In This Issue:

• Welcome from the Chair
• Access a Wealth of Data and Knowledge and Find Funding for Your Project
• Is Migration the Key for Future Growth?
• $2.7M for Upgrades to Armidale’s Iconic Saumarez Homestead
• Featured Grants and Funding Opportunities
• What's On in the Northern Inalnd

Welcome From the Chair

Dear Northern Inlanders,

Welcome to another bumper newsletter. This month we’re pleased to profile some of the economic data we subscribe to and make available to organisations and groups throughout the region – a valuable evidence base for business cases and grants for all sectors. Next month we hope to be able to bring you an insight into our region’s in/out migration data; where do people come from who move to the Northern Inland and where do our leavers go? We’ll take a deep-dive into each of the 12 Local Councils that make up this region and investigate the ebb and flow of residents.

We can already tell you that our population growth within the region, like the nation’s, is due heavily to net overseas migration. RDA Northern Inland is a Regional Certifying Body for the Department of Home Affairs. Through the arrangement this year, we will assist over 400 skilled migrants and their dependents, from all corners of the globe, to call our region home and contribute to our communities’ growth and good fortune. These are jobs that employers have tried to fill unsuccessfully with local talent, who can use this program to grow and maintain their businesses – a win/win for employers and our towns and cities.

Regards,

Russell Stewart
Chair

Access a Wealth of Data and Knowledge and Find Funding for Your Project

Welcome to the third and final instalment of our series on how we promote economic growth within the region. In this article, discover the wealth of data that we can share with you, the services we can provide and how we are helping increase the number of funding opportunities provided to the region.

Regional Economic and Community Profile Data
Through REMPLAN economic modelling software, access to over 700+ IBISWorld Industry Reports, 2,000+ Company Reports and our own in-house expertise, RDA-NI has access to a wealth of economic and business data that can assist in economic analysis, business planning and be used to support funding applications. By subscribing to the REMPLAN software for the region, we make data available that would be unaffordable for individual organisations to otherwise access.

Through the regional data section of our website, you can access REMPLAN’s:

• Community Profile for the Northern Inland, which incorporates data from multiple Government sources, including the Australian Bureau of Statistics Census for 2016, 2011, 2006, 2001, 1996 and 1991, which provides valuable insights into the unique characteristics of our communities and the changes that have occurred over time.

• Economic Profile for the Northern Inland which provides headline stats on local population, employment, output, tourism and gross regional product. You can explore and understand our economy in terms of industry contributions, the role of tourism, workforce characteristics and trends.

RDA-NI also maintains an interactive Investment Profile, which contains information on investment opportunities and major projects for the Northern Inland. If you have a project that you would like to include, please email us at mailto:rdani@rdani.org.au.

Research and Consultancy Services
Alongside the projects that we run to promote economic growth in the region, we also provide research and consultancy services through a user-pays system. By utilising our funding from the Australian Government, we are able to provide these services at a subsidised cost to other not-for-profits, private sector businesses and Local Councils in the region. All income produced through this user-pays system is returned the region through various projects and initiatives.

Our unique capabilities, robust local knowledge and impartiality are preferred over the costly metropolitan cut-and-paste approach and has achieved positive outcomes for the organisations we have worked with. For various reasons, including confidentiality, a lot of the work is unseen by the public and unsung by RDANI, but it makes a positive contribution to the economic growth of the region. Find out about the services we can provide and we can help your organisation or project on our website here.

Information on Grants and Funding Opportunities
There are a wide range of grants available and they are a great way to get some extra cash flow or to access in-kind support. Unfortunately, it can be hard to find time to discover what funding opportunities are available and whether they might be applicable to you. To help businesses, community groups and Local Councils in our region, RDANI provide a listing of available grants and funding opportunities on our website that have already been narrowed down to those that are available for the Northern Inland. This is updated weekly with new listings and the best part is that it is a completely free service!

RDANI also produce two specialised funding opportunities newsletters that are distributed monthly, so you can have a summary of the grant options available for your project delivered directly to your inbox. You can sign up to our Business and Infrastructure Funding Opportunities and the Community Grants and Award Programs newsletters through the simple form located on the left-hand side of our website: www.rdani.org.au.

