Volunteer hub gets State backing

A NEW community hub for charities and volunteers will be established in central Ballarat.

The hub will be built at the Ballarat Foundation’s existing Chatham House premises on Lydiard Street, and will see the dated building interior demolished and recreated into “modern, smart working spaces and meeting rooms,” with a new lift and accessible entrance to be built too.

Ballarat Foundation chair Wayne Weaire welcomed the news.

“The Ballarat Foundation’s role as a philanthropic leader enabling better community outcomes is central to the vision to redevelop Chatham House and encourage collaborative local responses to need,” he said.

Member for Wendouree Juliana Addison said the new space has been made possible by a State Government grant of just over $1 million from the Regional Infrastructure Fund.

“By upgrading their building and establishing a volunteer hub, this funding will support the Ballarat Foundation and other local organisations to do even more for our community,” she said.

It’s expected the hub will reduce costs for volunteers of community and not-for-profit organisations.

According to Member for Buninyong, Michaela Settle, the co-location of different services within the hub could increase the “outreach and responsiveness” of the local organisations.

“Ballarat’s not-for-profit and volunteer organisations do so much every day to help our local community and a new modern hub in the centre of town will mean they do so much more,” she said.