Reconnecting Regional Communities

The Memorial Hall reopening event

The focus of this event is to celebrate the re-opening of the hall after its redevelopment and to re-engage the community with the Hall showcasing the new facilities with the aim of re-invigorating events and building a stronger visitor economy.

A Resilience Expo

The focus of this event is on community resilience and recovery. The event proposes to hold speaking sessions from the various agencies and leaders in community resilience and recovery along with stalls and engagement activities. The event will have a focus on issues such as water, fire, climate change and drought.  The event should, where possible, involve local entertainment with a focus on health and wellbeing.

Community Events

Additionally, there is an opportunity for several community events to be delivered by businesses and organisations. It is the expectation that at least one event will be held in Dorrigo and Urunga and therefore encourages event organisers to consider these communities as part of their proposal.

Proposals should outline intended event activities and include a sound budget.

All events must meet the following criteria:

• be open to all members of the public
• be free to attend or a very small fee to cover any extra costs
• have a primary purpose of reconnecting communities and improving social cohesion of the local community
• be planned and delivered in line with the current COVID-19 NSW Public Health Orders at that time
• be held before 31 March 2023
• use local providers and businesses to support the event/s where possible

Ineligible Events

Events must not:

• have a primary purpose of fundraising
• have a primary purpose of financial gain for an eligible applicant or a sole stakeholder (events may have commercial activities as a part of the program for example, stalls at a market, food trucks at a festival)
• promote or be for political purposes.

Examples of ineligible events

Ineligible events under the Reconnecting Regional Communities – Community Events Program include:

• events with the primary focus on fundraising and charity events
• running grant programs
• business events and conferences
• events where membership is required to attend (for example, club gatherings including RSLs, Rotary, pony and golf clubs)
• country and agriculture shows
• grassroots sporting games (for example, home/away games, local tournaments)
• events with religious or cultural ceremony or celebration as the principal focus (for example, Diwali, Easter, Eid or Christmas celebrations)
• events/festivals already funded by the NSW Government
• Australian or State/Territory government owned and/or operated events.

Assessment criteria

All applications will be required to meet the eligibility criteria. Proposals will need to respond to each of the following assessment criteria to qualify for the opportunity to enter into an agreement with Council:

1. Positive social outcomes in local community

   Proposals must demonstrate that the proposed activities will rebuild local community cohesion and deliver positive social outcomes.

2. Local business support

   Proposals must demonstrate how the proposed activities will support local business.

3. Have a sound budget

   Proposals must provide a solid budget. Should your proposal be selected, your provided budget will form the basis of any agreement entered into with Council in terms of the delivery of the event.

4. Demonstrate extensive experience in the successful delivery of events

   This should include outlining the management structure and/or access to highly skilled and experienced persons or businesses to assist in the delivery of the event/s.

5. Provide a proposed delivery schedule of key activities/project plan of key milestones

     This is to demonstrate a good understanding of project planning and should include key deliverables.

Proposals will be received until 5.00pm Wednesday 15 June 2022.