The auDA Foundation is pleased to announce the 15 recipients of its 2023 community grants. The recipients will each receive $40,000 for projects that enhance the utility of the internet and promote digital inclusion and digital innovation.
The projects benefit one or more of the following five key cohorts:
- Rural, regional, and remote Australians
- Australians living with disability
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
- Older Australians (65 years+)
- Young Australians (12-24 years).
auDA Public Benefit Program Committee Chair Sandra Davey said “The auDA Foundation has been fortunate to contribute to various community initiatives aimed at enhancing societal wellbeing through the internet, including by improving access to digital health and education resources in regional Australia, as well as enhancing online safety for people living with disabilities. I extend my sincere congratulations to this year's recipients, and I’m looking forward to seeing the lasting impact of their initiatives.”
auDA CEO Rosemary Sinclair AM said “auDA is committed to improving digital inclusion and digital innovation for Australians as demonstrated by our support of more than 172 projects with over $4.5 million in funding. The auDA Foundation community grants form a central pillar of our vision to drive social and economic value for Australians through the internet.”
The 2023 auDA Foundation grant recipients are:
- Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN)
- Autism Spectrum Australia (Aspect)
- Enterprise Learning Projects
- First Nations Foundation
- Ishar Multicultural Women's Health Services
- Monash University and MJD Foundation
- Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yanunytjatjara (NPY) Women’s Council
- Red Nose
- Skyline Education Foundation
- Story Factory
- Success Works Partners Inc Ltd
- The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER)
- The University of Melbourne
- The University of Queensland – AustLit
- Youth Opportunities Australia Limited.
For more information on recipients see ‘Notes to media’ section below.
The recipients were formally announced last night at an event in Melbourne to celebrate the 2023 community grant round.
ENDS
| Recipient | Project name | Project outline | Beneficiary groups and locations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) | Digital Skills Finder: A freely available, national, digital capacity and skills hub for people with disability | Tackle barriers related to digital skills and capacity-building by creating a comprehensive and accessible map of available disability-centric digital literacy initiatives. | Australians living with disability National |
| Autism Spectrum Australia (Aspect) | Maternal healthcare for women on the autism spectrum: digital platform with educational information and resources for autistic women as well as healthcare practitioners | Develop a digital platform with educational information and resources for pregnant Autistic women as well as healthcare practitioners that address the challenges that women on the autism spectrum who are expecting typically face. | Australians living with disability Victoria |
| Enterprise Learning Projects | Empowering remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander entrepreneurs to design and deliver business literacy training for their own communities | Design a series of business literacy workshops that can be delivered in person or online, that are culturally responsive and accessible, and that are specifically geared towards remote Aboriginal entrepreneurs and their areas of need. | Rural, regional and remote Australia Northern Territory |
| First Nations Foundation | Digital expansion of the Indigenous Women's Financial Wellness project | Provide opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women to engage with culturally safe financial education and deliver a digital women’s financial network to support better financial outcomes. | First Nations peoples National |
| Ishar Multicultural Women's Health Services | Culturally and linguistically diverse youth digital inclusion and education | Deliver a program that aims to improve the digital literacy of young women aged 14-25 from culturally and linguistically diverse communities, in the form of workshops and education sessions to provide a culturally safe space for refugee and migrant youth to engage, interact and learn how to use the internet and digital technologies in a safe way. | Young Australians Western Australia |
| Monash University and MJD Foundation | A novel clinical monitoring and education platform for Indigenous Australians with rare neurodegenerative ataxias | Remove barriers to effective clinical monitoring and specialist care by developing an online platform that allows individuals with Machado-Joseph Disease (MJD) and their healthcare professionals to assess and track their disease, and to connect with specialist resources, from anywhere in Australia. | Rural, regional and remote Australia First Nations peoples Australians living with disability National |
| Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yanunytjatjara (NPY) Women’s Council | Improving Anangu nutritional and digital literacy in the NPY region | Revolutionise the way Anangu parents and carers access information about feeding their children. This project will improve the access to, and engagement with, targeted nutritional support and feeding guidelines and centres on the digitisation of resources, such as Anangu specific infant feeding guidelines. | First Nations peoples The Northern Territory South Australia, Western Australia |
| Red Nose | Safe Sleep for Bubs E-Learning project | Pilot a culturally appropriate Safe Sleep E-Learning package for professionals working alongside First Nations families that is designed by First Nations people for First Nations people. Develop digital content, pilot the e-learning modules with healthcare professionals in Victoria, conduct focus groups and refine the model ready for national dissemination. | First Nations peoples National |
| Skyline Education Foundation | VCE Education Support Access for Students in Regional and Remote locations. | Increase online courses for three popular VCE subjects on a platform that enables its use as a support tool by staff in the classroom and allows student access after class. The project deepens existing relationships in disadvantaged schools and encourages new partnerships to broaden access for VCE Students. | Young Australians Victoria |
| Story Factory | Digital creative writing resources: Increasing regional access to quality arts-based education | Develop a suite of online educational videos and worksheets designed to boost the literacy, creativity and confidence of 2,000 regionally based primary school students. These resources will be made available to under-resourced schools at no cost, promoting equitable access to high quality arts-based education that will expand young people’s academic and future employment horizons. | Rural, regional and remote Australia National |
| Success Works Partners Inc Ltd | EmpowerMe Hub – a transformative job-readiness platform for vulnerable women | The EmpowerMe Hub will be a transformative online job-readiness platform with a range of digital training and tools to enable vulnerable women to participate in the program, without discriminating on the basis of their location in Australia. | Rural, regional and remote Australia National |
| The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) | Engaging young women in digital technologies: Webinar series | In collaboration with CSIRO Education Outreach, ACER will develop and deliver a free webinar series for primary and secondary teachers on best practice for engaging young women in digital technology education. | Young Australians National |
| The University of Melbourne | Digital Resilience Ambassadors: building older culturally and linguistically diverse migrants' digital resilience and inclusive communities through intergenerational collaboration | Deliver an intergenerational Digital Resilience Ambassador program to improve older migrants' digital resilience to safely navigate the internet and use digital media to support personal and community wellbeing. The project will focus on Chinese and Sri Lankan communities and facilitate the collaboration of international students with older migrants. | Older Australians Victoria |
| The University of Queensland - AustLit | Designing for digital inclusion: Cross-curricular learning environments on AustLit | Harness AustLit’s extensive data-networking capabilities to build three dynamic digital learning environments for educators and young people across the Australian National Curriculum’s priority areas: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Histories and Cultures, Asian-Australian Engagement, and Sustainability. The resource will make interdisciplinary knowledge accessible and enhance digital literacy. | Young Australians National |
| Youth Opportunities Australia Limited | PROSPER: Supporting young people across South Australia to be personal leaders | Launch project PROSPER online after its initial pilot period (2020-2023). PROSPER programs equip young people in need or at risk with enterprise skills for the future and develop confidence, wellbeing and resilience. PROSPER is ready to be offered to graduates regardless of location through online group sessions, webinars, digital collaborations and engagement opportunities. | Young Australians South Australia |