We hope you have enjoyed this series about the current projects that we run to foster the economic growth of our amazing region. If you missed any of the other instalments, you can find out about how we are Growing Our Region and Our Youth's Interest in Agriculture and Celebrating Our Innovators and Addressing Skill Shortages in our previous newsletters. We are proud of what we achieve for the region with the modest resources available to us and look forward to continued growth and prosperity for our region.

Is Migration the Key for Future Growth?

Last week, the Regional Australia Institute released its policy paper, The Missing Workers – Locally-led migration strategies to better meet rural labour needs.  This paper summarises the research conducted by the RAI into the potential of utilising migrant workers, collectively skilled workers, asylum seekers or people from refugee backgrounds, to help meet rural labour needs and provide population growth in regional and rural Australia.Their research found that in the 151 regional Local Government Areas (LGAs) across Australia, the number of overseas-born residents is increasing, while at the same time, the number of Australian-born residents are decreasing. Many areas with a net population loss are experiencing labour shortages, and there is a need to attract workers that cannot be sourced locally.

The paper puts forward that attracting migrants to areas with labour shortages will contribute much-needed skills for local businesses, who would find it hard to operate otherwise, many of whom are doing without the much-needed staff or using temporary migrants such as those on holiday visas. Their research has found that the higher the percentage of migrant residents in an LGA, the higher the labour force engagement. In LGAs where Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (AFF) industries are dominant, if the number of overseas population grew between 2011 and 2016, their labour force participation also increased. In the Northern Inland, eight LGAs are AFF-dominant:

• Tenterfield Shire
• Glen Innes Severn
• Gwydir Shire
• Moree Plains Shire
• Uralla Shire
• Gunnedah Shire
• Liverpool Plains Shire

Regional settlement as a way to support the regional labour market, promote population growth has been backed by the Australian Government since 2004, and there have been several settlement strategies piloted since then, with varying degrees of success. Going forward, the RAI proposes that policy should:

• Support the establishment of more locally-led migration and settlement initiatives
• Facilitate migration to, and settlement in, priority rural areas

You can find out more about the RAI’s research and the policy recommendations in their policy paper on their website here.

$2.7M for Upgrades to Armidale’s Iconic Saumarez Homestead

Following the completion of a successful Business Case and grant application by RDANI, in partnership with Armidale Regional Council and Saumarez House staff, the New South Wales Government has announced that $1.77 Million will be made available from their Regional Growth – Environment and Tourism Fund for significant upgrades to this popular attraction. This grant, along with $730,000 from Armidale Regional Council and $200,000 from the National Trust, will facilitate upgrades that are expected to attract up to 185 visitors a day, tripling the current yearly visitation to 30,000 as well as functions such as weddings and conferences.

The upgrades include:

• 10 heritage style cabins, sleeping up to 45 guests
• Additional accommodation space near the old coach house
• Renovations to the restaurant to double its size to seat over 90 people
• Improvements to internal roads and visitor information areas

Works for the upgrades are expected to be started immediately and will create 16 new jobs and an additional $6.5 million tourism dollars for the Armidale region.

Featured Grants and Funding Opportunities

Below are some featured grants and funding opportunities from around 75 open grants listed in the Grants and Funding Opportunities area of our website. Our website is updated weekly with new listings and updates and all are applicable to our region, so it is a great resource if you are looking for funding for a specific project.

You can also sign up to our Business and Infrastructure Funding Opportunities and the Community Grants and Award Programs newsletters through the simple form located on the left-hand side of our website: www.rdani.org.au, to receive monthly summaries of currently open grants.

Featured Business and Infrastructure Grants

Smart Cities and Suburbs Program - Round 2
Closes: 2nd of July 2018 5:00 pm AEST
Value: $250,000 to $5,000,000
Run By: Australian Government Department of Infrastructure, Regional Development and Cities and the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science

The $50 million competitive Smart Cities and Suburbs Program was announced as part of the 2016 election campaign. The program will support projects that apply innovative technology-based solutions to urban challenges. The program encourages local government agencies and bodies to deliver collaborative smart city projects that improve the liveability, productivity and sustainability of Australian cities, suburbs and towns. There is approximately $22 million in total funding for this round.

The grant amount will be up to 50 per cent of eligible project costs.

You must complete your project by 30 June 2020.

To be eligible you must:

• be an Australian local government agency or body as defined in appendix A of the grant opportunity guidelines; and
• have an Australian Business Number (ABN).

To be eligible your project must include at least one partner organisation during the life of the project.

