MEDIA RELEASE

20 January 2005

$410,000 funding available for community groups

Auckland City is inviting funding applications from community groups with bright ideas for making Auckland an even better place to live.

The city gives out funding every year to a diverse range of community services and projects that benefit music and arts, culture, sport, health, education and more.

This $410,000 pool of funds known as Community Group Assistance Funding (CGAF) is designed to support the council's goal of making people feel like they belong.

The grants from the council's community group assistance funding are designed to cover costs like small equipment purchases, training for staff or volunteers, business planning and promotional and marketing expenses. To be eligible for funding, a group's activities must have a city-wide focus and the group needs to prove its ability to manage a grant and account for the use of public money.

The council's Community Development and Equity Committee chairperson, Councillor Cathy Casey, says this fund is just one of the ways the council helps to meet the needs of the community.

"Community groups, and our community halls and centres, play a vital role in making Auckland feel like a great place to live with lots of opportunity. We encourage all eligible Auckland City community groups to apply for this funding to help them to grow," she says.

More than 130 community groups received this funding last year for projects as diverse as: Desperate Dogs and Mogs Society ($2,900); Nigerian Independence Day celebrations ($2,000), Auckland Neo Natal Parent Support Unit ($800); and to Migrant Support Services ($3,000).

More information and funding application forms can be downloaded from www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/grantsandfundingBM__Hlt93895806

Applications close Friday 4 March, 5pm.

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