The Andrews Labor Government is continuing support for multicultural community organisations providing essential services across Victoria with a fourth round of grants to assist the social and economic recovery from the pandemic.

Minister for Multicultural Affairs Ros Spence today announced an additional $3.5 million will be provided to Victoria’s multicultural and multifaith organisations through the Priority Response to Multicultural Communities program.

The program funds a range of services, including activities to reduce social isolation and improve access to health and mental health services for culturally and linguistically diverse community members.

Previous grant rounds have supported programs such as Multicultural Arts Victoria’s Duniya Behter program, which works with women from multicultural backgrounds in Bendigo and Shepparton to build creative small businesses.

Multicultural community organisations can apply for funding for a range of services, including the delivery of emergency food relief, transport to vaccination appointments, community support, training and mentoring, digital literacy and community-led health communications.

Applications are open until 10 April.

For more information on the program, visit  vic.gov.au/priority-response-multicultural-communities-during-coronavirus-covid-19.