Yarra Council is providing more than $1.1m in grants to grassroots community-building programs in 2018.

Yarra Mayor, Cr Amanda Stone said, “We’re proud to be funding more than 140 community initiatives as part our grants programs.”

“We’re supporting a huge variety of projects, including a radio broadcast by people with a disability, a basketball program for young people from public housing, employment opportunities for refugee and migrant women, and much more.”

"This is about helping local people to tackle local issues, increase community connectedness and improve the well-being of our residents,” Cr Stone said.

The 2018 Annual Grants program supports community endeavours across a range of fields, including community development, arts and culture, sustainability, sports and recreation, youth and families, and more.

Council established independent community panels to ensure the integrity of the process and on Tuesday 18 October voted to endorse the panels’ recommendations.

About $842,000 is being provided under Council’s Annual Grants program, with a further $290,000 being delivered under Council’s Investing in Community program. When all grants are taken into account, Council will be issuing more than $2m worth of grants during 2017/18.

Grants often enable projects to attract additional funding. For example, if a $1,000 grant helps a project attract $2,000 from other sources, it has facilitated a $3,000 community benefit.

“Our Annual Grants may total around $842,000,” Cr Stone said, “but we’re helping to deliver an incredible $3.79m worth of value to the community.”

 The full list of Grants recipients can be found here:

• Annual Grants recipients
• Investing in Community Grants recipients