New baseball facilities at Wallington and a Geelong Eastern Park Bowls Club upgrade among 40 dynamic projects sharing in more than $3.1 million through the City of Greater Geelong’s 2021-22 Community Grants programs.
The City has endorsed the awarding of 34 Community Infrastructure Grants and five Geelong Heritage Grants totalling more than $3 million.
The Bellarine Bears Baseball Club will receive $350,000 through the Community Infrastructure Grants towards the development of fields, fencing, dugouts, scorers’ box, and lighting at Wallington Recreation Reserve.
Geelong Eastern Park Bowls Club, North Geelong Cricket Club, Newtown City Hockey Club and Manifold Heights Cricket Club will also receive Community Infrastructure grants of between $340,000 and $350,000 to deliver significant facility upgrades for club members and the wider community.
Geelong’s Lazarus Community Centre, which has supported about 400 people experiencing homelessness and disadvantage over the past 12 months, is also a recipient of a $350,000 Community Infrastructure Grant to enable the upgrade of its kitchen, bathroom and dining facilities.
Five restoration projects across Geelong, Fyansford, Portarlington and Lara will share in almost $100,000 under the 2021-22 Geelong Heritage Grants, which replaces the former Central Geelong Heritage Grants this year to open the funding stream to applications across the municipality.
For more information about City grants and the full list of successful 2021-22 Community Grant applicants visit https://www.geelongaustralia.com.au/grants/default.aspx
Mayor Stephanie Asher
Congratulations to the 40 successful grant applicants and thank you to the independent panel for their work in assessing applications against the relevant criteria.
The Greater Geelong community will benefit greatly from these diverse, inclusive projects initiated by a broad range of clubs and organisations and supported by the City through the three funding streams.
We recognise how important it is for our community to reconnect and re-energise after the challenges of the past two years; these projects can bring clubs and facilities back to life and inspire people to get involved.
Cricket nets and bowling greens at Lara, new fencing for the Grovedale Community Garden, a workshop extension for the Bellarine Woodworkers, a master plan to upgrade Geelong’s ballroom dance facilities and a refurbishment of the Hellenic Orthodox community hall are just some of the fantastic projects the Community Infrastructure Grants we’ll support.
Councillor Anthony Aitken
These grants are fantastic recognition for the hard-working volunteers who keep our community sporting clubs running.
This crucial assistance will help our community sporting clubs to provide the modern facilities they need to keep attracting and retaining members.
The reaction of members at Eastern Park Bowls Club when we visited to celebrate the news showed just how much this kind of funding means to clubs such as theirs.
