- $80,000 in grant funding has been awarded to community-led projects in the Darling Downs South West region
- The GenQ Health and Wellbeing Queensland Grants Program aims to support the health and wellbeing of infants, children and young people
- Grants were awarded to initiatives that promote physical activity, nutrition, health literacy, wellbeing and/or health equity
Local communities across Queensland are being empowered to implement initiatives that improve the health and wellbeing of infants, children and young people through new grant funding.
Health and Wellbeing Queensland, the state's prevention agency, has awarded 25 community projects a total of nearly $400,000 in funding through its inaugural GenQ Health and Wellbeing Community grants scheme.
Grants were awarded to initiatives that promote physical activity, nutrition, health literacy, wellbeing and/or health equity in local communities.
That funding includes $80,000 delivered to four community projects in the Darling Downs South West region that successfully applied to the scheme.
- RHealth Limited, $20,000 - To increase the mental wellbeing of infants, children and young people in the Southern Downs community by supporting and educating parents and caregivers through active participation in workshops to promote positive mental health and wellbeing for themselves and the infants, children and young people they provide care for.
- Pittsworth State School, $20,000 - To create a purposeful, inclusive outdoor learning environment based on a cultural and natural play space to support children to be physically active, healthy, happy, confident, resilient, socially and academically successful learners, and to increase enrolments and attendance.
- Topology Inc, $20,000 - To mentor and facilitate the creative process and production of all-of community showcase performances in the Texas and Inglewood communities to build social capacity for the youth in the region, develop new peer connections and develop and strengthen inter-generational relationships, and develop a strong sense of place within the communities.
- Murilla Community Centre, $20,000 - To build caregivers' confidence and capability to seek information by improving connections to established community supports, through the Strong Start Program which is a community-based health promotion initiative to support children aged 0-4 years in rural communities to improve long-term outcomes.
Health and Wellbeing Queensland Chief Executive Officer Dr Robyn Littlewood said creating a generational shift was key to helping Queensland's children and young people live healthier more active lives.
'It's wonderful this Children's Week to acknowledge the communities across our state who are driving to improve the health and wellbeing of Queensland's more than 1.2 million children and young people,' she said.
'New research shows that a child born in the decade from 2023 may have a shorter life expectancy than their parents – we need to reverse this trend.
'These Community Grants are just one of the steps we're taking to deliver our GenQ vision so that children born today experience better health outcomes than the generations of Queenslanders before them.
'These grants will help make healthy happen faster for our state by driving innovation across key areas that have a huge impact on our health and wellbeing, and most importantly by supporting communities bring the ideas to life that will be most beneficial – because they know their own communities better than anyone.'
Click here for the full list of recipients.
