A Torres Strait Island women’s leadership program, sexual violence awareness workshops, and an all-female produced podcast series are among 29 initiatives to receive funding in the latest Investing in Queensland Women Grants round.
Attorney-General and Minister for Women and Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence Shannon Fentiman said the successful organisations would share in $270,000 in funding.
“Once again, the level of interest in the Investing in Queensland Women Grants program and standard of applications across the State has been extremely high,” Minister Fentiman said.
“It’s reassuring to know that so many community and grass-roots organisations share our Government’s vision for women and want to address the issues faced by women and girls across the state.
“The successful organisations will each receive grants of up to $15,000 to put their ideas for empowering women into action, boosting our economy and our communities.
“I congratulate all the successful recipients in this round and acknowledge their hard work in making Queensland a safer place for women and girls.”
The successful initiatives will be delivered in most areas of the state, with Far North Queensland receiving the highest number of winning grants in this round.
Ten of the initiatives will coincide with Queensland Women’s Week in 2023.
Minister Fentiman said it was exciting to see the diversity of projects.
“This includes women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, the LGBTQI+ community, victims of family and domestic violence, older and younger women,” she said.
“A number of the projects celebrate women who have achieved in business, sport, construction, and other fields to showcase their skills and inspire others to succeed.”
Among the funded initiatives in this round are:
- the ‘Deadly women of the Torres Strait’ program, which will deliver women’s leadership and training in the region including Certificate 1 qualifications in tourism and business
- a series of focused workshop consultations with girls aged 12-17 and women to break down barriers to reporting sexual violence in the Northern Peninsula Area
- ‘Tapestry Tales’, an all-female produced podcast series which will be a platform for women to support their empowerment.
- the Mshauri program, which will deliver mentorship workshops in Ipswich to female high school students from African backgrounds, who are typically under-represented in STEM and law-related courses.
- ‘This is Us’, a photographic portrait and digital media collection that will recognise and celebrate 30 women in business in the Gladstone region.
Minister Fentiman encouraged organisations that were unsuccessful in this round to keep developing their ideas.
“Since launching the Investing in Queensland Women grants program in February 2021, with over 120 grants provided, totalling more than $1 million to support community initiatives,” Minister Fentiman said.
“It’s been a great success to date, so I really do urge organisations to start thinking about creative new initiatives and partnerships that support women and girls and apply for the next round of the grant program, which opens in February.”
