Leadership and development the focus of $350,000 Wheatbelt South drought preparedness grants from FRRR

The Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal has announced that Corrigin, Lake Grace and the Shire of West Arthur will share in a $350,000 tranche of a $3.7 million Statewide drought resilience funding package to be spread across WA. “These grants will create opportunities for communities to increase social connection, strengthen network opportunities and identify and adopt innovative and transformative ways to build drought resilience,” FRRR disaster relief and recovery lead Nina O’Brien said. Delivered in partnership with the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation, the funds will be fed by the FRRR’s community impact program to locally led organisations. Corrigin Farm Improvement Group will receive the lion’s share of the funding with $73,000 earmarked for co-ordinating community impact programs across the Wheatbelt South in partnership with the FRRR. “The collaborative nature of the community impact program has been well received by local groups,” Ms O’Brien said. “They have really stepped up, coming together to shape local solutions to increase understanding and provide practical solutions that make sense at a local community level.” The Corrigin growers group has been also been awarded $120,000 to build skills and deliver training and leadership workshops across the region to enable communities to respond to drier times. “We look forward to seeing the impacts of these projects as they roll out over the next two years,” Ms O’Brien said. The Shire of West Arthur was awarded $100,000 to drive economic and business diversification through collaboration and co-ordination in the community and the Lake Grace CRC will get $50,000 to fund youth networking and events in an effort to develop future leaders.