Parks Victoria's 2009-10 Healthy Parks Healthy People Grants for Community Groups are now open.

Applications close at 5pm, 24 July 2009.

Parks Victoria is committed to excellent relationships with the community. Our ability to continue to protect and enhance one of the world's finest network of parks, bays and waterways relies on the support of Friends Groups, volunteers and other community groups.

On the basis of empirical evidence supporting the health benefits of contact with nature, Parks Victoria is adopting a Healthy Parks Healthy People approach to enabling people to experience the health benefits associated with the precious natural environment. The Healthy Parks Healthy People Grants are one of the ways in which we develop and support projects that are important to communities, their health and that benefit Victoria's parks.

The 2009-2010 Healthy Parks Healthy People Grants:

• Help local groups to deliver projects which protect and enhance the natural, cultural and heritage values of parks and reserves;
• Provide diverse recreational, educational, cultural and tourism opportunities of importance to local communities;
• Facilitate the involvement of the wider multicultural community in environmental and recreational projects; and
• Increases community awareness and understanding of parks and their values.

Healthy Parks Healthy People Grants are available to community-based groups/not-for-profit organisations such as (but not confined to):

• friends groups
• service clubs
• cultural groups
• migrant resource centres
• schools
• historic societies

View and download information on the 2009-10 Healthy Parks Healthy People Grants.

Prospective applicants should contact the relevant Ranger in Charge for the park or reserve in which the group is planning to undertake the project to obtain an application form and to discuss the proposal. The application can be filled in with the assistance of local staff and must be endorsed by the Ranger in Charge prior to submission.

Projects will commence as soon as possible after the pool of projects are assessed and successful projects approved. They must be completed by 30 June 2010.

Please phone 13 1963 if you are unsure of who to contact or for any further advice.