New migrants, teenagers lacking positive role models and boarding house residents are among the people to be helped by the 2014 round of Community Care grants.

The grants are made by the Archbishop of Sydney’s Anglican Aid to activities that use local Sydney Anglican churches as a base for practical help. 18 projects will receive a total of $330,000 next year.

One of the grants goes to the Dapto Street crew project which, according to its submission, addresses “community concerns of anti-social behaviour, substance abuse and malicious damage to public and private property through facilitating relationships and positive influences with young people, aged between 12 and 25.”

Another will help the settlement of new migrants at Campsie, through the small Anglican church which is in the centre of the ethnically diverse suburb (see photo above). Across the city at Petersham, the money will help expand the ‘Hub of Hope’ project, which aims to help local boarding house residents.

“This was actually a Connect09 project which has just evolved’” says the rector of All Saints, Petersham, the Rev Antony Barraclough.”It began with a community garden, which failed. We got the local TAFE in and they helped us get it going. We said now we have to patronise it and we got food involved, a BBQ, and just kept adding and adding.”

The program is now a hub of activities with lunches, dinners, the garden, a bike shed and, in the future, education programs. “It has snowballed and is getting too big to do it as a part-time job” Mr Barraclough says.

The grant will help hire a full time manager for the project’s many activities.