PPP Conference 2001. 10 - Workshop 3

Agencies:partners with people and places

Contents

The Bonnyrigg Project - Place-making and building capacity in a diverse community
'GENERATE, the popular culture of middle eastern and asian youth'
Partnership Project on Sustainable Development for Women in remote and regional communities
City of Newcastle Crime Prevention Plan
Implementing the NSW Strategy to Reduce Violence Against Women within a Rural Context.

Project Title: The Bonnyrigg Project - Place-making and building capacity in a diverse community

Background/ Rationale:

Bonnyrigg is a place of contradictions. Most people tend to associate Bonnyrigg with the housing estate, a place of severe disadvantage where two-thirds of the population speak a language other than English at home. The estate is failing physically and it is failing socially. The Bonnyrigg Town Centre, however, is the focal point for 40,000 people living in the surrounding suburbs. It is also the home of 13 different wats, temples, mosques, churches and other culturally or spiritually significant places. Bonnyrigg is a rich place that has not yet reached its potential. Added to that, Bonnyrigg is soon to be served by the Liverpool-Parramatta Bus Transitway.

Brief Description of Project:

The project is about making Bonnyrigg work - socially, physically and economically. No single project will provide the solutions for Bonnyrigg and for this reason the problem is being approached on a number of fronts. At the centre of the Council's efforts is a Place Manager who has partnered with a number of different agencies, non-government service providers and local communities. A significant partnership has been formed with planningNSW. Assistance from planningNSW has enabled an innovative mix of urban design and cultural planning to take place that is dealing proactively with the impact of the new transport infrastructure and enabling the communities of Bonnyrigg to express their unique cultural identity in a substantial town park to be developed in currently wasted drainage land. The project is also providing a meaningful way of establishing the networks required to build capacity in Bonnyrigg.

Stakeholder Involvement:

There are few government agencies who don't have a stake in Bonnyrigg. As well, there are many communities, some local, others who travel from all over Sydney, to meet or worship in Bonnyrigg. There are the communities in the public housing estate and there are the more 'middle class' communities who live elsewhere in Bonnyrigg or in the neighbouring suburbs. They have all been involved in the project.

Achievements to Date:

Established networks that didn't previously exist in Bonnyrigg and identified a common purpose and shared goals for those groups. Have attracted additional resources from the Department of Housing in the form of an intensive management team and new recreation facilities. Closer co-operation with the team responsible for the planning and design of the Transitway. Improved service delivery by Council in the housing estate.

Lessons Learned:

It takes time and persistence to get to know how a place really works and where the problems really lie. Groups of such cultural diversity share remarkably similar, and simple, goals.

Any specific aspects of this project presented at conference workshops:

Cultural planning dimensions to Royal Australian Planning Institute conference, 1999 (NSW) and 2000 (National)

Full contact details:

Stephen Kerr
Place Manager - Bonnyrigg
Fairfield City Council
PO Box 21
Fairfield NSW 2165
Phone: 9482 2135
Mobile: 0407071423
Fax: 9757 4720
Email: skerr@fairfieldcity.nsw.gov.au

Notes from Workshop

• Place Management: explains complexity of residential/business/cultural mix of small area, yet no meeting place.
• Needing to create networks among diverse stakeholders to assist in the development of such a place (a park). This process has started.
• Creating sustainable partnerships for a suitable exit strategy.

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Project Title: 'GENERATE, the popular culture of middle eastern and asian youth'

Background/Rationale:

GENERATE is a research and training project that explores the ways in which youth from Middle Eastern and Asian communities construct and express their identities through popular culture. It is a partnership between the Institute for Cultural Research (University of Western Sydney), and the Migration Heritage Centre (NSW Government), in association with the Powerhouse Museum, and with the active involvement of young people and community organisations from Western Sydney.

Despite research on both 'youth cultures' and 'multiculturalism', there has been little attention paid to date to the cultural expressions and experiences of young people in Australia from different cultural backgrounds, especially in the context of urban popular culture and consumption practices.

GENERATE aims to fill this gap, by documenting the various means by which young people make sense of themselves and their place in Australian society. The focus is on everyday activities, social experiences and interactions (speech, food, writing, music, fashion, cars, television, film and video, computer games, new media and the Internet). The project recognises that the hybrid cultural identities youth construct for themselves, as they undertake these activities, represent an important contribution to migration history and heritage.

