatives that directly and clearly benefit the local area and people.

The program is split into three streams: Small & Vital (S&V), Prepare & Recover (P&R) and Rebuilding Regional Communities (RRC), which supports recovery from COVID-19.

Small & Vital stream

In total, $527,636 in grants have been awarded to 61 grassroots organisations and NFPs through the S&V stream. Grants of up to $10,000 will support initiatives that local leaders and community members feel are a priority when it comes to strengthening the community.

An example of an organisation being funded in this stream is the Cervantes Community Men’s Shed in WA. They will use their $10,000 grant to develop the group’s new shed site, which will support and service the community.

Prepare & Recover grants

The SRC program has long supported disaster recovery, most recently through the 2019/2020 Black Summer Bushfire Recovery stream. However, with disasters affecting more of the country, the program has been renamed the Prepare & Recover stream.

It offers grants of up to $25,000 to support projects that prevent and prepare for future climate-related impacts, or recover from existing disasters in the medium to long term. In addition to ongoing recovery from Black Summer fires, this round supports recovery from flooding in 2021/22, as well as some other storms and flood events across the country.

“In the history of the SRC program and its predecessors dating back to 2000, we’ve never awarded this amount of money or this many small grants. That in itself speaks volumes about the need for resources and support in rural communities around the country,” said Jill Karena, Place Portfolio Lead at FRRR.

A total of $883,940 will be shared among 62 initiatives through this stream. An example is the Victoria-based Boort Resource & Information Centre’s initiative to support flood recovery and boost local connections by bringing the people together to share a free community meal.

“What we saw in the applications in this round, across each of the streams, was a strong emphasis on individual and community health and social wellbeing. This is a reflection of how the last few years have impacted remote, rural and regional areas. Back-to-back natural disasters, the pandemic and now the cost-of-living crisis have left people with limited resources when it comes to prioritising their wellbeing.”

Rebuilding Regional Communities – supporting COVID-19 recovery

Funded by the Australian Government, the RRC grants are divided into micro-grants, which are up to $10,000 and larger grants, which are up to $50,000. In this round, 53 organisations have received $897,755 in funding that will help remote, rural and regional communities recover from the impacts of the pandemic.

Among the recipients in this stream is the Regional Food Security Alliance, which will use a grant of $47,050 to develop resources that will support volunteer recruitment and retention at food relief agencies across regional Victoria, after the demand for their services has been exacerbated by COVID-19.

Jill Karena, Place Portfolio Lead at FRRR, said that this record-breaking SRC round is a clear indication of the level of support that remote, rural and regional Australia needs.

“Similarly, we continue to see a demand for support in maintaining or upgrading community spaces, halls and hubs. This kind of infrastructure is so important when it comes to keeping small communities connected, particularly during the ongoing recovery and resilience-building process that rural Australia is currently facing,” Karena said.

A full list of grant recipients is available on FRRR’s website.

The SRC program is collaboratively supported by many generous donors, who are acknowledged on

the FRRR website under each of the SRC grant streams:

Small & Vital donors
Prepare & Recover donors
Rebuilding Regional Communities is supported by the Australian Government

This program always accepts applications. Local NFPs and community groups are encouraged to review the program guidelines and apply them. More information about the SRC program is available at www.frrr.org.au/src.

Menchie Khairuddin

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Menchie Khairuddin is a writer Deputy Content Manager at Akolade and content producer for Third Sector News. She is passionate about social affairs specifically in mixed, multicultural heritage and not-for-profit organisations.