Twenty-seven community-led groups in remote, rural and regional NSW will share in AUD$912,505 awarded through the Resilience NSW Covid Regional Community Support (CRCS) programme.

Funded by the NSW Government and administered by the Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal (FRRR), the grants were allocated to grassroots community groups and not-for-profit organisations that helped their communities navigate the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.

NSW Minister for Emergency Services and Resilience and Minister for Flood Recovery Steph Cooke said the funding stream would help these groups build resilience and better mitigate the impact of pandemics and other disasters across their communities.

‘We awarded between $3,363 and $50,000 to organisations, to support a wide range of regional capacity-building initiatives to help enhance community wellbeing, create stronger local economies, and enable a greater ability to respond to future challenges,’ Cooke said.

‘The pandemic has posed plenty of difficulties for people and families in remote and regional areas over the past two years, and community-led organisations played an important role in navigating those challenges.’

Cooke said some of the common requests from community groups involved facility improvements, food security, and assisting with the increased demand on local services in flood-devastated areas such as the Northern Rivers.

‘We’ve been able to address some of these needs through this funding stream, to ensure these groups and the communities they work with are in better stead for the future.’