2023 Grants

2023 Grants: $400,000 over two years to help child protection programs become financially sustainable

6 November 2023

We are pleased to announce that Mackillop Family Services and Odyssey House Victoria have been selected to receive $100,000 per year for two years to transition their Westpac Group funded programs to a sustainable model or support their next funding opportunity.

The grants were offered as part of a competitive process under our 2023 Future Focused Grants program and extended by invitation to existing Safer Children, Safer Communities grant recipients who have not received any additional funding to date.

Mackillop Family Services previously received a 2020 Scale Grant to implement their ‘Power to Kids’ program - an evidence-based program focused on preventing sexual exploitation of vulnerable children in residential care in Australia. Funding from the 2023 Future Focused Grant will help employ an advocacy specialist to work with government and other stakeholders to outline the need and impact of Power to Kids and to secure funding and support the continued access of Power to Kids for all Australian residential care providers. The program will also be extended as a fee for service model to schools across Australia, which in turn will help sustain their Power to Kids program.

Odyssey House Victoria’s (OHV) previously received a 2021 Scale Grant for their ‘Kids in Focus’ program to better address intergenerational child sexual abuse in highly vulnerable families where there is parental alcohol and other drug use (AOD). Funding from the 2023 Future Focused Grant will be used to develop an online training module aimed at building capacity across the AOD sector. The training module will be piloted with local AOD services at no cost through the Odyssey Training Institute, and it is anticipated that subsequently, Odyssey Institute will be able to deliver the training using a fee for service model and sustain the Kids in Focus program.

Congratulations to Mackillop Family Services and Odyssey House Victoria.