Tate Papworth
A number of western suburbs neighbourhood houses have been given a helping hand to boost their programs.
Melbourne Airport last week announced the successful recipients of the second round of its Community Grants, awarding $100,000 across 10 local projects run by Neighbourhood Houses.
The projects include mentoring and English-language programs for refugees, employment pathway programs for those re-entering the workforce and study group programs for young people and their families.
Sunshine’s Duke Street House was awarded a grant for its breaking digital barriers program.
The initiative will provide a no-cost IT device borrowing service for identified members of the Sunshine community who face cultural, linguistic, financial, social and physical barriers to accessing technology.
Loan laptops/ ipads will be provided with pre-paid internet connectivity, so that participants can continue with their socially-distanced educational and language programs.
Melbourne Airport chief executive Lyell Strambi said he was pleased to provide support local community houses, especially during COVID-19.
“We are proud to announce the successful recipients of our community grants program for another year, continuing our support for the local community,” said Mr Strambi.
“Being able to help fund services that community members can readily access and which are supportive of the airport’s surrounding communities is why we developed the community grants program.
“We have now awarded a total of $200,000 to Neighbourhood Houses over the past two years and are pleased to see the programs having real impacts within communities.”
