Twenty-two grants totalling close to $3 million have been awarded to organisations by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) to make the ACT more accessible and inclusive of people with disability.
An inclusion support program to enable young families with disabilities to access local playgroups, a peer support network for people with mild cognitive disabilities at risk of homelessness or entering the criminal justice system and a series of interactive, disability-led capacity building workshops for community organisations are some of the projects that have received funding.
The projects have been funded as part of a new grant round to support the Information, Linkages and Capacity Building (ILC) component of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
NDIA General Manager Community Linkages and Engagement, Maryanne Diamond, said these newly funded projects were an important and exciting step in developing ILC and realising our goals about inclusion.
“The two big goals that have been set for ILC are that people with disability have the ability to achieve their goals and are included in all aspects of community life. These projects are a great example of how we’re going about accomplishing that,” Ms Diamond said.
“It’s fantastic to see such breadth of ideas and collaboration to increase the independence, social and community participation for all people with disability, including those who do not have an NDIS plan.”
Of the 22 successful applicants, 16 organisations were from the ACT. Many of the recipients who were not from the ACT have partnered with ACT-based organisations.
Grants for more than $10,000 were provided to 18 applicants, with an additional four applicants receiving grants for less than $10,000. All grants are for one year initially, with the potential for extension of up to two more years.
The next ILC funding round in the ACT will open in the second half of 2017, with eligible organisations encouraged to apply. More information will be available on the NDIS website.