Grant helps grow innovative leaders
LOCAL not-for-profit organisation Leaderlife has gone above and beyond in supporting some of our community’s most vulnerable young people, particularly during the pandemic, and now that remarkable effort has been recognised with a substantial grant.
Under the state government’s COVID Regional Community Support program, Leaderlife will receive an injection of $50,000 in funding for the installation of a syntropic (or regenerative) farming system.
In announcing the grant, Member for Dubbo Dugald Saunders, who is also the state’s minister for agriculture, said he hopes the funds will enable Leaderlife to “further grow skills development in local youth, as well as to become even more resilient as an organisation”.
Leaderlife’s Soil2soul social enterprise project operates a working lime farm at Narromine, where the operation helps develop work readiness skills in agriculture and business for young, mostly Indigenous people who have disengaged from education. The participants not only produce the fruit, but sell the limes and lime cordial at the Dubbo Farmers Markets, thereby learning important social, business and relationship management skills. The results of the project speak for themselves, with a significant drop in police contact with Leaderlife’s young participants.
A trip to Lightning Ridge earlier
in the year introduced some of the Leaderlife young people to the notion of syntropic farming, which uses the processes of natural systems to combine agriculture and agroforestry.
Founder and CEO Joh Leader
said the syntropic farm has two main goals: growing food and helping kids.
“After a trip out to Lightning Ridge earlier in the year with a bunch of young people to see first-hand how Rebel Black from
the Hungry Spirit is growing food (even bananas!) using a syntropic system, we were inspired to kickstart the concept in Dubbo.
“One young fella said: “We’ve got to start doing syntropics in our country”,” Ms Leader said.
“It’s all about growing chemical-free food locally, using a regenerative system to ensure food security, all at the same time as providing jobs, training and work experience for young people having a tough time in Dubbo.”