Tuesday, 10 December 2019

Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation is pleased to announce our 2019 Innovation Grants supporting our four Impact Areas across Education & Employment, Environment & Sustainability, Healthy & Resilient Communities and Homelessness & Affordable Housing.

Twelve organisations received Seed Innovation Grants totalling $572,206. These grants support the research, testing and/or piloting of new ideas and creative solutions to current social and environmental issues. Seed Innovation Grants provide funding of grants up to $50,000 for one year.

Nine organisations received Scaling-Up Innovation Grants totalling $2,150,294. These grants support the next stage of the development process either through expansion or the replication of a proven innovation with the potential to be transformative on a broader community or systems level. Scaling-Up Innovation grants provide funding up to $300,000 over two years.

The Foundation's Chief Executive Officer, Dr Catherine Brown said, “This is an inspiring set of grants tackling big challenges in homelessness, affordable housing, rehabilitating our oceans, climate resilience and inequality of opportunity in education and employment. In the Innovation grants program, we demonstrate the critical role of philanthropic funding to explore innovative ideas and test and demonstrate solutions.”
 

2019/2020 Innovation Grant Recipients

Please click each of the Impact Areas to discover a list of this year's recipients.

  • Education & Employment

    Seed Innovation Grants

    Ability Works Australia LtdPilot to test enhancing the skills and independence of people with cognitive disabilities in the workplace.

    Ability Works is seeking to empower employees with cognitive disabilities in the workplace by improving their skills, independence and sense of achievement. To realise this, a Microsoft HoloLens headset using Mixed Reality is being programmed to pilot test whether this is achievable in a real-world manufacturing workplace.    		$50,000
    Centre for Policy Development LimitedCommunity Deals.

    CPD will extend the operating model and trial sites for Community Deals - a place-based approach to boosting economic and social participation for disadvantaged groups.    		$50,000
    University of MelbourneMaking education work for women: addressing Australia’s education-employment gap.

    Globally, Australia ranks #1 in gender equality in education, but only #45 in women’s economic participation (World Economic Forum 2018). This project will investigate the reasons for and impacts of such wide discrepancy.    		$49,424


    Scaling-up Innovation Grants

    Lively Community LimitedLively Home Care: Scaling an innovative model of intergenerational care.

    This project will enable Lively to scale up an innovative model of aged home care that employs and trains young people through this project. Lively aim to establish and refine a community-based operating model for the service that can be scaled rapidly, effectively and at low cost across Australia, driving change in the aged care sector towards a more positive future of home care.    		$207,327
    Victoria University'Third Space' Pedagogies Inspiring Disadvantaged Students in the West.

    The project will scale-up an innovative approach to STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) teaching and learning in Footscray. The approach involves creating a 'third space' – neither school nor work – in which students work together with teachers, industry and community to identify and address real-world problems.    		$300,000
  • Environment & Sustainability

    Seed Innovation Grants

    Australian Academy of ScienceOcean and Coastal Futures: A Ten-Year Strategy 2020-2030.
     
    This project will research requirements and content for The Ocean and Coastal Futures Ten-Year Strategy and will outline clear, actionable strategies for achieving healthy and resilient oceans and coasts for all of Australia.    		$50,000
    Landcare Australia LimitedBuilding capacity to support productive and environmentally-sustainable farming in Melbourne’s food bowl.
     
    The project will provide Landcare Australia staff with ‘Accounting for Nature’ training, focused on environmental monitoring and assessment of Natural Capital (water, soil, biodiversity, carbon, etc.) condition on farming properties. They will then research and develop simple, evidence-based Decision Guides for farmers to integrate sound management of soil, water and ecological conservation.    		$50,000
    University of Technology SydneyHelp our marine life to stop eating microplastic 'Junk' food.
     
    This project will clean-up marine microplastics by developing a mechanistic tool that concentrates microplastic particles into larger 'clumps' by exploiting their electrostatic quality. These clumps could then be easily removed with existing ocean-pollution clean-up technology.    		$50,000


    Scaling-up Innovation Grants

    Heytesbury District Landcare Network IncPositive impacts on Climate Change and Food Production from Increasing Soil Carbon.
     
    A new tillage technology has recently been established that enhances soil carbon, with approval from the Clean Energy Regulator to claim carbon credits. This project will help farmers adopt these methods and a range of other related practices, and work with the Clean Energy Regulator to ensure financial incentives can be claimed.    		$298,000
    The Trustee for The Nature Conservancy Australia TrustBringing Back Victoria’s Lost Oyster Reefs.
     