The geographic focus of the research is Western Sydney, and through interviews with young people from this area GENERATE will explore the experience of living in a multicultural society from the point of view of young people themselves. But the Project is not just about documentation. Young people from the communities will also be involved as researchers and in the production of popular culture that expresses their hybrid lives.

Words, images, and sounds will form the basis of a series of events during the life of the project, running throughout 2001 and 2002, culminating in a major exhibition. Through this process the project hopes to provide an opportunity for a wider understanding of the complexity and diversity of young migrant identities and the dynamic, positive contribution they make to Sydney's public life and Australia's culture.

Research Aims

• To document the everyday life of young people from Middle Eastern and Asian communities in Western Sydney;
• To understand and appreciate the role of popular culture, cultural consumption and production experiences and activities in the construction of their identity.

Research Outcomes

• A publication on Middle Eastern and Asian youth culture in Western Sydney;
• An exhibition of different elements of youth culture produced by young people themselves.

GENERATE would like to hear from any organisations working with young people, or from young people themselves who might be interested in this Project. If you would like further information, or would like to participate in GENERATE, please contact:

Melissa Butcher
Institute for Cultural Research
University of Western Sydney
Tel: 02 9685 9921
Fax: 02 9685 9964
Email: m.butcher@uws.edu.au

Notes from Workshop

• Government/academic/cultural partnership, but more important stakeholder group - the young people who form the basis for the project, therefore youth participation is a strong element. Highlight positive contribution young people make to society.
• Meeting and interacting with young people where they go, on their terms.
• Dispelling stereotypical myths. Identifying 'complex', contemporary, cross-cultural youth culture ….. this will form the future identity for Australia - our heritage, contemporary/current, past and future.

Recommendations

• New ways to conduct research, relevant to community
• For education structures to liaise with youth associations and clubs in Western Sydney (Fill gap between kids who use services and those who don't).

Discussion/Comment

Both projects in the same workshop are seeking safe, amenable, appropriate public space

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Project Title: Partnership Project on Sustainable Development for Women in remote and regional communities

Background/ Rationale:

Sustainability is the long-term quality of life of individuals, communities and environments, through providing for the future. It is equally about social, cultural and economic factors, as it is about the environment. Sustainable development for women may apply strategies to a range of issues that affect the quality of life and the environmental and cultural well-being of women and their communities.

UTS Shopfront (University of Technology, Sydney) were funded for a Partnership Project through the Department for Women's 1999 Women's Grants Program 'Working Together- Moving Forward', to design a framework for sustainable economic, social, cultural and environmental development for women. Based on the NSW Government's social justice objectives, the project aimed to establish a partnership between the Department for Women, UTS Shopfront and women in the three communities of Dareton (South West NSW), Nowra/Ulladulla (Illawarra) and Miller (Western Sydney).

Brief Description of Project:

The Partnership Project engaged in a process to design a framework reflecting local distinctiveness and identifying contributors to sustainability. Projects that would contribute to strengthening women's participation in the development and renewal of their communities, together with a set of principles to inform local interventions and the building of sustainability, were put together.

UTS Shopfront spent an extensive period of time working in each of the areas becoming familiar with the communities, developing and building the relationships that were fundamental to the success of the project. Community profiles were completed with available information collated into a format useful for many future purposes enabling self-determination and empowering the communities. Five research projects each addressing a particular barrier faced by women in remote and regional communities were completed. This work was used to identify generic themes developed with each of the communities.

Stakeholder Involvement:

Women from diverse locations within each community, from non-government organizations and from government agencies were involved in defining the parameters and details of the projects in their areas. The Department for Women has been representing the principles for sustainable development and individual projects to forums on whole of government strategies. Where appropriate, individual projects and sets of strategies identified through the Partnership Project have been linked into the strategic work of the Department.

Key Elements:

The project worked through a collaborative community development process. Partnership and local community ownership informed the working process. Rural and regional economic and social change and the location of regional and remote communities in a globalised economy provided one layer of context for the project as did the need to build strength and renewal in Indigenous communities.

The Shopfront provided a catalyst for the emergence of new ideas and planning, nurturing the project/activity ideas and setting up linkages and models of support. Several of these community-initiated projects were linked to the Shopfront's core program of community-initiated student run projects.

