1. Financial Assistance is available upon application to the Chances for Children Fund.
   See “Eligibility” for guidelines.

• Two Funding Rounds are offered each year, the first round in March /April and the second in September/ October.

• Application are incited from ‘Referring Professionals’ involved in education, health, welfare and other fields, who have identified a young person who they believe would benefit from assistance from Chances for Children and whose application they are willing to support.

• Application forms are distributed to, and are available from, educational institutions, health, welfare and other community organisations prior to each funding round.
• df
• Each application

  • Must be completed by a ‘Referring Professional’ (teacher, counsellor, nurse, sporting coach) on behalf of the young person in consultation with their family or guardian;
  • Requires the support of two additional ‘Referees’ willing to support the application;
  • Must include detailed information on family income & expenditure.
  • gh
• Two Independent District Selection Panels review all applications and make recommendations for funding to the Chances for Children Committee and the Mallee Family Care Board. Panels are made up of representatives from the education health and welfare sectors chosen because of their expertise and their commitment to support the interests of young people in the Mallee.   
   
  A Mildura based panel reviews applications from the Northern Mallee and the Swan Hill based panel reviews applications from the Southern Mallee. Each application is reviewed on its individual merits. All information provided in applications is treated as confidential.
• dfgf
• Unique to the program is the process by which funds are allocated. Financial assistance is tailored made to meet the specific needs of each successful applicant and their particular financial & social circumstances. For example in the case of a tertiary student, Chances will consider the income of a student & their family and make up the difference which then enables the young person to pursue their goal of attending tertiary education.

• g
• This approach is in contrast to many schemes, which allocate a set amount of funding for a particular purpose irrespective of individual circumstances, e.g. a flat rate of $3000 to assist with the costs of tertiary education.

The benefit of this approach is twofold:
1.      It ensures that each young person receives the appropriate level of financial  assistance to enable them to pursue their goals given the financial constraints of their family and;
2.      It also ensures that Chances for Children limited funds are used as effectively as possible.

• Extraordinary Grants – Applications may also be considered at times outside the funding rounds when the Committee believes special circumstances warrant consideration.

1. S
2. Mentoring. Chances offers a Tertiary Mentoring Program to those young people who are in receipt of Chances financial assistance for the purpose of pursuing tertiary education. ‘Tertiary Education’ refers to any level of training or education after completing secondary education. See ‘Mentoring’ for further information.