More than $700,000 has been injected into regional communities for local governments to provide job opportunities for young people and build stronger partnerships with the community sector.
A total of 70 grants have been awarded to 39 country local governments across four programs through the Country Local Government Fund (CLGF).
Under the Community Development Grants Program, a total of $224,486 was awarded to 14 local governments to undertake programs involving best practice in community development and working in partnership with the not-for-profit sector and community.
A further $450,000 has been awarded through the Youth Development Scholarship and Youth Development Traineeship programs to 30 local governments.
The funding will enable young people in the regions to develop long-term employment skills and expose them to future employment opportunities within local government.
An additional six grants were awarded through the Community Development Scholarship Program to offer accredited training to country local government employees to build their capacity to deliver community development initiatives within their community.
The CLGF has provided more than $5 million in funding over two years to improve the capacity of country local government.