Disability Support and Inclusion Grants Open

Organisations wanting to increase community inclusion and support people with disability can apply for national funding from the federal government under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

Round two of the Information, Linkages and Capacity Building (ILC) national readiness grants, worth more than $25 million, are aimed at community accessibility and the ability to increase the independence, social and community participation of people with a disability.

Assistant Minister for Social Services and Disability Services Jane Prentice said the grant round was an open, competitive process, available to all eligible organisations.

“ILC is an important part of the government’s commitment to improving outcomes for all people with disability, not just NDIS participants,” Prentice said.

The first round of the grants, worth more than $14 million, was awarded to 39 projects to help connect people with disability to their communities.

“ILC grants have been awarded across a great spread of projects spanning education, employment, social participation, cultural awareness, sport and health,” Prentice said.

“The ILC national readiness grants have led to organisations like Deakin University expanding their ground-breaking ALLPlay program, providing opportunities for children to join in on sport and dance and creating a positive impact on physical and social development.

“The Sydney Region Aboriginal Corporation’s Aboriginal Aunts and Uncles project has also received grant funding to provide mentoring, participation and connection to community services for young Aboriginal people with disability in Sydney’s West.”

The funding priorities for the latest ILC grant round are:

• investing in activities that can be delivered nationally or across multiple states and territories;
• investing in the piloting of activities in a location which demonstrate scalability to other locations;
• investing in activities that reduce duplication and enhance quality and ease of access to information;
• investing in activities that involve a range of delivery channels including but not limited to web-based, face to face, phone-based, so that the diverse information needs of people with a disability are met; and
• informing development of models of good practice, including at the national level, to deliver ILC outcomes.

The grant round closes at 2pm on Friday 29 September 2017.
Further information about the grant round is available on the DSS Community Grants Hub website.