Hardened warriors put down their spears; crying women stopped their tears; tired children lifted their gaze, when Jimmy Little began to play.

Yorta Yorta Man

Scoping Study Input Requested

By Peter L, Volunteer ISX Administrator on behalf of Roxanne Smith
Tenuous

Input requested to assist with an initial scoping study to start exploring possible enterprises that utilise the potential of Aboriginal land assets.

There has been an increased amount of interest in developing enterprises that utilise the potential of Aboriginal land assets.

This has initiated, from the recent Community Land and Business planning projects, the holistic development of Food projects in the Northern Rivers and through enquiries from Indigenous landholders looking to develop agricultural based enterprises.

Industry and Investment NSW has partnered with Northern Rivers Food Links to look at sustainable ways forward for our communities in this industry area.

Initially the Department of Industry and Investment is undertaking a short scoping study to obtain an overview of the resources and interest available for the development of a regional Aboriginal food growing, value adding and distribution initiative.

After the initial scoping study it is hoped that we will develop a further two stages based on the outcomes of the first stage. This will be done if each stage is justified by the previous stage. Your input now could ultimately affect the outcome.

Stage 1 (what this email is about now); Scoping Study: A brief overview of resources and interest. As a result a number of projects will be presented to the Northern Rivers Food Links Programme for the Indigenous Food and Distribution project which will attract a total of $50,000.

Stage 2: If enough interest and resources are found, funding will be sought for detailed planning, resource assessment, and consultative process for the purposes of feasibility, planning and implementation.

Stage 3: If the feasibility planning and implementation plan show s high likelihood of success funding will be sought for implementation.

Our apologies about the short time frame to get this information back to us, we wish to meet the funding deadlines for the Northern Rivers Food Links Program (NRFL).

Your response by October 15, would be most helpful and appreciated. For more background information, see www.northernriversfoodlinks.com.au

The study will be undertaken by VH Pty Ltd, with Thomas Mack and Peter Van Herk undertaking community consultation and community visits where necessary. We would appreciate it if you could also let us know about any previous scoping/studies that have been done in this area for food projects.

Please feel free to contact Roxanne Smith, Aboriginal Business Development Manager for Industry and Investment NSW on 0401999495 if you require any additional information about this study.

For further information