Achievements to Date:

Projects that women identified as contributing to strengthening their capacity to build sustainable communities were established within each community. Networks and women's organizations have been established, supported and strengthened and links made to sustain local initiatives. One project on economic and cultural development has been initiated for each area. Pathways for training, leadership and women's participation have been identified. Individual projects have secured wide-ranging local and regional support and involvement. Fellowships enabling women in each area to develop knowledge and to pursue an area of interest to them and their communities have been instituted.

Lessons Learned:

The principles formulated through the project identify the lessons learnt about how women participate and contribute to resolutions on local issues affecting their quality of life and the life and sustainability of their communities. They reflect the need for a dialogic working partnership between government and the community. They recognize the diversity of communities and the knowledge and imagination that women bring to the building of their communities.

Any specific aspects of this project presented at conference workshops:

Full contact details:

Notes from Workshop

• Partnership between Department for Women, UTS Shopfront and women in three communities: Miller, Dareton and Nowra.
• Focus on Dareton partnership and the Dareton Aboriginal Women's Network (DAWN)
• DAWN, as a local community network, is critically important for assisting local Aboriginal women to support their families and deal with the extraordinary problems of grief over suicides and other deaths as well as ill-health and unemployment.
• Practical support from government and academics is invaluable.
• Important to build the strength of women and networks to then develop projects which meet the community's aspirations.

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Project Title: City of Newcastle Crime Prevention Plan

Background/ Rationale:

The Community Safety Officer position was created in early 1999. The position was funded for two years via a grant from the Crime Prevention Division of the NSW Attorney General's Department under its Safer Towns and Cities Program. The position has primary responsibility for developing community safety and crime prevention initiatives for Council. During the two years of the appointment a Community Safety Policy and two crime prevention plans have been developed.

Brief Description of Project:

The City of Newcastle Crime Prevention Plan takes a strategic approach to dealing with a number of crime and related issues. The impetus for the plan was a Community Safety Forum involving community, resident and business groups. This Forum identified the need to promote stronger communities as a major theme which would underpin the development of the crime prevention plan.

Braye park is a large centrally located park in the Newcastle suburb of Waratah. Community concerns with regard to anti-social behaviour, illegal 4 wheel drive use and drug use led to the development of a set of strategies for dealing with these problems based upon partnerships between Council and the local community.

Stakeholder Involvement:

CPP: Consultation in developing the brief for the plan. Extensive consultation in the development of the plan. Extensive consultation as part of the exhibition process while the plan was in draft form.

Braye Park: Local residents and park users felt disempowered by the alienation of their park over a period of years. The anti-social behaviour, drug use and the 4 wheel drive incursions meant that they were alienated from the park which was/is such a central aspect of the Waratah community. Any strategies developed to deal with these problems needed to involve the local community as core partners.

Key Elements:

• Community consultation
• Engaging with and providing opportunities for direct involvement for local communities
• Design improvements
• Planning

Achievements to Date:

CPP: Plan has been adopted by Council (6/3/01). Many of the strategies in the plan had been developed and (in some cases implemented) in conjunction with the development of the plan. Budget has been allocated for the implementation process.

Braye Park:
Management plan developed
Budget allocated for implementation of plan. Being implemented.
Bushcare group initiated and functioning effectively for more than 12 months.

Lessons Learned:

• In developing local initiatives it is necessary to work with the community.
• Partnerships are essential
• No one strategy is a "magic bullet"
• Effective planning makes for better outcomes
• Quite often problems have been "designed in" and need to be designed out.

Full contact details:

Barney Langford
Community Safety Officer
Newcastle City Council
PO Box 489
Newcastle 2300
Phone:(02) 49742846
Email: blangford@ncc.nsw.gov.au

Notes from Workshop

1. Crime Prevention Plan
2. 5 issues, 37 strategies, 150 actions
3. Partnerships, existing programs, regional level, new initiatives
4. Nightrider, city loop bus
5. Consultation/research
6. Trial 12/99 - 2/00
7. Crime reduction
8. 12 month trial to 12/00
9. Nightcare
10. Braye Park - 5 meetings
11. Community events
12. Pilot then longer trial

Discussion/Comment

1. Special Areas rather than all Newcastle
2. Voluntary in by 1 or 2 am.
3. Limitation of resources
4. Role of media in Community Renewal

Relocation - Braye Park to Blackbutt

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Project Title: Implementing the NSW Strategy to Reduce Violence Against Women within a Rural Context.

