Minutes
 |
Councillor Grants Committee Meeting
Thursday, 9 November 2023
5.00pm
Level 12, Boardroom
126 Church Street, Parramatta
City of Parramatta Council –Councillor Grants Committee – Minutes – 9 November 2023
Jon Greig, ED Community Services (Chairperson),Cr Kellie Darley (online), Cr Angie Humphries (online), Cr Sameer Pandey (online), Cr Donna Wang
COUNCIL STAFF
Group Manager Social & Community Services - David Moutou, Community Capacity Building Manager - Rodrigo Gutierrez, Community Capacity Building Lead - Tanya Owen (online), Program Officer, Artist Studio - Claire Finneran, , Acting Manager, Environmental Sustainability (in City Assets and Operations) - Nishan Adhikari, Research & Collection Services Coordinator - Janelle Blucher (online), Senior Events Officer - Jackson Morphett, Community Capacity Building Lead - Lucy Brotherton, Community Grants Officer – Stephanie Raileqe, Senior Community Development Officer - Hatice Vural, Sustainability Officer - Lisa Kollaras (online), Community Capacity Building Lead - Sharmila Falzon, Group Manager Environment and Sustainability - Anthony Collins, Community Capacity Building Lead - Will Langbein-Pass and Marina Cavar – Council Secretariat and Policy Officer (Minutes)
1. OPENING MEETING
The Chair, opened the meeting at 5.03pm.
2. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TO TRADITIONAL OWNERS OF LAND
The Chair acknowledged the Burramattagal people of The Dharug Nation as the traditional owners of this land, and paid respect to their ancient culture and to their elders past, present and emerging.
3. WEBCASTING ANNOUNCEMENT
The Chair advised the Committee that the meeting is being recorded via Microsoft Teams for minute taking purposes.
4. APOLOGIES
That an apology on behalf of the Lord Mayor Councillor Esber, be accepted and a leave of absence be granted.
5. Declaration of Interest
There were no declarations of interest by Committee members for this meeting. David Moutou, on behalf of all staff, noted that Conflicts of Interest are recorded and managed throughout the assessment process.
6. Sustainable School Grant
RECOMMENDATION:
The City of Parramatta provides annual grants and subsidy to educational institutions within the City of Parramatta local government area, to increase uptake of Kitchen Garden Programs, cycling programs, biodiversity-based citizen science projects, improved school ecosystems, and incursions/excursions. This round has received applications from 5 schools;
· Cumberland HS,
· Epping After School Care,
· Epping PS,
· Parramatta East PS,
· Toongabbie PS.
The five recommendations were noted and supported by the Committee.
ACTION ITEM - Nishan Adhikari: Clr Darley asked; Can we get a list of the schools that benefited from the incursions last year?
ACTION ITEM – David Moutou: Clr Pandey asked a question; How do the schools acknowledge and recognise the City of Parramatta when they receive grants? David Moutou to include with Council Report Guidelines for how Grant recipients should acknowledge and recognise City of Parramatta in the delivery of their funded projects.
7. OVERVIEW OF APPLICATIONS AND ASSESSMENT PROCESS
ACTION ITEM:
Councillor Darley asked that on the grant applications summary page for 2025 Grants Round the following information be provided;
(a) Has the applicant received a Grant before and if so when?
(b) Is the applicant based in the City of Parramatta LGA?
8. RECOMMENDATIONS & DISCUSSION, BY CATEGORY:
Rodrigo Gutierrez provided an overview of the Annual Round of the Community Grants, sharing the one page summary of the status of funding pools after initial recommendations, noting the staff recommendation for the use of unallocated funds.
· Cultural Heritage & History Projects Fund
Janelle Blucher presented the category,2 applications received and both are recommended and supported by the Committee.
1. Indian Crisis and Support Agencies
2. Parramatta Heritage Partners
· Community Events Grant
Jackson Morphett presented the category, 13 applications received, the following 8 were recommended and supported by the Committee;
1. Somali Welfare and Cultural Centre
2. Deaf Connect
3. Sri Om Foundation Limited
4. Parramatta Queer Forum (Auspiced by ACON)
5. Little India Australia
6. Chant Raat EID Festival
7. The Hellenic Orthodox Community of Parramatta and Districts
8. Mother’s Day Classic
Clr Darley asked a question regarding the assessment criteria; Regarding the application by Christian City Church Carlingford Ltd she believes that they addressed the criteria, specifically the weighting, however is concerned that they didn’t receive funding and would like them to be considered as part of the ‘unallocated funding’. This was flagged as something to be discussed at the completion of the category run throughs.
· Growing Social Enterprise in Parramatta Fund
Lucy Brotherton presented the category, 11 applications received and the following 5 were recommended and supported by the Committee;
1. Green Connect Social Enterprise
2. Taste Cultural Food Tours Inc
3. Australian School of Entrepreneurship
4. The Freedom Hub
5. Convict Fitness – Noting that the initial recommendation makes use of available funds and staff recommend adding additional funds from the unallocated amounts from the other categories.
Note: Clr Pandey highlighted the need to further support Convict Fitness if there is unallocated funding available. This was flagged as something to be discussed at the completion of the category run throughs.
ACTION ITEM - Lucy Brotherton : Clr Darley asked a question; How much did ‘Pitch for Good’ raise?
· Creative Projects Fund
10 applications received, the following 3 were recommended for recommended and supported by the Committee;
1. Operated Coin – Garden Of Sound
2. Dance Makers Collective
3. West Words
· Parramatta Artists’ Studios Creative Fellowship Fund
18 received, the following 2 were recommended and supported by the Committee;
1. Bonnie Huang – Artist
2. It was noted that staff recommend that Owen Leong – Solo Exhibition – receive a skills development grant from any unallocated funding. This was flagged as something to be discussed at the completion of the category run throughs.
ACTION ITEM – Rodrigo Gutierrez: Clr Darley wants a comparison of number of applications to the Parramatta Artists’ Studios Creative Fellowship Fund from last year to this year mentioned in the report that will go to Council.
· Community Capacity Building Grant
Rodrigo Gutierrez presented the category, supported by members of the Community Capacity Building team, 37 Applications received, the following 22 were recommended and supported by the Committee;
1. Christian Community Aid
3. Y NSW – Y Cultivate
4. Royal Lifesaving Australia
5. Arts and Cultural Exchange
6. UCA Parramatta Mission
7. Warrior Woman Foundation
8. Fitted for Work
9. Side by Side Advocacy
10. Chinese Australian Services Society Limited
11. Success Work Partners
12. South Asian Australian Association
13. Allowah Presbyterian Children’s Hospital
14. Dundas Area Neighbourhood Centre
15. Boronia Mulitcultural Services
16. Western Sydney Community Forum
17. Solve TAD Limited Trading as Freedom Solutions
18. Community Connections Australia
19. Western Sydney Orchestra Project
20. Indian (Sub-Cont) Crisis & Support Agency
21. West Words
22. Sydney Queer Muslims Inc
23. Story Factory
Note: Councillors Pandey, Wang and Humphries left the meeting at 6.30pm. at this point in time the Chair determined that there was no quorum. The meeting was closed. The remainder of the meeting was conducted as a briefing for questions and answers related to the individual applications. No further decisions were made.
The committee agreed to determine how to utilise the $19,155.34 in unallocated funds by email communication.
9. NEXT STEPS
ACTION ITEM: Workshops on writing grant applications to be run early next year.
10. CLOSE OF MEETING AND NEXT MEETING DATE
Meeting closed at 6.54pm.