Brimbank Council Neighbourhood Houses and Community Centres provide opportunities for

people at all life stages to connect and learn, strengthen cultural identities, and build a sense

of belonging in individuals and groups.

2021-2022 saw the Neighbourhood Houses Unit (the Unit) embark on the implementation

of Year 3 of the Council’s Neighbourhood Houses and Community Centres Strategy and

Action Plan 2019-2024. Much was achieved in the third year of the Strategy, and momentum

continues to build in the ambitious transformation of Council managed Neighbourhood

Houses and Community Centres (NH/CCs) into sites of belonging and learning for all.

The COVID-19 pandemic continued to impact everyone’s lives, and in turn, influence the Unit’s

offerings to the Brimbank community during this difficult time.

Brimbank

Neighbourhood Houses

and Community Centres

Annual Report Card 2021–2022

Neighbourhood Houses and Community

Centres continued to support community with

access to services during and post COVID-19

restrictions

Partnering with IPC Health to host four pop-up

vaccination sessions with 276 community members

vaccinated at the sessions. These sessions were

targeted towards walking families who rely on

public transport as their primary mode of travel.

Partnering with Foodbank Victoria to host ‘Farms

to Families’ market days. Over five sessions, 800

hampers and over 20,000kg of fresh produce

provided to vulnerable community members.

Provision of a Community Centre car park as a

Department of Health drive through testing site

and RAT distribution centre.

Partnering with St Albans Community Youth

Club (The Tin Shed) to deliver the collaborative

food relief effort in Brimbank, delivering 200

food hampers weekly from August 2021-March

2022 to residents of Brimbank most affected by

COVID-19. Three Brimbank young people from CALD

backgrounds were employed to pack food hampers

as part of this initiative.

Held a series of pop-up morning and afternoon

tea events across the municipality to provide a

platform for staff to meet program participants,

community members and other stakeholders. It

was an opportunity to connect and check-in with

community members who have been away from

the centres due to COVID-19 lockdowns. The

knowledge gained from these interactions has

informed new programs such as ‘skills sharing’

facilitated by community members, a healthy

eating session delivered in partnership with IPC

Health and youth activities as part of

‘The House!’ program.

Provided 84 Social Inclusion programs focused

on assisting individuals and groups improve their

ability to make meaningful connections with a

range of people in the community, and provided

more opportunities for forging relationships.

Provided 38 Skills Development and Employment

programs to enhance work readiness through

targeted, co-designed training with a focus on

increasing employability outcomes.

Provided leadership to the Brimbank

Neighbourhood Houses Strategic Partnership

(made up of both Council managed and

Community run NH/CCs)

The Partnership group met quarterly and pivoted

its focus to support Neighbourhood House led

COVID recovery efforts. A coordinated approach

was put in place to assist individuals and groups

to recover from lockdowns, reconnect with

community and increase resilience.

A new Brimbank Neighbourhood Houses

Strategic Partnership Agreement and Action Plan

for 2022-2025 was signed by all partners and

adopted by Council.

Provided grants totaling $140,000 to four

community managed Neighbourhood Houses.

These included $35,000 per house as Council’s

annual contribution grant.

Supported Young People to Connect and learn

(with a focus on young people who experience

structural discrimination)

Expansion of BRIMBANK LIVE, a digital radio

platform that was developed during the first wave

of the pandemic in 2020, as a creative way for

young people to connect and learn online. Eleven

schools across Brimbank took part in the Radio

Ed week project with 275 students trained in

media and technology skills to support them write,

interview and host live and pre-recorded radio

shows and podcasts. 4,000 listeners accessed

on-demand podcasts between July 2021 and June

2022. Delivered in partnership with Equal Ed, 116 online

homework support sessions to primary and

secondary students at no cost. These sessions

were attended by 137 students in total and

provided critical education support, especially

during lockdown.

Provided 20 Youth programs with 800 sessions

delivered, with 12,000 youth attending.

Delivered the ‘Recentre’ Youth Arts Exhibition

co-designed by local young people and featured

artwork from seven local youth artist.