Background/ Rationale:

The NSW Strategy to Reduce Violence Against Women is a State government initiative that commenced in 1997. The Strategy commenced in response to consultations with women and women's groups that identified violence as a significant issue for women. The Strategy is jointly funded by NSW Attorney General's Department, NSW Health, NSW Police Service and NSW Department of Community Services in partnership with Department for Women.

Brief Description of Project:

Several projects have been undertaken across the State in conjunction with government, non-government organisations and community groups addressing violence for older women, younger women, Aboriginal women, women with disabilities, women from non-English speaking backgrounds etc.

This paper will explore the challenges and achievements in addressing violence against women within a rural context. Specifically issues addressed include:

• Lack of homogeneity within rural community
• Conservatism
• Working with rural community organisations
• Distance
• Partnerships

Stakeholder Involvement:

Integral to the implementation of projects under the NSW Strategy to Reduce Violence Against Women is partnerships. These partnerships have varied according to the specific project and audiences. Numerous partnerships have been developed with workers from Health, Police, Women's Refuges, Family Support, Court Support, Women's Groups etc.

Key Elements:

Key elements of the Strategy include:
NSW Council on Violence Against Women
State Management Group
Violence Against Women Specialist Unit
A network (17) Regional Violence Prevention Specialists.

The Strategy promotes:
A broad definition of violence against women
A partnership approach in addressing violence against women.
A focus on prevention.

Achievements to Date:

There have been several achievements across the State. Achievements in the New England region include:

• A program for people with an intellectual disability regarding issues of sexual violence;
• Convening the successful "Preventing Violence Against Women" Conference, Tamworth March 2000;
• Conducting the "Stories Over the Back Fence" tour aimed to engage older women;
• Developing, distributing and implementing the Domestic Violence Education Manual - written for service providers interested in speaking with High School students about issues of domestic violence;
• Assisting in the development of an unfunded Court Support program in Gunnedah;
• Convening Women's Business Days for and with Aboriginal women in Tamworth, Gunnedah, Quirindi and Glen Innes;
• Stitching and displaying the New England Violence Against Women Quilt;
• Piloting the Tamworth Domestic Violence Project - funds received from Commonwealth Partnerships Against Domestic Violence Program which has employed a Counsellor/Project Officer based at Tamworth Police Station; and
• the Stop Domestic Violence Truck program aimed at smaller communities across the New England region.
• Development and implementation of the South West Slopes Violence Prevention Program
• Safer Times Round Albury Wodonga - this project won the Business and Community Partnerships Award category of the Victorian Crime Prevention Awards 2000
• Development of an Aboriginal Best Practice Project
• Implementation of the NSW Strategy to Reduce Violence Against Women Stateside Campaign in Wagga Wagga
• Support for 3 Regional Domestic Violence Committees' Conferences

Lessons Learned:

Partnerships are complex, hard work, challenging, confronting, difficult, stimulating, productive, exciting and provide an opportunity for sustainable work!!!

Full contact details:

Cathy Hastings
c/- Tamworth Police Station,
Fitzroy Street,
Tamworth 2340
Phone: 02 6768 2814
email: catherine_hastings@agd.nsw.gov.au

Karen MacLean, RVPS
Greater Murray Health Service
PO Box 3395
Albury NSW 2640
Phone: 02 6023 7111
email: karen_maclean@agd.nsw.gov.au

Notes from Workshop

1. Examples of projects
2. Women with intellectual disability and sexual assault
3. Older women and violence
4. Implementing the Statewide campaign in Wagga Wagga
   • Partners - Police, Council, Health and NGO's
   • Manual & support material
   • Rural Communities - generic nature of many services, communication, informal networking and face to face contact.

    

Discussion/Comment

Who do women tell about violence?
Govt services are seen as fragile

1. Seasonal workers
2. Definition of rural communities
3. Mainstreaming the issue
4. Words and the message
5. Problems of distance
6. Focused yet indirect approach - intensive intervention (Francis & Henderson)
7. Local poster - Tumut
8. Link with HACC workers

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