    The project aim is to restore native oyster reef ecosystems to improve Port Phillip’s biodiversity, fisheries and water quality and recover a near lost ecosystem from extinction. The project includes plans to leverage funding for a further 19 hectares within three years.    		$300,000
  • Healthy & Resilient Communities

    Seed Innovation Grants

    Great Ocean Road HealthFire Ready Apollo Bay.
     
    This project delivers a much-needed fire and emergency plan to the community of Apollo Bay and district. It employs a specialised consultant to develop an area wide community response plan though community-led consultation, education, communication and review.    		$44,900
    Monash UniversityImproving safe water access for better health and livelihood: Solar-driven Micro-desalination technology.
     
    This Oxfam-Monash partnership project aims to introduce an innovative water purification system for use in the areas most affected by poor water quality in rural off-grid Indigenous communities in north-central Victoria.  The aim is to enhance health and livelihood among people affected by water salinity.     		$50,000
    RMIT UniversityTackling hidden energy vulnerability through housing, energy and health collaborations.
     
    The research project aims to inform capacity building strategies for health organisations to mitigate energy poverty through integrated and collaborative service delivery and cross-sector policy development. Energy poverty is increasingly recognised as a health risk in Australia. Linking health care with energy support, which is traditionally not considered to be health-related, is an innovative approach.    		$49,918


    Scaling-up Innovation Grants

    Climate and Health Alliance IncReal, urgent, and now: the health impacts of climate change.
     
    This project supports health stakeholders to communicate global climate change as a human health issue and identify effective behavioural interventions to accelerate uptake and adoption of low and net zero carbon initiatives.    		$300,000
    Melbourne Community Television Consortium LimitedProject 1 Million - I am Australian.
     
    Using the power of social media video, Project 1 Million aims to decrease feelings or thoughts of racial bias within the wider Australian community, towards people of differing race, colour or religion. This project aims to be a flagship campaign for C31's social enterprise unit Community Builder.    		$150,000
  • Homelessness & Affordable Housing

    Seed Innovation Grants

    Monash UniversityUnequivocal Women’s Housing: Quality affordable housing and landscaping for women at risk of homelessness.
     
    This project addresses the need for user-focused feedback to provide a framework for future, affordable, fit-for-purpose housing types for women. The project will analyse a series of case studies of existing housing types; refuge, boarding house, tiny house, apartment, townhouse and family home, provided for women experiencing or at risk of homelessness.    		$33,631
    RMIT UniversityEnhancing support services for people with disability and complex needs in permanent supportive housing.
     
    This project will build an evidence base regarding the support needs of people with lived experience of homelessness and disability (including psychosocial) living in permanent supportive housing in the City of Melbourne. Using a case study methodology this project will develop key principles and strategies for a Disability Support and Systems Framework for this population.    		$46,333
    Western Community Legal Centre Limited (WEstjustice)International Students Accommodation Legal Service - Regulation of Unsafe Housing.
     
    WEstjustice will research how many international students reside in situations of precarious or unsafe tenure and how many 'rooming houses' exist in small CBD and inner suburban properties unsuitable for such use. This will help to improve oversight and enforcement under the Residential Tenancies and Public Health and Wellbeing Acts for inappropriate rooming house spaces and encourage students to report rogue landlords.    		$48,000


    Scaling-up Innovation Grants

    Jesuit Social ServicesRestore.
     
    Jesuit Social Services is piloting a therapeutic intervention program, RESTORE, at the Melbourne Children’s Court which applies Restorative Practice principles and offers a Family Group Conference process for civil cases involving young people who are using family violence in the home.    		$300,000
    MacKillop Family ServicesSafe relationships: working with young men who use violence.
     
    MacKillop will pilot an early intervention program with 50 young males (aged 12-17 years) and their families who have or show signs of potential violence or sexual violence in the family/home or dating contexts or have been exposed to family violence.    		$244,967
    McAuley Community Services for WomenTop of Shops Project Worker.
     
    Engagement of a Project Worker for two years dedicated to exploring and facilitating new accommodation opportunities for women who are or at risk of homelessness due to family violence and mental health.    		$100,000

 

Explore

Visit our Knowledge Hub
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Unequivocal Women’s Housing: Quality affordable housing for women at risk of homelessness
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Restoring Financial Safety: transforming financial security