25000 for community safety projects

Rotorua District Council (RDC) is inviting applications to its Community Safety Projects Fund for the 2011/12 year.

Up to $25,000 is being made available by the council for community group projects that have a positive impact on community safety and crime within the Rotorua district.

RDC community safety projects officer Amy Duckett says the purpose of the Community Safety Projects Fund is to provide local not-for-profit organisations with funding assistance to help them implement programmes that will reduce or prevent crime, enhance positive perceptions of safety in the community, or better equip an organisation to carry out these activities.

"The council wants to encourage more projects to be initiated by the community and for the community," she says.

Funding applications will be reviewed by the council's Community Safety Fund subcommittee comprising district councillors, a local police representative, a youth councillor, and a member of the Te Arawa Standing Committee.

Among last year's successful applicants were Western Heights Community Association for Project Guardian, which involves regular patrols reporting truancy, burglaries, wilful damage and tourist related crimes, and Western Heights Community Association for CACTUS (Combined Adolescent Training Unit and Support), an intensive physical training programme developed from the armed forces and targeting local high school students.

Others organisations to receive money from the Community safety projects Fund last year were the Sexual Abuse Centre for its Say No to Sexual Abuse project; Mahi Kai Outdoor Education Trust to run school holiday programmes for local young people; and Rotorua Multicultural Business Society, to create resources for local migrant business owners on dealing with difficult or aggressive customers.

Applications for this years fund close at 4pm, Friday 7 October 2011. Applicants are required to meet with Amy Duckett at Rotorua District Council prior to submitting an application, and will also need to be available for a meeting with the fund subcommittee in late October.

Application forms and detailed criteria are available online from the RDC website www.rdc.govt.nz or by contacting Mrs Duckett at the council on 351 8172.