Grant Smart 2007

More than 150 people representing community groups, small business, non-profit organisations and local government attended the highly successful GrantSmart Expo 2007 at Joondalup Resort Hotel on Wednesday, March 7. This years event was hosted by Perth and Wheatbelt ACCs.

Participants from the Perth Metropolitan and Wheatbelt areas sat in on information sessions facilitated by 15 Australian government agency representatives presenting their current funding programs and priorities.

Dr Mal Washer, Member for Moore officially opened the 2007 GrantSmart Expo and representatives from Departments of Transport and Regional Services; Industry, Tourism and Resources; Immigration and Citizenship; Australian Competition and Consumer Commission; Australian Taxation Office; Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Department of Education, Science and Training; Foreign Affairs and Trade - Austrade; Veterans Affairs; the Office of Employment Advocate and Family and Community Services and Indigenous Affairs provided infromation, advice and promotional material for participants.

Participants took the opportunity to sit in on sessions from each department where they were able to collect information on current funding programs and opportunities, agency priorities and general funding program information. They also took the opportunity during the networking expo to speak individually with the representatives to discuss their individual projects and get a more detailed perspective.

Special thanks to AusIndustry and Department of Immigration and Citizenship who have kindly sponsored the event for the past two years. The concept of GrantSmart has been so successful in giving people direct access to department representatives to discuss their projects and ideas, it is anticipated that the expo will again be hosted by ACCs in WA in the second half of 2008.