Gloucester Pre-school, Waukivory Community Hall and Stroud Community Lodge have received funds from the MidCoast Council Stronger Communities Fund.
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Each were given a portion of the over $500,000 allocated to the first round of the grant program.
Gloucester Pre-school will be putting the $39,000 toward the removal of asbestos from an existing dwelling they will be tearing down in order to extend their site.
Waukivory Hall will use the $5000 to help repair, sand and polish the floor.
The $50,000 going to the Stroud Community Lodge will help kick start their homecare service program.
Stroud Community Lodge facility manager, Carolyn Harris said the fund will pay for a car, staff training and the provision of equipment needed by the homecare staff.
“We were thrilled to hear we were successful. It will be a huge help toward the program,” she said.
The 17 projects across the MidCoast Council will be kick-started by the fund, established by the NSW Government for merged councils to assist the delivery of projects that improve community infrastructure and services.
“We had a tremendous level of interest in the program, with over 70 applications received,” council’s director community spaces and services, Paul De Szell said.
“The panel appointed to work through the projects had an extremely tough job in selecting funding recipients based on strict eligibility criteria and the resulting benefit to our community.”
The assessment panel was made up MidCoast Council’s administrator, John Turner, representatives of the offices of local State members, a delegate from the Department of Premier and Cabinet, and an independent probity advisor.
To be eligible for funding applicants were required to demonstrate their project delivered social, cultural, economic or environmental benefits to the local community, that it addressed an identified need, and that any ongoing costs were able to be met without additional funding into the future.
“The standard of the applications we received was very high, and while not every project could be awarded funding, we will continue to encourage and support the efforts of our highly valued and active community groups who make such a difference to the services and facilities in our region,” Mr De Szell added.
The second round of $500,000 in funding will be made available in the middle of next year, for projects to be undertaken in 2018.