A program to help social housing tenants achieve their education goals; a surfing program for people with disabilities; and a new kitchen garden for a centre for people experiencing homelessness are among the 17 recipients of the 2025 NSW Ports Community Grants Program.
The program offers one-off grants of up to $25,000 for local initiatives, projects and services operating within eligible postcodes in the vicinity of NSW Ports’ sites at Port Botany, Port Kembla and the Enfield and Cooks River Intermodal Terminals.
CEO Marika Calfas said NSW Ports was once again delighted to support a broad variety of projects and programs around its Port Kembla site, which help build stronger, thriving communities.
“Our Community Grants Program has now been running for five years and with the announcement of this year’s grant recipients, we have now supported more than 70 projects in our local communities,” Ms Calfas said.
“We’ve reached into the community in areas of education, social welfare, sports, community services and emergency services and this year is no exception with the grants funding projects and programs which benefit a diverse range of groups within the community.
“Beyond the grants themselves, what we continue to see through this program, is an amazing number of people who contribute their time and their energy to make a difference in their community and it is a real privilege to be able to be a part of that and to be able to help them achieve those objectives.”
Local organisations to receive grants this year include BaptistCare HopeStreet in Port Kembla, which offers a range of services to the vulnerable and people living with disadvantage throughout the Illawarra.
South Coast Hub Lead Michael Mittwollen said the plan was to use the grant to develop an outdoor courtyard to include a kitchen garden and non-commercial café with seating and a recreation space.
“We are really stoked with the news as this is a project we have wanted to complete for some time, and now with the support of this NSW Ports grant we will be able to do it this year.”
“It’s an area where we are looking to relocate a coffee machine, extend a deck, integrate some gardens, improve the seating to the area and then enable people to be able to go out, sit quietly, have a cup of coffee, meet up with a couple of people, for people to be able to see what happens here at the centre.”
Meanwhile, FoodLab Sydney, which helps refugee, migrant, low-income and First Nations food entrepreneurs get the skills, confidence and support they need to launch safe, sustainable food businesses, was also a recipient.
Managing Director Jamie Loveday said the grant will help the organisation, which is located near the Enfield Intermodal and Logistics Centre, facilitate a six month intensive program with hands on workshops and tailored mentoring.
“The grant from NSW Ports helps us keep our programs accessible and community-driven—and creates real pathways to economic independence, employment, and empowerment for our participants and their communities. We are so thankful for NSW Ports for this opportunity to create a more diverse and empowered food system in Sydney.”
This year’s recipients in the Port Kembla area are:
- Escabags: to provide free Escape Bags for individuals and families fleeing domestic and family abuse within the Illawarra region.
- BaptistCare: to develop an outdoor courtyard at HopeStreet, transforming it into a kitchen garden and a non-commercial café with seating and recreation areas.
- Illawarra Women's Health Centre: to purchase outdoor equipment to extend the children's physical skills at Warilla Education and Care Service.
- The Illawarra Community Housing Trust: to support the Tylah West Education Scholarship (TWES) to help social and affordable housing tenants in the Illawarra to achieve their education, training, and employment goals.
- Wollongong West Public School: to purchase equipment for the English as an Additional Language (EALD) classroom and students.
- Port Kembla Junior Football Club: to construct a secure outdoor enclosure to store playing goals and other equipment.
- Goats Creek Longboarders: to purchase competition rash shirts for the Club’s surfing competitions.
- Primbee Public School: to promote cultural understanding through multi-cultural workshops throughout the year and a celebration on Harmony Day in 2026.
This year’s recipients in the Port Botany and Enfield areas are:
- Heartbeat of Football: to install two defibrillators at local sports clubs and deliver heart health checks and CPR awareness programs.
- Maroubra Neighbourhood Children's Centre: to extend the community garden to include local bush tucker plants and other produce for the community.
- DivaCharity: install a permanent storage for donated items and non perishables from the local community
- Botany Bay Network of Schools – (La Perouse PS, Matraville Soldiers Settlement PS, Pagewood PS, Gardeners Rd PS, Mascot PS, Malabar PS, Daceyville PS, JJ Cahill HS, South Sydney HS): to deliver an educational initiative designed to empower young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women aged 10-15.
- Sydney Adaptive Boardriders Club: Support the Salt-Water-People program a collaborative project between Sydney Adaptive Boardriders Club and First Nations Lifeguards to enable the accreditation of adaptive surf instructors and of First Nations lifeguards.
- Eastern Suburbs PCYC: Support the Fit-for-Life program, a fitness/breakfast program using boxing/fitness session, life-skills workshops and consistent mentoring to encourage and engage youth at-risk to connect with PCYC and attend school.
- Purple Hearts: to purchase equipment for the Purple Hearts soccer program for disabled children.
- FoodLab Sydney: a program to support food entrepreneurs from minority groups with a focus on regulatory compliance, business management, marketing, and food safety.
- Chalmers Road School: create a new entrance artwork to promote diversity at the school which provides tailored learning programs for students with intellectual disabilities.
Through its international trade gateways, NSW Ports’ operations contribute $13.6 billion annually to the State’s economy and support around 65,000 jobs through the supply chain – many of them in the local community.
