Western NSW Local Health District (WNSWLHD) is encouraging people who are passionate about improving their community's health to apply to take part in the 2025 Building Healthy Communities Challenge.
The WNSWLHD Building Healthy Communities Challenge was established this year by the District's Health Promotion team to help smaller communities take control of improving their overall health, by providing up to $12,000 in funding and intensive support to deliver a community-led health initiative.
WNSWLHD Health Promotion Coordinator Hayley Vaughan said applications are open to any community group in a town or community with less than 5,000 people who has an idea for an initiative which could improve people's health.
"Leading a healthy lifestyle reduces the risk of illness and prevents unnecessary visits to the doctor or hospital. We're committed to working with our communities to help them take steps to improve their overall health, and build knowledge too," Ms Vaughan said.
"The Building Healthy Communities Challenge is designed to provide more opportunities for people and communities to do that, which is particularly important in smaller areas of our District which can be geographically isolated and may have poorer health outcomes than larger towns.
"We encourage communities to apply if they have an idea which could increase physical activity or healthy eating in their community, reduce smoking and vaping rates or establishing infrastructure which promotes healthy living.
"Any idea is a good idea, big or small, and they could be as simple as implementing a regular walking group or setting up community gardens to grow healthy food."
WNSWLHD Health Promotion Officer Kelly Cook said an independent panel will assess applications and select two towns to compete in the friendly competition.
"The two chosen towns will each receive $8,000 in funding assistance and intensive support from the Health Promotion team to establish and implement their initiative, and we will also provide additional resources and assistance with promotion too," Ms Cook said.
"The challenge is designed to promote longevity of initiatives. After the challenge period, an independent panel will assess the success of each initiative and crown a champion to receive additional funding support of $4,000 to help establish the idea long-term.
"Our team will also work with the winning town to help embed the initiative long-term. It's incredibly exciting to establish the challenge this year, and we will thoroughly evaluate its success in the hope of expanding in future years."
Applications for the Building Healthy Communities Challenge will be open from Monday 2 September 2024 to Friday 11 October 2024. Applications will then be reviewed, and successful towns notified before the challenge period between 4 November 2024 and 4 April 2025.
