Community College East Gippsland has been successful in receiving $50,000 in grant funding for their “Small Business on the Move” project.

Minister for Tertiary Education, Peter Hall and Member for Gippsland East, Tim Bull, made the presentation this week.

Mr Ray Ferres, CEO of the Community College was delighted with the announcement and said, “the small business project is to be delivered in partnership with East Gippsland Regional Business Tourism Association in most towns across the region.

“This funding will enable us to further enhance the growth and development of small business networking, training and planning throughout East Gippsland.”

Mr Bull announced that a total of $4.2 million has been allocated under round one of the Adult Community and Further Education grants program to a number of Learn Local organisations across Victoria.

“The grants help adult community education Learn Local organisations such as Community College East Gippsland to expand their services, improve efficiency, offer new courses and increase participation and attainment of learners,” said Mr Bull.

“The Capacity and Innovation Fund is an initiative that will encourage innovation within adult education and support a sector of the Victorian education system that already does vital work in supporting adult learners.

“As a knowledge driven economy, Victoria will increasingly need a workforce with higher levels of qualifications and skills. Through these funds, Community College East Gippsland is further enhanced to help supply this education and training.”

Each year the state’s 320 Learn Local organisations provide education and training to more then 110,000 people, offering vocational, language, literacy and numeracy and work-skill courses.

The second and final round of the 2011 ACFE Board Capacity and Innovation Fund opens on 6 June and closes on 26 August. Guidelines and application forms will be available from www.acfe.vic.gov.au