Projects must involve the innovative application of knowledge, hardware or software that:

• is new to the organisation, the local government area, city, region or country or
• delivers an outcome which has not previously been realised in your community.

Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) Grants
Closing date: 3rd of July 2018 5:00 pm AEST
Value: No specified limit
Run By: Australian Government Department of Industry, Innovation and Science

Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) grants support medium to long term industry-led collaborations to solve industry problems and deliver tangible outcomes.

To support the overall aims of the CRC Program, CRCs undertake the following essential activities:

• medium to long term industry-led high quality collaborative research to solve industry-identified problems and deliver outcomes consistent with Government Priorities, improving the competitiveness, productivity and sustainability of Australian industries
• an industry-focused education and training program. This must include, but is not limited to, a PhD program that complements the research program and that increases engagement, technology development, skilled employees and R&D capacity within industry entities
• implementation of strategies that build the R&D capacity within SMEs
• deployment of research outputs and encouragement of take-up by industry.

CRC grants provide CRCs with up to 50% of the resources with no specified limit to funding available for each CRC. The CRC collaboration must at least match the amount of grant funding sought through cash and/or in-kind contributions. In-kind contributions are non-cash resources provided by participants in the CRC to conduct the activities of the CRC. They may be staff or non-staff resources.

Featured Community Grants

Growing Good Gardens Grant
Closing date: 15th of June 2018
Value: $1,000
Run By: Life Education

Together with Yates® Gardening, Life Education are encouraging young people to get out into the garden to grow and learn healthy habits. Schools, pre-schools and community groups are invited to apply for one of 15 $1,000 grants to help create a garden space where kids can learn healthy habits and improve their physical and mental well-being.

Successful groups will be chosen based on the following criteria:

• Quality and well thought out designs
• Plans that encourage a passion for growing and promoting healthy lifestyle choices
• Links to Life Education's 'Growing Good Friends Module'.
• Level of hands-on student involvement in the project
• Level of involvement of the broader school community or local community
• Feasible and technically-sound project activities
• Realistic and detailed project budget
• Integration into the school curriculum or youth/community group program to maximise environmental learning
•  

Applicants are encouraged to use the Yates Kids Gardening website for information and inspiration - www.yates-kids-gardening.com

Matana Foundation Grants
Closes: Ongoing
Value: No specified minimum or maximum, most grants are between $1,000 and $10,000
Run By: Matana Foundation

Matana’s focus is on improving the welfare and wellbeing of young people from severely disadvantaged or marginalised backgrounds, or whose concerns and issues are not readily funded from other sources.

Recognising that disadvantage takes many forms, we prioritise projects and organisations that address the causes of youth disadvantage by:

• Providing programs primarily targeting school retention and increased education achievement for students who are at risk of dropping out of school or who have already dropped out. The focus is on early identification, customised learning and mentoring.
• Providing programs that target employment skills development, employment and career pathways and transitions into employment.
• Providing programs that target social and community connectedness, personal significance and social and emotional outcomes.
• Providing services in geographical areas across Australia where funding is difficult to source.

What's On in the Northern Inland

Gostwyk Winter Endurance Festival
Saturday 9th to Monday 11th of June
Uralla

Manilla Vintage Machinery Rally
Saturday 9th and Sunday 10th of June
Manilla

Gem-o-Rama
Saturday 9th to Monday 11th of June
Glen Innes

North West Vintage Car Club Rally
Saturday 9th and Monday 11th of June
Gunnedah

50th Annual Keepit Kool Regatta
Saturday 9th to Monday 11th of June
Gunnedah

Rowena Cracker Night
Sunday 10th of June
Rowena

Glen Innes New England Alpaca Show
Sunday 10th of June
Glen Innes

Eulah Creek Cast Iron Chef
Saturday 16th of June
Eulah Creek

Winter Solstice Celebrations
Thursday 21st of June
Glen Innes

Northern Challenge Sled Dog Race
Saturday 23rd to Sunday 24th of June
Tenterfield

Carbon Science: Carbon Culture
Sunday 24th of June
Bingara

Piallamore Pickers Market Day
Sunday 1st of July
Piallamore

NAIDOC Week - Quirindi
Sunday 1st to Saturday 8th of July
Quirindi

NAIDOC Week – Glen Innes
Sunday 8th to Saturday 15th of July
Glen Innes

Spring Ridge Firecracker and Bonfire Night
Saturday 7th of July
Spring Ridge