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April 03, 2020 at 4:32 PM

From the Ministry of Social Development

As part of the Government’s response to COVID-19, new funding is being prioritised to support community efforts on the ground. We recognise there are community groups and individuals doing critical work in the fight against COVID-19. This funding will allow them to continue to support their communities and help them through challenges they may face in the coming months.

What is the Grant Fund for and who can apply?

The Community Awareness and Preparedness Grant fund is available to Community based groups that are or will be providing essential community-led solutions to support local resilience and community wellbeing during the period of Covid-19 - Alert Level 4.

Grants allocated from the Fund will be one-off with priority being given to requests that support Maori, Pacific, older people, people with disabilities, people with current significant health considerations, migrant communities and people who are rurally isolated.

How much funding is available?

The fund has an initial cap of up to $5,000.00 (excluding GST) per request.

Requests that are more than the initial cap will be considered by exception and may require further documentation.

A total budget of $4.8M (GST exclusive) is available for allocation.

When will the Grant fund become available?

The fund is available from 26 March 2020 and will remain available until the fund has been fully allocated.

Community Awareness and Preparedness Grant Fund eligibility criteria

1. Must be a community-based group
2. Must provide details on:

• how use of the grant will contribute towards the provision of essential community-led solutions to support local resilience and community wellbeing in relations to Covid-19
• total grant amount and how the amount has been calculated
• must have confidence that the capability and capacity requirements needed to provide the community-led solution can be met.

Some examples of initiatives are:

• supporting community efforts to establish ways of maintaining links with, and supporting each other in new ways in light of social distancing and other possible requirements;
• translation services for published information;
• developing local plans to provide food and supplies for people not able to access these through fear of going out due to self-isolation concerns and implementing them;
• preparation of meals to be distributed from a central place like local Marae;
• wider assistance with self-isolation and development of community outreach programmes.

What we cannot fund:

• salaries or administration costs, activities that intend to generate profit, the promotion of commercial, political, or religious objectives, or the purchase of alcohol;
• wage subsidy or direct financial assistance;
• major changes in service demand on current services;
• grants are not to be for the sole benefit of one individual.

Click here for more information