New Information, Linkages and Capacity Building (ILC) Grants

In recent weeks, there have been some huge Information, Linkages and Capacity Building (ILC) announcements. First, we learnt who won Economic and Community Participation Program grants.  Then we got a heads up about three grant rounds that will be opening in the next few months. Exciting times!

GRANT WINNERS

Let’s check out the grant winners first. 64 one-year grants that focus on generating employment opportunities for people with disability were awarded, totaling $19.6m. Funded projects will cover all states and territories, along with some projects that will be national or across multiple jurisdictions. The size of the grants ranged from $70,000 to $888,000, with 57% under $400,000.  Although many successful organizations were from the disability sector, it was also exciting to see so many mainstream players in the ILC space, including the retail industry, media, film and theatre, and sport and recreation organisations.

We at DSC, with many others, have highlighted the importance of bringing along the broader Australian community on the NDIS journey. The disability sector alone cannot bridge the opportunity gap experienced by thousands of people with disability. 

Congratulations to all winners and best of luck delivering your projects.

UPCOMING OPPORTUNITIES

Through a recent webinar, the NDIA has also released information about 3 new grant opportunities. Let’s look at each of them in more depth.

Individual Capacity Building Program

This program will provide 3-year grants. The round will be opening soon on 19 August and closing on 30 September 2019.

There are two sections to this grant – Individual Capacity Building for People with Disability, and Organisational Capacity Building for Disabled Persons Organisations and Family Organisations.

Suggested outcomes are that people with disability:

• have the skills and confidence to participate in and contribute to the community and protect their rights
• feel motivated, confident and empowered to act
• participate in and benefit from the same community activities as everyone else.

Suggested activities for Organisational Capacity Building include:

• professional development for Board, staff and/or volunteers
• leadership training and coaching
• strategic and business planning
• governance and risk management
• project management
• marketing and communications
• evaluation and research.

Mainstream Capacity Building (Health)

These are two-year grants opening on 9 September and closing on 21 October 2019. The focus for this grant round is making mainstream health services more inclusive and accessible to people with disability. This includes:

• patient-informed awareness raising initiatives that will improve understanding of disability in the health sector
• activities that increase the ability of Practice Nurses to be inclusive of people with disability, and to provide new types of advice and support that meets their needs
• training resources for interpreters that enhances their understanding of disability within a specific cultural context.

The NDIS/Health interface poses many challenges, so we are hoping that the broader health sector embraces this opportunity. Spread the word amongst your health sector colleagues to ensure that this chance to achieve real change is not missed.

Economic and Community Participation Program

This program will have two streams: the Economic Participation Stream, and the Social and Community Participation Stream. This is a 3-year grant round opening 9 September and closing 21 October 2019.

The Economic Participation Stream will fund activities that aim to:

• increase the knowledge, motivation and confidence of employers to seek out, employ and retain people with disability
• build the capacity of people with disability to maintain employment
• Build the capability of people with disability to develop and maintain successful self-employment.

The Social and Community Participation Stream will fund activities that aim to:

• improve the community’s knowledge and understanding of disability. Applicants may choose to focus on specific community groups, for example, employers or sporting associations
• build community networks that connect people with disability to opportunities they may otherwise miss.

The advance notice of upcoming grant rounds gives you the opportunity to think about what you may be capable of achieving with ILC support. Also consider who else can assist you to achieve these goals. ILC often works best when it is a collaboration between the mainstream, community and disability sectors.  We likewise recommend checking out previous grant rounds to see whether your organisation can replicate or enhance on what others have achieved.

Now is the time to get your thinking caps on. You will hear from us again when the guidelines for each grant round are released, and we can work to unpack them together.