$13 million for community inclusion
$13 million will be made available to organisations across the country as part of a new grant round designed to make the community more inclusive and support people with disability.
The Community Inclusion and Capacity Development (CICD) Program was established as part of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) to fund the Information, Linkages and Capacity Building (ILC) component of the NDIS.
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; it would fund activities for all people with disability including those who do not have an NDIS plan.
“This is a great opportunity for organisations across Australia to apply for funding to develop and share practical initiatives and information to drive change for all people with disability and communities to ensure everyone gets the support they need,” she said.
“There are many innovative ways to make our communities more welcoming and supportive for people with disability.
“One example could be a community awareness campaign to increase employment opportunities for people with disability.”
The focus of ILC is to make the community more accessible and inclusive to increase the independence, social and community participation of all people with disability.
ILC will start at different times across Australia, commencing first in the ACT in July 2017. In South Australia and New South Wales, ILC will start from 1 July 2018. In Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania and the Northern Territory, ILC will start from 1 July 2019.
The ILC National Readiness 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 ILC National Readiness Grants, the ILC Jurisdictional Based Grants in the ACT 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.