Freo Club, currently with a membership of 14 people from around the south metropolitan area, is in danger of becoming obsolete after the Disability Service Commission informed the City of Fremantle it no longer had the funding to continue the program after June 30.
The news comes after the National Disability Insurance Scheme introduced a new funding model that provided money to individuals, not organisations.
At Wednesday’s council meeting, councillors voted to move Freo Club members to other service providers rather than take over funding the $21,096 hole left by the withdrawal of DSC funding.
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READ NOWFremantle community development manager Beverley Bone said the Freo Club program was designed to give people with disability the chance to meet in a social atmosphere; they anticipated the members would be moved to another group.
“Effective from July 2016, the City will no longer receive funding from the Disability Service Commission for this program, with the new funding model supporting clients to choose activities that they would like to be involved with,” she said.
A DSC spokeswoman said the commission had been moving towards greater individualised planning and funding for the last few years.
“To help people reach their goals, a range of strategies are developed, including the types of supports and services they may need, which are documented in a person’s individual plan,” she said.
“Where it is identified that funding is required to support this, the funding will be provided directly to the person rather than an organisation – a process known as individualised funding.
“Historically, funding for recreation activities has been provided directly to a number of organisations.
“By moving the funding directly to eligible individuals, people have more choices of the services they wish to use.”