SA councils invited to apply for Early Childhood Community Innovation Grant

The Department for Education has partnered with the Local Government Association (LGA) to provide South Australian councils with the opportunity to apply for the Local Government Early Childhood Community Innovation Grants (Local Government Early Childhood Grants).

 

Funding amounts between $15,000 up to $30,000 are available under the grant allocation, which opened at 9am on Monday 24 January and which closes at 4pm on Friday 4 March 2022.

 

This one-off competitive grant opportunity responds directly to the Australian Early Development Census (AEDC) results which notes that almost a quarter of South Australian children are classed as ‘developmentally vulnerable’ on one or more domains when starting school. 

 

The Local Government Early Childhood Grants will provide an opportunity for councils and local communities to respond directly to the AEDC results by considering the needs of children aged birth to five years of age and their families. The aim of the grants is to increase the proportion of South Australian children developing on track in all five of the AEDC domains.

 

The South Australia Early Learning Strategy 2021 to 2031: All Young Children Thriving and Learning notes the importance of councils in supporting community wellbeing, health and learning outcomes for children in the early years. The Local Government Early Childhood Grants provide support in developing foundational skills needed for future prosperity.

 

South Australia’s 68 councils and South Australian regional Local Government Associations have been invited to apply for the once off funding which is designed to support councils in the delivery of local and community-led programs that prioritise early childhood development and learning.

 

Initiatives should build the capacity of councils to create long-term partnerships with community stakeholders to deliver innovative early years-focused activities, with a total of $180,000 in competitive grants available in the pool. 

 

The grants approval team are looking for projects that:

 

• target children aged birth to five years of age
• improve council capacity in co-designing local responses in partnership with community needs and stakeholders
• build or enhance long-term strategic partnerships in early childhood development
• include funding or in-kind contributions from councils or other partners and;
• fund new or significantly adapted projects, not pre-existing projects.

 

The grant program is aimed at reducing development gaps in South Australia’s young children, supporting a world-class early learning system to enable councils to work with their local communities to achieve the Project Outcomes.

 

For more information or to apply please see here.