Locally-led Solutions At Centre Of New Community Resilience Fund
From
tomorrow, community groups around New Zealand can apply to a
$36 million fund established to encourage locally-led
solutions as communities rebuild and recover from COVID-19,
announced Minister for Social Development Carmel Sepuloni
and Minister for Community and Voluntary Sector Poto
Williams. “The Community Capability and Resilience
Fund (CCRF) builds on the success of grant funding provided
by the government to support communities during the COVID-19
Alert Level 4 lockdown,” Carmel Sepuloni said. “We
saw communities step up to support each other in innovative
ways, using locally-led solutions during the lockdown, and
we want to continue to back them with their work as we
rebuild and recover from COVID-19. “Community-led
initiatives under the CCRF might include helping people to
work remotely, health and safety measures for whānau,
building financial capability, or developing and
implementing COVID-19 recovery plans. “We know that
our smaller community groups, and individuals in our
community, are well placed to provide essential and critical
services quickly for local community members who need them.
The CCRF will focus on allowing this kind of valuable work
to continue,” said Carmel Sepuloni. Hon Poto
Williams says CCRF funding will be targeted towards
community-led initiatives that support priority groups,
which include Māori and Pacific communities, as well as
culturally and language diverse (CALD)
populations. “We learned during the lockdown that
there was high demand for support amongst these priority
groups and it is important that we look to meet this need.
The CCRF will play a vital role in supporting the wellbeing
and resilience of communities as we face the ongoing impacts
of the pandemic,” said Poto Williams. The CCRF will
be administered through the Ministry of Social Development
and funding will be available in waves. The first funding
round opens on 1 August 2020. The next funding round will
start in November 2020. More information about the CCRF and
how to apply will be available on the Ministry of Social
Development’s
website