Media Release by The Hon Jane Prentice MP

$3 million to make ACT more inclusive

Up to $3 million will be made available to organisations as part of a new grant round designed to make the community more inclusive and support people with disability in the ACT.

As part of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), Information, Linkages and Capacity Building (ILC) will support all people with disability, including those who do not have an NDIS plan.

The Hon Jane Prentice, Assistant Minister for Social Services and Disability Services, said unlike the rest of the NDIS, ILC would not provide funding to individuals; rather it will fund activities for all people with disability including those who do not have an NDIS plan to ensure everyone gets the support they need.

“As the first jurisdiction to move into ILC, the ACT has an opportunity to develop activities that meet local needs and help establish the foundation for activities with a broader geographic reach,” Mrs Prentice said.

“This is a great opportunity for organisations to apply for funding to develop and share practical initiatives and information to drive change for people with disability and communities in the ACT.

“There are many innovative ways to make our communities more welcoming and supportive for people with disability.

“An example could be a website about disability which provides access to high quality, relevant and timely information to support people with disability to make informed decisions.  

“We look forward to receiving submissions from a range of organisations which will achieve great outcomes for people with disability, regardless of whether they are NDIS participants or not.”

The Community Inclusion and Capacity Development (CICD) Program was established as part of the NDIS to fund the ILC component of the Scheme.

The focus of ILC is to make the community more accessible and inclusive to increase the independence, social and community participation of people with disability.

The ILC Jurisdictional Based Grants will fund activities that deliver outcomes for people with disability, their families and carers in the following four activity areas:

  1. Information, linkages and referrals
  2. Capacity building for mainstream services
  3. Community awareness and capacity building
  4. Individual capacity building.

ILC will start at different times across Australia, commencing first in the ACT in July 2017.

The ACT ILC Jurisdictional Based Grants are an open competitive process, open to all eligible organisations. The grant round closes at 2pm AEDT on Wednesday 8 March.

In addition to the ACT Jurisdictional Grants, the National ILC Readiness Grants are also now open.

Further information about the grant rounds is available on the DSS Community Grants Hub website.

Background

The National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) recently released the ILC Commissioning Framework that explains how the NDIA will implement the ILC Policy that was agreed by all governments.  

The NDIA has released a webcast on the NDIS website that provides information about both funding rounds, including the process for applying, the selection criteria and key dates.

There is an ILC Toolkit available on the NDIS website to help organisations increase their understanding of ILC, improve their grant management skills and improve their understanding of, and skills in, measuring outcomes for people with disability.