The City of Greater Bendigo and Fosterville Gold Mine has awarded the inaugural $60,000 Great Ideas Grant to the bHive Cooperative Villages project - a community owned person to person digital sharing economy platform initiative.
The digital Villages platform is an Australian first that will allow Greater Bendigo residents to create, own and run sharing enterprises that provide access to local goods and services. It will help to build locally owned enterprises that create meaningful work, localise spending and create community connection and belonging.
The digital Villages platform will also connect groups of neighbours together across Greater Bendigo to build social capital, share free resources and skills, run events together and communicate with each other collectively and individually.
City of Greater Bendigo Mayor Cr Margaret O'Rourke said the City and Fosterville Gold Mine launched the Great Ideas Grants earlier this year with the aim to kick start great ideas for social innovation within the Greater Bendigo community.
"Through the grant $60,000 was available to undertake a project that applies new ideas and ways of doing things to improve our community's wellbeing and sustainability and help make our community more healthy and well, safe and secure, connected and liveable," Cr O'Rourke said.
"The selection panel was impressed by the outstanding proposal from the bHive Cooperative and the benefits the project would deliver to the local community.
Fosterville Gold Mine Vice President Australian Operations Ian Holland said the Villages project is a unique opportunity for the community.
"I'm looking forward to seeing this project roll out and the connections made in the community," Mr Holland said.
"It's wonderful that our community groups have the chance to access funds for projects that think outside the box. There are people in our community who have great ideas but need funding support to make them happen and Fosterville Gold Mine was very pleased to partner with the City of Greater Bendigo for the 2019 Great Ideas Grant."
The Great Ideas Grant is open to incorporated organisations and businesses or organisations who are supported by one of these. Businesses are eligible to apply because the focus of the grant is on the outcomes that will be achieved, not who will be playing a coordination role in those outcomes.
