We recieved this information in our inbox from Anastasia and thought it might be of interest to some people out in the community. Thanks for sending it through Anastasia.

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The Women's Enterprise and Community Projects (WEC) Program will start in early October 2022.

The WEC Program is a FREE 14 week micro-business program that is funded by the Victorian Government through the Department of Jobs Precincts and Regions (DJPR) and delivered by our social enterprise Two Square Pegs. 

The program supports under-represented women to use their personal experiences to explore ideas for a business or community project which solves a gap in services or products in their communities.

The program provides practical enterprise training, hands-on mentoring and access to up to $1000 in seed funding to promote self employment opportunities.

Here is a link to information for participants and a link to information for mentors. Applications close on the 30th of September and spaces are limited.

You can find out more about the WEC Program by going to whei.org/wec.

Through September we are one of the projects that you can select to support with your token in the Local Matters jars at Grill’d. So, if you are down at Station Street and keen for a burger look out for us … and vote!

And thanks Grill’d for supporting all the great local community things that happen in our neighbourhood!

Did you know we have a compost hub at ACC? It is not huge - just two bins - but they are available for our community to contribute to (if you don’t have your own system at home etc.).

Clare manages them on a Friday … and with a little love (and weekly turning) they are amazingly productive.

We have a collection of neighbours and friends who contribute their kitchen scraps regularly which is just lovely … and we use the compost generated to keep our community garden beds healthy … so we can grow food to share! Like our little seeds that have just been planted and will hopefully pop through the soil any day now.

How fun!

Alphington Football Club is planning a dazzling end of season fireworks display.

There will be open air movies for the kids along with food - including BBQ, crepes and a bar. If you and your family would like to join in the fun you can click here to purchase tickets.

The ticket includes a double bill open-air family movie, hotdog and drink.

Timing:

• 5pm kids soccer ⚽️ movie

• 8pm fireworks 💥

• 8.15pm teenage soccer ⚽️ movie.

All proceeds go towards covering the community pyrotechnics display.

Last week Melbourne Farmers Market was awarded the national ‘Outstanding Farmers Market Community Initiative’ for work tackling food security in Melbourne.

This initiative is a credit to the Moving Feast partnership.

In lockdown when farmers were struggling to sell produce in the downturn of hospitality and, at the same time so many vulnerable Victorians were without fresh food, MFM connected the dots.

Since then they have sourced almost 50 tonnes of local, seasonal, high-quality food to share with partners DIVRS (Darebin Information Volunteer Resource Service), Cultivating Community and STREAT who work directly with people in need in the City of Darebin, Yarra and Melbourne.

They also set about growing more food at Alphington Community Food Hub to share with vulnerable communities into the future - the boxes along the Yarana Road perimeter are managed by DIVRS and STREAT as part of a ‘grow it forward’ project - where the community grows and shares with others.

Super hey? Aren’t we lucky to have such great community initiatives incubated in our neighbourhood!