Connect In Real Life (IRL) Phase 2 - 2026/27

The Connect IRL Phase 2 grant aims to support children and young people aged 8-24 from identified priority youth cohorts. This has been influenced through the recent Space to Speak consultation.

• Access safe, welcoming and inclusive spaces to connect with others and participate in community life and build meaningful relationships and social connections that foster a stronger sense of belonging and inclusion.
• Receive enhanced and targeted mentoring including trauma-informed and lived experience approaches, and to enable mentors to more effectively support them to form meaningful connections in real life environments.
• Respond to emerging and locally identified needs through initiatives that strengthen community engagement and create opportunities for input in decisions that affect them.
• Develop skills, confidence and capabilities needed to navigate transitions, pursue education and employment opportunities and actively contribute to their communities through civic, leadership or through structured mentoring programs that promote healthy relationships, empathy, mutual respect, and active civic participation.
• Strengthen offline connections by delivering inclusive, pro-social activities and safe discussion spaces that support mental health, physical health, practical skill development and healthy relationships that foster mutual understanding, reduce isolation, and build peer networks — with a focus on those from marginalised, diverse, or geographically isolated communities.

Eligibility

All applicants are required to meet the following eligibility criteria to be eligible to apply for the grant program you must be:

• Not for profit companies limited by guarantee, registered with the ACNC and/or with DGR status.
• NSW associations or non-distributing co-operatives registered with NSW Fair Trading.
• Local Aboriginal Land Councils.
• Not-for-profit Indigenous corporations registered with the Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations.
• NSW local councils operating under the Local Government Act 1993.
• Not-for-profit entities incorporated under an Act of Parliament.
• Incorporated Association registered outside of NSW but with an Australian Registered Body Number (ARBN).