Moree's SHAE Academy has been extremely busy working with the community and youth, and is now set to receive a major boost with $1.5 million in state government funding coming their way.
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Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall and Moree mayor Katrina Humphries visited the academy to announce the funding and get a glimpse of all the work the academy is doing.
The money will go towards a new complex which is currently being planned as well as the day-to-day operation of their current facility and programs.
SHAE Academy are currently running education and after school programs for school students, women's and healthy lifestyle programs as well as working closely with fathers and parents of children that are part of the academy.
SHAE Academy CEO Chris Binge said it's great to see the state government recognising the work they have been doing.
"I think form a funding point of view, those dollars will definitely be utilised in those areas and also support the current program but also look at enhancing other areas as well," he said.
"I think the reality of it all for us is, we've always been waiting in Moree to create opportunities for kids to have choices to do whatever they wanna do, to excel in whatever area or field they want to do it in.
"Now they can do this in a way that's important and as far as SHAE Academy is concerned, we're just happy to support that process with these kids and also more important their families."
Mr Binge plans to stay heavily involved in the community and continue to receive feedback on what programs would be beneficial.
"We can sit around and talk about all the other negative parts of what goes on in town, or we can actually step up and do something about it," he said.
"That's where SHAE Academy, at the moment, we see our part in the community is about action."
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Mr Binge hopes to continue to grow the service and continue building partnerships with other service providers in the community.
SHAE Academy is already working with the Salvation Army and PCYC and they will continue to work closely together.
"It's not about being in competition with anybody, its about how we can now support other service providers," Mr Binge said.
Mr Marshall is thrilled with the work the academy has been doing already and was pleased to be able to see it continue.
“It is a genuinely community-driven concept, which has worked on the ethos of ‘local solution to local problems’, and is designed to engage students from kindergarten to year 12, outside school," he said.
“The outcomes so far have been far-reaching and I look forward to seeing the SHAE Academy continue to grow and prosper.”
There are plans in place to begin construction on the new building in the coming weeks but SHAE Academy has struggled to find local contractors to come on board.
Mr Binge wants to keep it as local as possible to try and feed the money back into the community.
"If there's any local contractors that believe they can actually do this building for us please come forward and let us know because we're ready to roll," Mr Binge said.
"We've got a bit of a timeline, we're hoping by the end of June this year.
"And then hopefully you'll start to see between now and June you'll start to see a lot of activity down here on the building site and by June or the end of June, early July, we'll actually have a visual of a completed complex that can be utilised by the community."
