We hope you’ve had an opportunity to enjoy being out and about in the Yarra Valley so far this Spring. With more frequent warm days, we are lucky to live somewhere with so many options in nature and around to enjoy the sunny weather.
Help guide grants to where they can help most.
We believe that the community we serve should be included in our grant making process. So we’re inviting people from the Yarra Valley to participate in two ways:
Help to create the criteria we use to compare grant applications
Help to review and assess the grant applications we receive
You don’t need experience to participate, just a willingness to be fair and open-minded. Help us make sure that the community is deeply involved in choosing where grant money is best directed.
We are excited to share our updated website with you.
We have put a lot of consideration in making the website easy to use and we hope that with this new freshness, you can access more information and connect with us more easily.
You’ll now find ways to get involved and partner with us, plus see how our funding and grants work and keep updated with news events.
We would like to welcome our new administrator, Laura Colbert.
Laura comes to us with a very diverse professional background in Fashion Design, Administration, Ayurvedic Medicine & Event Management, and can work across many areas.
Laura has been a Yarra Valley local for 9 years and is an active member of the community, running local events.
You’ll find Laura at HICCI on Thursdays 10am-12pm.
Our Business Roundtable insights.
We had such a great time at Four Pillars as we discussed many different things as a group. Whilst a lot was discussed, these were the most consistent themes spoken about.
Coordination was the big one. There was a strong sense that the Foundation could be a convenor for the whole Valley, supporting our existing efforts to add more value.
Arts, culture and tourism as a lever. There were plenty of ideas here: an arts programe along the lines of Grampians Brushes, a National Art Prize in the Valley, Open Studios, a cultural-mapping trail, studio space for local artists, and a "Healesville Design Week". People saw these as good for tourism, good for community connection and a natural way to deepen First Nations engagement, all at once.
Vacant shops. On the ideas side: rotating pop-up uses for empty buildings (café van, library van, fix-it shed), support for heritage shop fronts, and finding ways to bring landlords into the conversation.
Transport. Nearly half the "problems" notes were about how scarce public transport is: small buses running more often between towns (Yarra Junction to Healesville got three exclamation marks), a tourist bus, and the rail trail. While this is not something the Foundation can fix on its own, it's an important consideration for advocacy, and as context for our region.
People and place. Young families are moving in and back, Badger Creek particularly is growing, and there's new energy to draw on. Mums, young people and older people were each named as groups who are worth connecting more deeply with.
We're excited to continue working with and listening to your thoughts for how we can help the Yarra Valley. If you have any further thoughts, please let me know.
Office Location
We now have a regular space where you can drop in and say hello, ask questions and share any ideas with us.
Find us at HICCI on Thursdays.
10am-12pm
231 Maroondah Hwy, Healesville