Hon POTO WILLIAMS (Associate Minister for Social Development) on behalf of the Minister for Social Development: The Government has opened a $36 million Community Capability and Resilience Fund for community groups seeking funding for initiatives that support the rebuild and recovery from COVID-19 over the next two years, and $1.7 million has already been approved to support a broad range of local initiatives like building marae, IT capability, safe distribution of food packs amongst community groups, and initiatives that support young people to access mentoring, counselling, and online services. There are also a range of groups who have sought funding, including 19 Māori and 10 Pacific providers. The majority of funding has been distributed into the Auckland region, and the fund has pivoted to include a focus on providing immediate funding to support groups to respond to people in need in Auckland following the level 3 restrictions. 