The Ballarat Foundation in partnership with Respect Victoria, with the support of the Minister for Prevention of Family Violence Ingrid Stitt, today announced the recipients of 11 grants to support the work of Respect Ballarat.
A community approach to preventing gendered violence, Respect Ballarat is a model co-designed with local people and organisations. It aims to reach the whole Ballarat community in all the places that people work, learn, live and play.
Beginning work in the coming weeks, funded organisations will deliver targeted 12-month prevention and early intervention initiatives that address the gendered drivers of violence.
The projects focus on building partnerships to further prevention work, building local knowledge and action, and exploring local solutions for prevention.
The initiatives include:
- work with young people in local sports clubs to tackle harmful gender stereotypes
- initiatives to support work with new parents to support safe and healthy families
- cross-sector partnership to build on respectful relationships work in local schools
- work in TAFE to build prevention understanding and confidence with educators and students, with a focus on unpacking harmful masculinities
- projects to equip male sports leaders with prevention knowledge, and to support them to safely put it into action on and off the field
- community-led prevention work with culturally diverse leaders, young people and families
- targeted approaches to prevention in local construction and trades settings
- a community-led approach to building young LGBTIQA+ people’s knowledge of healthy relationships, and how to recognise and respond to violence
The full list of funded initiatives and organisations can be found on the Ballarat Foundation website.
Dedicated funding was also announced for First Nations organisations, to support self-determined activities aligned to Respect Ballarat.
Women’s Health Grampians have been allocated funding to support local implementation, to continue their critical men’s engagement initiative and to deliver prevention work to support Ballarat women and gender diverse people with disabilities.
A new round of grant funding will be open for application from Monday 2 March, with a further $3.76 million available for organisations in Ballarat working to prevent gendered violence.
Funding will be available for up to two years of work that addresses the drivers of gendered violence and contributes to a reduction in the rates of intimate partner violence.
Grant streams are targeted and will align to the priority people and places of Respect Ballarat.
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Quote from the Minister for Prevention of Family Violence, Ingrid Stitt MP
Every woman and child deserves to feel safe – and that means investing in prevention before violence begins, backing local organisations and strengthening frontline responses.
Quote from Helen Bolton, CEO, Respect Victoria
The number of partnerships between local organisations being funded today is so important, building on work the community has been doing for years. Together they demonstrate how ready Ballarat is to come together to deliver a whole-of-community approach to preventing gendered violence. From sports clubs to schools to workplaces to families - when prevention threads are effectively woven across spaces and communities, change will ripple out.
Quote from Jacki Whitwell, Deputy Chair - Ballarat Foundation
These grants demonstrate the power of local partnerships to create lasting change. Ballarat has an extraordinary network of organisations committed to prevention and early intervention, and this program will help strengthen collaboration, build knowledge, and deliver practical solutions that make our community safer and more respectful for everyone.