Program overview

The Local Anti-Racism Initiatives Grants Program will fund First Peoples, multicultural and multifaith community organisations and groups to deliver community-led responses to racism. This program forms part of the Victorian Government’s vision for a more inclusive state under the Victorian anti-racism strategy 2024-29.

The first Local Anti-Racism Initiatives Grants Program 2021 saw significant benefits across the state, funding a total of 42 community-led projects spanning education, awareness and bystander activities, youth leadership, community sport and arts, community reporting, online racism support, and interfaith engagement.

Building on the success of the previous grants round, the 2024-26 program aims to increase:

awareness of racism and it’s impacts on individuals and the broader community
community capacity to effectively respond to racism
understanding of best practice initiatives to prevent and reduce racism
reporting of racist incidents through community-led and formal mechanisms
access by individuals and communities to appropriate and safe supports
community cohesion, participation and social inclusion.

Successful activities must be delivered between May 2025 and Friday 18 December 2026 and funding is available under two streams:

Stream 1: Up to $150,000 (GST exclusive) for First Peoples-led or community-controlled organisations to deliver local anti-racism initiatives.

Stream 2: Up to $150,000 (GST exclusive) for multicultural or multifaith community organisations to deliver local anti-racism initiatives.

Applications close on Thursday 6 February 2025.

This program recognises that while eliminating racism in Victoria is not the responsibility of First Peoples, multicultural and multifaith communities, these communities have the expertise, lived experience and specialised knowledge to deliver local community-driven responses. This program represents only one part of the Victorian Government’s efforts to combat racism in Victoria and will be delivered alongside other initiatives to address structural racism, as outlined in the Victorian anti-racism strategy 2024-29.

This is a competitive grants program administered by the Multicultural Affairs portfolio, in partnership with First Peoples – State Relations, in the Department of Premier and Cabinet.

Program objectives

Organisations and groups funded through this program must demonstrate how their activities will deliver at least one of the following four program objectives:

Understanding racism

Increase broader community understanding and awareness of racism, its impact and the importance of anti-racist behaviour and practices at the local level.

First Peoples history and culture

Promote awareness and understanding of First Peoples’ history and culture, and the historic and ongoing impacts of colonisation.

Capacity building

Support local communities and community organisations to build their capacity to respond to racism and support affected individuals.

Reporting and rights

Improve community reporting of racist incidents and understanding of people’s rights.

Program streams and funding

Across 2024-26, the total grant funding available is $2,441,500.

Eligible organisations can apply for grant funding under one of two program streams.

Activities must begin during or after May 2025 and must be completed by Friday 18 December 2026.
Applications are limited to one per organisation.
Auspice arrangements and partnerships are allowed.
Note: This is a highly competitive grant round and not all applicants will be successful in receiving funding. Additionally, due to the competitive nature of this program, we may allocate less than the amount requested to successful applicants.
Do not enter into financial or other commitments until you are formally notified of the outcome of your application.
Intersectionality
Intersectionality refers to the ways that different aspects of a person’s identity can expose them to overlapping forms of discrimination and marginalisation.
Additional considerations will be given to applications with a clear and demonstrated commitment to engaging First Peoples, multicultural or multifaith communities who are also part of the following priority communities:
- refugees and people seeking asylum, women, people with disability, seniors, young people, LGBTIQA+ communities, and regional and rural Victorians.

Types of activities that will be funded

Below are examples of the types of activities that will be funded through this grants round:

initiatives that establish new community-led reporting avenues, increase the awareness of existing reporting avenues and/or build community confidence to report racist incidents
initiatives that build capacity in communities to respond to racist incidents and provide culturally safe and accessible supports to affected individuals and communities
initiatives that promote awareness and understanding of First Peoples’ history and culture, and the historic and ongoing impacts of colonisation
activities focused on addressing online racism and on building capacity of online users to respond to online hate
projects that increase the availability of anti-racism materials, resources and supports within local community infrastructure
educational programs that build understanding of racism and individual rights, and/or facilitate anti-racist and anti-discrimination behaviours and promote social cohesion
arts, sports and youth programs that engage participants from diverse backgrounds and promote positive ways to address and respond to racism
activities that develop, strengthen or expand community networks, including building new networks and connections with different communities and organisations
action-based research generated through community projects, that respond to local challenges and align with program objectives.

Types of activities that will not be funded

These activities will not be funded through this grants round:

recurrent administrative, infrastructure and other organisational costs including the day to day running costs of an organisation
public liability insurance
set-up or running costs of a business
purchase of capital equipment (including hardware or software)
purchase or lease of buildings or land
travel outside Victoria
visits to Victoria from people or organisations from overseas
competitions, commercial, or fundraising activities
retrospective funding for projects or programs that begun prior to 1 May 2025 or have been completed prior to May 2025
expenses not related to the activity outlined in the application.

Updated 27 November 2024

Program overview

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