By Callum Ludwig
Round one of a grants program to help communities bounce back from the pandemic and the June 2021 storm event are beginning to open up.
The Yarra Valley and Upper Yarra Community Recovery Committees (CRCs) have opened applications for projects up to $10,000, with a greater amount available if a project can demonstrate how it meets one or more of the objectives across multiple communities and cohorts.
Co-Chair of the Valley Community Recovery Committee Leigh Harry said the initiative really will help people come forward and talk about the impacts they’ve suffered from Covid.
“Clearly, we’ve been through a couple of years now and unfortunately seems as though it will be lingering on a little while longer,” he said.
“What’s come out of the survey results is that it’s really led to a loss of confidence in the community in the sense of a real reluctance to engage and get involved in community activities because of the threat of Covid.”
There is a Valley CRC, Upper Yarra CRC, Hills CRC and Urban CRC to cover the whole municipality, with support from Yarra Ranges Council.
Mr Harry said the next step is to ask the community to come back with ideas to address some of their challenges.
“What do the community groups or individuals want to do? How can we bring the community back together and reduce the isolation that exists in the community at the moment and get people back into a more inclusive mindset,” he said.
“We don’t have fixed ideas about what the answers are here, it’s very much going to be a community-driven process. We have had indications from a couple of community groups already, who have told us they will certainly be putting applications in over the next few weeks.”
Mr Harry said communities thrive best when they are engaged, confident and have a sense of community working together on various objectives.
“Just the ability to come together and talk about the impacts, how it’s impacting on family life, how it’s impacting on partners, on jobs, all of those things. The more people share their experiences, the more we’re able to pull that knowledge together and come up with appropriate responses.”
The Valley CRC covers the communities of Badger Creek, Chum Creek, Dixons Creek, Gruyere, Healesville, Steels Creek, Yarra Glen and Yering.
The Upper Yarra CRC tends to the townships of Big Pats Creek, Don Valley, Gilderoy, Gladysdale, Hoddles Creek, Launching Place, McMahons Creek, Millgrove, Powelltown, Reefton, Seville, Three Bridges, Wandin, Warburton, Wesburn, Woori Yallock, Yarra Junction, Yellingbo.
Yarra Ranges Council Mayor Jim Child said the flood and storm event in June 2021 caused widespread damage in the Upper Yarra Region, and the recovery process from not just the storm, but the Pandemic is still continuing.
“Each community has had its own challenges and we know that the Upper Yarra Region was not exempt from the destruction of the storm and faced a significant flooding event. The pandemic also took a toll on people’s ability to engage and connect with their local community, particularly in the outer townships of the Yarra Ranges,” he said.
“Through their grants program Upper Yarra CRC, which has the support of Council and the Community Enterprise Foundation, will be able to assist local communities by prioritising activities or services that help individuals and community groups to rebuild, reconnect, and be ready to cope with future shocks and disruption.”
Chair of the Upper Yarra CRC Gordon Buller said he is hoping for some vibrant input from people anywhere from Wandin to Reefton and beyond.
“We are hoping there are some inspirational ideas of how we can get these communities and the general community to recover. We want them in as quick as possible with their ideas, and then we’ll help them develop them,” he said.
“The money’s there and it’s easily accessible. There are people that have that are suffering from not recovering quickly, people aren’t doing what they used to do three or four years ago, or they’re not as involved in the community as they were some time ago.
There will be various rounds of the program through to 30 June 2023, but community groups and individuals are encouraged to apply for the first round of the program.
Mr Buller said it’s all about trying to get people back to their old activities, involvement and the social atmospheres they frequented.
“This grant will all come back to community people, and we’ve got people in most of the towns in the Yarra Valley, spread from Wandin all the way up to Warburton East and in between,” he said.
“We’ve got a feel for what’s going on in the Valley and we want to try to get people a little bit more involved socially and to assist mentally and things of that nature.”
Information about the Valley grants program can be found here: https://www.yarraranges.vic.gov.au/recovery/Community-and-wellbeing/Regional-Community-Recovery-Committees/Valley-Community-Recovery-Committee
Information about the Upper Yarra grants program can be found here:
https://www.yarraranges.vic.gov.au/recovery/Community-and-wellbeing/Regional-Community-Recovery-Committees/Upper-Yarra-Community-Recovery-Committee
