More than 50 not-for-profit organisations have been announced as recipients of the first round of Northern Beaches Council’s Community Grants.

The grants will financially assist the staging of events, sport and recreation infrastructure upgrades and community and cultural development initiatives.

Mayor Michael Regan said Council’s grant program would bring economic, social, sporting and cultural benefits to the Northern Beaches.

“The Events Grants program, for example, aims to build the skills and resources of the community to facilitate the delivery of a rich and diverse calendar of events across the Northern Beaches.

“The focus is on new and innovative events and activities as well as assisting long standing community events that add value to our local villages and town centres.”

A total of fifteen applications for Events Grants received support to hold their events with eleven applicants receiving funding along with fee waiver assistance and the other four applicants receiving fee waivers. The total in grants and fee waivers awarded was close to $55,000.

“The good news is that there is still some monies available in this grant allocation and a second round will be offered shortly to allocate these monies for community events,” Mayor Regan said.

Recipients in the first round of Events Grants include the Frenchs Forest Lions Club for its Carols by Candlelight event, the Mona Vale Chamber of Commerce’s Autumn Festival 2019 and the activation of Seaforth Piazza via a partnership between Small Shift and Street Growth.

Council staff will provide support and assistance to applicants to assist in developing knowledge about the funding application process in the second round of Events Grants to be awarded later in the financial year.

In the Sport and Recreation Infrastructure Grants category, five clubs will receive a total of $100,000 for facilities upgrades. They include the Narrabeen Lakes Sailing Club, who will receive a grant for an upgrade to change rooms in its clubhouse at Jamieson Park and the Beacon Hill Junior Rugby League Football Club who will receive a grant for a canteen upgrade and a new undercover area at its clubhouse.

“We see increasing demand for sports grounds and facilities as more and more of our community get out and get active. These grants which support sport and recreational infrastructure help meet this demand, and this is good for the health and wellbeing of our community,” Mayor Regan said.

Among the Community and Cultural Development Grants received, 39 applicants were awarded an aggregate $240,000 in funding.

“Our grants are certainly in demand. We received 69 applications requesting more than $498,000 in our Community and Cultural Development Grants Program,” Mayor Regan said.

“These grants help deliver community and cultural benefits to the Northern Beaches community, and address a particular goal identified as a community priority in Council’s Community Strategic Plan”.

Successful recipients included Community Northern Beaches for several of its programs including Homeless Outreach Support and Personal Safety for Young Women, Literacy Network Manly Warringah Inc for its One to One Tuition for Adults program and Northern Beaches Interchange for The Carers CafĂ©.  

For more information visit northernbeaches.nsw.gov.au