The MISP provides opportunities for multicultural and multifaith organisations to upgrade their community facilities, providing a welcoming and safe environment for the community to come together and share their culture and traditions.
The department acknowledges the additional challenges faced by some communities and is committed to prioritising the following groups and projects:
- regional based projects
- new and emerging communities
- organisations that have not previously received multicultural grant funding from the department
These groups will be prioritised because they often:
- are smaller communities
- have limited access to resources and networks
- have less funds for infrastructure projects.
Organisations must outline in the application form how the application meets priority group eligibility criteria.
Applications which meet priority group eligibility will receive extra points in the merit assessment process. They will also have reduced matched funding requirements.
Note: Where applications only partially meet the priority group eligibility, they will not receive priority assessment scoring and must provide matched funding.
| If you are not sure whether your organisation meets a priority group eligibility criteria, please email the Multicultural Affairs Infrastructure Team multicultural.infrastructure@dpc.vic.gov.au(opens in a new window) before starting your application. |
Regional based projects
To be eligible as a regional project, the project must be delivered in regional Victoria. Metropolitan Melbourne based organisations delivering projects in regional Victoria are also eligible as a regional based project priority group.
| Refer to the Regional Development Victoria’s list of regional and rural councils for eligible local government areas. |
New and emerging communities
New and emerging multicultural community organisations need to provide further support to newly arrived members of their community in Victoria. They also play a critical role in developing strong community networks and supporting their members. These communities often develop over time from small and less established to large and well established.
To support these communities, the department has created a prioritised list of new and emerging communities in consultation with the Victorian Multicultural Commission (VMC). Many of the listed communities have recently been or are currently part of Australia’s Refugee and Humanitarian Programs. The list comprises both countries of origin and specific ethnicities.
To be eligible as a new and emerging community, the organisation must identify with one of the countries or ethnicities on the new and emerging priority list.
New and Emerging Priority List
- Afghanistan
- Assyrian
- Burundi
- Chaldean
- Eritrea
- Ethiopia
- Hazara
- Iran
- Iraq
- Kenya
- Kurds
- Liberia
- Myanmar
- Palestine
- Papua New Guinea (PNG)
- Pashtuns
- Pasifika communities
- Republic of Congo
- Rwanda
- Sierra Leone
- Somalia
- South Sudan
- Sudan
- Syria
- Tajiks
- the Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Timor Leste
- Uganda
- Ukraine
- Uzbeks
- Yemen.
The new and emerging community eligibility refers only to the countries and ethnicities listed on our priority list. A newly formed organisation is not eligible unless they identify with one of the countries or ethnicities on the New and Emerging Priority List.
Organisations that have not previously received multicultural infrastructure grant funding from the department
To be eligible as an organisation that has not previously received multicultural infrastructure grant funding, your organisation cannot have received any infrastructure grants from the Multicultural Affairs portfolio offered through either the Department of Premier and Cabinet or the Department of Families, Fairness, and Housing.
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