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Community Development
Last modified: June 18, 2009 - 9:54 AM
Community Development at Great Lakes Council includes:
What Is Community Development?It is a "grassroots" process by which communities:
- Organise and plan together
- Empower themselves
- Become more responsible
- Develop healthy lifestyle options
- Create employment and economic opportunities
- Reduce poverty and suffering
- Achieve social, economic, cultural and environmental goals
The primary outcome of community development is improved quality of life
Effective community development results in mutual benefit and shared responsibility among community members and recognises:
- The connection between social, cultural, environmental and economic matters
- The diversity of interests within a community
- Its relationship to building capacity
From the Community Development Handbook by Flo Frank and Anne Smith for Labour Market and Human Development Unit, Human Resources Development Canada.
What is Community Building?Community building is about people from the community, government and business taking the steps to find solutions to issues within their communities. From the www.communitybuilders.nsw.gov.au website.
Community Liaison/InformationThe Community Development function of Great Lakes Council:
- Encourages positive community engagement in the development and delivery of services.
- Provides information, options and referrals.
- Provides community information or education to raise awareness of issues, services and activities.
- Promotes Council and its community services.
E-mail updates are provided for different community interest areas.
For more information, to join or add your announcement to the bulletin, contact the Community Development Coordinator, Community Services, Great Lakes Council on 6591 7221, fax 6591 7362 or e-mail cpo@greatlakes.nsw.gov.au
Strategic support to community organisations and projects
The Community Services Section of Great Lakes Council:
- Convenes the Great Lakes Interagency - a bi-monthly networking and information exchange forum for service providers.
- Builds and maintains community networks, liaises with other groups and service providers to promote best practice, provides skill development and service coordination to enhance the effectiveness of services.
- Facilitates the provision of training opportunities, resources, and workshops to community groups and service providers in areas such as strategic planning, project management, meeting procedures, event management, community consultations, funding applications, etc.
- Supports the planning and development of services to meet the community's needs, especially services experiencing difficulty.
- Supports the planning and development of community building events/programs.
- Facilitates collaboration and partnerships between community organisations.
- Disseminates information and provide advice on policy, operational and management issues.
For more information contact the Community Services Coordinator, Great Lakes Council on 6591 7490, fax 6591 7496 or e-mail council@greatlakes.nsw.gov.au
Advocacy
The Community Development function of Great Lakes Council:
- Provides advocacy and assistance in the development of local community programs, services and facilities.
- Liaises with community groups, Council and government departments to advocate for local community organisations and provide information on local needs and funding issues.
- Advocates on community/social issues impacting on local communities.
- Monitors the impact of changes to public policies on Great Lakes residents and advising council and other agencies appropriately.
E-mail updates are provided for different community interest areas.
For more information, to join or add your announcement to the bulletin, contact the Community Development Coordinator, Community Services, Great Lakes Council on 6591 7221, fax 6591 7362 or e-mail cpo@greatlakes.nsw.gov.au
Social and Cultural Planning
Planning ahead enables council to provide services that are informed by current and projected community needs.
The Community Development function of Great Lakes Council:
- Development and annual review of Council's Social Plan.
- Annually review and update the Great Lakes Community Profile.
- Development, support to the implementation of, and annual review of Community Safety and Health promotion programs as determined by Council.
- Development and annual review of Crime Prevention Plans as determined by Council.
- Future development, support to the implementation of, and annual review of Cultural Development Plans as determined by Council.
- Conduct Social Impact Assessment for Development Applications as requested.
- Providing input to and informing Government policies and initiatives. Examples include the development of public health plans, DOCS plans, education, transport, and emergency services planning.
- Undertake research and inclusive local needs-based planning.
- Community consultations to assess the level of needs in communities.
- Collection & analysis of data pertaining to socio-economic trends, population, and other government department planning data.
Social Plan
A social/community plan examines the needs of the local community, including groups that may be disadvantaged in some way, and formulates access and equity activities that council and/or other agencies could implement to address identified needs.
Access and equity activities are any activities that aim to promote social justice and enhance community well-being. They include:
- A council's social/community welfare, health, cultural and recreational activities.
- The access and equity aspects of other council activities such as providing infrastructure and services, planning and regulatory activities, providing information and levying rates.
We are currently developing the new Social Plan, so take the opportunity to have your say by filling in the community survey that is available through the Community Services section at Great Lakes Council.
Crime Prevention Plan
Crime prevention planning involves partnerships between community, government and private agencies to achieve a reduction in crime concerns and an enhanced feeling of community safety. It considers the causes that contribute to anti-social and unlawful behaviour in a local setting and steers the development of strategies aimed at addressing those causes.
The aim of a crime prevention plan is the development of a coordinated multi-agency strategy that engages all relevant local services to prevent and reduce crimes of concern to the local community.
We are currently developing a crime prevention plan for Forster Tuncurry, so take the opportunity to have your say by filling in the community survey that is available through the Community Services section at Great Lakes Council.
The consultation process included public forums, community surveys and bi-monthly interagency meetings.
Cultural Plan
Cultural planning is a strategic process which illuminates and gives significance to the values, material and process dimensions of culture in a community in a way which informs a council's thinking, policies and programs.
Three dimensions of culture:
- Our sense of place, our values and our identity
- The material products of creative processes
- Our engagement with and participation in creative processes
Local cultural planning deals with these unique values and experiences. It is a way of helping council integrate and focus efforts in all the areas that affect the quality of people's lives. It is a way of linking those efforts with broader management plans and strategies.
With effective cultural planning, council gains a clearer sense of a community's aspirations and values. This in turn informs policy-making and planning decisions for the whole community.
Objectives of cultural planning:
- To promote the cultural well being of the area
- To enable council to devise and implement cultural processes consistent with broader objectives
- To enable council to identify the interrelationships between their activities and policies and recognise their cultural implications for a genuine whole-of-council approach to cultural planning
- To emphasise community engagement and creative expression of values and aspirations to inform council policies and decisions, thereby bringing the culture of government closer to that of communities
- To improve links with other spheres of government in order to increase opportunities for partnerships and funding.
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