Utilising funding from the Department of Families, Seniors, Disability Services and Child Safety, the Community Food Program focuses on enhancing food literacy, supporting personal health and community wellbeing, creating opportunities for employment and volunteering, and encouraging collaboration through food-based projects and social enterprises.
A total of 55 Neighbourhood Centres shared in $1.1 million of funding, each bringing creative ideas to life in their communities. The funded projects span a wide variety of initiatives, including community gardens, recipe books, cooking classes, food pantries, and community dinners. Spanning across all regions of Queensland, the projects are a delicious smorgasbord of local innovation and acknowledgement of existing community energy and expertise which highlight the necessity of food and its role as a connector.
In the initial funding round (April 2025) 45 projects were awarded a total of $1,031,875.71. Of these, 28 received their full funding request, two received slightly less due to specific program considerations, and 15 were offered additional financial support to ensure regional equity.
As NCQ’s first large-scale distribution of this kind, finance processes were refined to ensure timely payments and accurate remittance. By the end of June 2025, there was a remainder of $82,624.29 available to distribute, with plans made to reopen applications in July to provide Neighbourhood Centres who had not applied an additional opportunity to access funding.
In addition to the locally funded projects, NCQ is strengthening the Community Food Program by connecting with relevant local partners (Feeding Queensland Kids and the University of Southern Queensland), through narrative storytelling (video, photography, social media), and in regular communication with Centres (visits, emails, webinars and phone calls).
Funded by the Department of Families, Seniors, Disability Services and Child Safety