Community Response Fund

The 2009 Budget has confirmed $40 million in the first year for a Community Response Fund to assist those organisations facing cost and demand pressures to deliver vital social services.

The Fund is a short-term response to immediate pressures and has two key components:

• Financial Crisis Funding - for providers of community-based critical social services who are experiencing severe financial difficulty and are unable to maintain the level of their services as a  direct result of the impact of the economic downturn on their non-government funding.
• Demand Funding  - for providers of critical social services that are experiencing significantly increased demand for their services from families, children, young or older people because of the economic downturn. For example, this might include budget advice services dealing with more families seeking help to manage their finances.

Details about the application process will be available in the next couple of weeks on www.familyservices.govt.nz.