Ballarat City Council has received $700,000 in funding from the state government to improve public safety, with the money to be spent on building community relationships, delivering crime prevention activities and moving vulnerable people away from a life of crime.
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Member for Wendouree Juliana Addison and Member for Buninyong Michaela Settle made the announcement, attended by Ballarat mayor Daniel Moloney, city CEO Evan King and members of community groups, at the Ballarat Library on Thursday morning.
"It's about talking to the community about what solutions they want to see," Ms Addison said.
"We're going to be working very closely with over 18 community groups to come up with great ideas: whether that be Federation University, Ballarat Community Health, BADAC or Women's Health Grampians, this a great opportunity for a community response."
Ms Settle, who was on the City of Ballarat's Community Advisory Safety Committee prior to her election, says she knows the council is committed to community safety.
"This $700,000 will contribute to finding ways to prevent crime," she said.
"It is about keeping people safe and making people feel safe, and importantly for me it's about trying to address the reasons why crime is committed. It's about trying to support our communities that might have gone astray.
"I know that council is really committed to looking after the vulnerable and disadvantaged in our community. This $700,000 will go towards creating strategies for inclusion because we know the way to prevent crime is through inclusion for all in the community."
Cr Moloney reiterated the need for the money to be used in collaboration with community groups and organisations across Ballarat.
We can't help young people if we can't hear them
- Marianne Hendron, Grampians Womens' Health CEO
"In my time as mayor we consistently hear form different parts of the community about perceptions of safety issues - from the African community, from women's and girls' groups, even from the LGBTQIA+ community who tell me, while we're generally a safe place to live, there's so much more we can do to improve our perceptions of safety," he said.
"Our crime stats as a city are relatively low compared to some parts of metropolitan Melbourne and that's what's attractive about Ballarat, but our community has told us they want us to be a more inclusive place, they've said that to us during our council planning process, and there is so much more we can do.
"You should always feel safe and free to be who you are, no matter the colour of your skin, religious background, any other thing which differentiates us - we should be celebrating our diversity."
Women's health Grampians CEO Marianne Hendron said the funding was welcome and an opportunity for the community and city to design tailored prevention initiatives.
Speaking as part of the community partnership which sought the funding, Ms Hendron said there was real excitemnt about what the funding could mean.
"What's really going to make a difference is the long-term addressing of what causes people to be unsafe and what causes crime in the first place," she said.
Some of the advocacy programs put forward as being part of the thinking behind the funding was 'Youth Equality For All', giving young people to speak publicly about their experiences.
"We can't help young people if we can't hear them," Ms Hendron said.
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