THE state government has announced grant funding to help two local businesses deliver services to Aboriginal people with a disability on the Central Coast and Lake Macquarie.
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Parliamentary Secretary for the Central Coast and the Hunter, Scot MacDonald, said the funding would assist the businesses to deliver services under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).
Mr MacDonald said Yerin Aboriginal Health Services, of Wyong, and Koiop Connect, of Charlestown, had secured a grant under the Making It Our Business program to deliver culturally appropriate support to Aboriginal people with a disability.
“We’re backing NSW businesses with grants and mentoring to help them scale-up and deliver new services for the NDIS and we want more Aboriginal businesses involved,” Mr MacDonald said.
“The grant funding of $630,000 to Yerin will help them expand their NDIS services and set up an NDIS support team that will work to increase participation in the NDIS for eligible Aboriginal participants on the Central Coast and ensure they develop individual NDIS plans that best support them, their carers, and their families.”
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Koiop Connect would use its grant of $409,925 to provide supported disability accommodation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, Mr MacDonald said.
Yerin chief executive officer Belinda Field said the grant would allow the organisation to address gaps that prevented Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from accessing culturally-responsive NDIS services in the region.
“It will help us increase partnerships and choices for our community,” Ms Field said.
“The team at Yerin will do this by helping them develop individual NDIS plans that are culturally responsive and also provide support to carers and their families.”
Koiop operations manager Jake Chatfield said there was a need for more Aboriginal community-controlled or Aboriginal-owned businesses that provided supported and culturally appropriate disability accommodation.
“The grant will allow us to employ an NDIS support team to address the gaps that have prevented eligible Aboriginal people with disability from accessing the NDIS,” Mr Chatfield said at the funding announcement.
