Mr Rattenbury said community sector organisations with a good track record could perhaps be moved to funding agreements which covered a longer period, to prevent staff from having to reapply for grants each year.

"There are those with a really good track record, that are well proven, that have delivered services consistently over a period of time. You could imagine them possibly going on to longer funding agreements with a mid-term review point, seven, eight years," Mr Rattenbury said.

"Whereas new organisations, perhaps it's appropriate to just give them two years, and if they prove themselves, you can extend them longer.

"I think there's scope to think more creatively about how we fund the community sector, because across the ACT they are a really important service delivery partner."

Mr Rattenbury, who is the leader of the ACT Greens, said he was keen to see community organisations get longer-term funding so they could invest in staff and training, and spend time supporting clients rather than writing grants.

Mr Rattenbury on Thursday announced four community legal sector organisations in the ACT would share in about $8 million of Commonwealth funding over the next four years.

The Commonwealth granted $8.372 million to the ACT under the $2.3 billion five-year national legal assistance partnership.

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Mr Rattenbury said community legal centres had needed more funding due to ongoing demand for their services amid the pandemic.

"While the sort of health declarations, the lockdowns, have ended people are still feeling the consequences and there's a long tale on some of these complex legal matters," he said.

Farzana Choudhury, a senior solicitor at Canberra Community Law, said the community legal provider was excited about the federal funding, which would be partly spent on establishing a mental health justice clinic.

"We've certainly seen an increase in the demand ... for access to legal support. What we've also seen is an increase in the number of people who are experiencing mental health issues," Ms Choudhury said.

"In the last financial year, 33 per cent of our clients identified as having lived experience of mental ill health, so there's definitely a need out there."

Canberra Community Law will receive $562,000 for the mental health justice clinic, and $441,000 to expand a program which supports women escaping domestic violence to access housing and welfare.

Legal Aid ACT will receive almost $3.6 million, the Women's Legal Centre will receive $3.3 million and CARE Inc will receive $300,000.

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