‘The House!’ creative arts program for young people

and facilitated by young people, continued to prove

very successful with young people from a wide

range of cultural backgrounds. Thirty three young

people regularly attended the sessions which ran

twice a week. Participants of ‘The House!’ program

produced and recorded six songs and one music

video, unpacking their experiences of the pandemic.

Piloted the Young Innovators Program in

collaboration with Equal Ed and Wyndham City

Council. The program provided unique experiences

for young people to gain and apply key skills

to drive social innovation. Over six months, 12

young Innovators from Brimbank participated in

a wide range of workshops and experiences with

organisations, businesses and institutions to

foster their skills and capacities in creating positive

change in their communities. They were also

mentored by Council staff and had an opportunity

to design and pitch a project or innovation with

Equal Ed providing seed funding to address a

particular need in their community.

Supported Children and Families to Connect

and Learn

59 no cost holiday programs were delivered online

or onsite. These included programs in creative arts,

cooking, science and robotics, sports, health and

wellbeing. In 2021/2022 over 300 families took

advantage of accessible, safe and creative holiday

programming for children and young people.

Provided 28 Playgroups/Children’s Activity Groups

for the year with 1,128 sessions delivered with

approximately 280 families attending. The program

supports and connect parents, and focuses on

promoting children’s domain of developments

(cognitive, language, physical and social-emotional).

Twenty-two Children Sports programs held with

960 sessions delivered with 14,400 children

attending. A diverse offering including basketball,

soccer, tennis, different styles of dance and

table tennis to cater for all skill levels to increase

participation, personal and social development and

improve health and wellbeing.

‘We Got You’ mentoring and support program

(online and face to face) has continued to support

children and young people during the pandemic,

mentored by older young people aged 18-30 years

who represent culturally diverse communities in

Brimbank. Twenty seven children and young people

received mentoring weekly.

Homework and learning support was delivered through

thirty–two programs to 320 primary and secondary

students to support continued engagement in learning

during and post the pandemic.

Two very successful Neighbor Day Events were

held at Westvale and West Sunshine Community

Centres. These family friendly events had

over 150 people attend and provided the local

attendees the opportunity to reconnect and

forge new connections with others in their local

neighbourhood.

Worked toward a culture of race equity in

everything that we do

The Unit’s team represents 15 different cultural

backgrounds. This diversity is spread across all

genders, band levels, including leadership roles.

The Unit continued to embed First Nations knowledge

and awareness into activities. These include:

NAIDOC Week programming for all life stages and

the embedment of Acknowledgement of Country as

standard practice in meetings, programs and events.

Celebrated Neighbourhood House Week recognising the

important role Neighbourhood Houses play in building

resilient, healthy and connected community. Residents

had an opportunity to engage in a range of activities

including a platform to tell their stories and celebrate

Brimbank’s rich cultural diversity. The campaign was

viewed by over 1,300 social media followers.

Built Intergenerational Connections and

Supported Adults and Seniors to Connect

and Learn

Partnered with Sustain: The Australian Food

Network to create a culturally diverse and

inclusive food garden at Westvale Community

Centre Gardens involving participants from three

continents. Elders were able to share cultural

knowledge to younger generation who had no

previous cultural gardening experience. As part of

this project a zine and short film were produced.

Partnered with the South Sudanese Mothers Coalition

to deliver B Creative an intergenerational performance

project focused on building intergenerational

understanding between elders and young people.

This was delivered face to face and online.

Provided Men’s Health education through

programming for participants of the Westvale

Men’s Shed including Mental Health First Aid.

Provided a wide range of physical exercise and mental

wellbeing support through targeted programming for

women from culturally diverse communities, seniors

and people living with disabilities.

Supported six new and emerging communities to

lead self-determined programs that allowed for

intergenerational exchange through culture and

traditions, arts, language and cooking.

Continued to partner with a wide range

of organisations to better serve Brimbank

communities

Partnered with over 60 community groups to deliver

self-determined community led programs supporting

health and wellbeing, life-long learning and pathways to

employment, as well as supporting COVID-19 recovery

efforts. This helped to disrupt disadvantage and establish

better futures through locally tailored and evidenced based

solutions for local needs and issues..

The Neighbourhood house Unit received the

following awards in 2021/2022

LGPro 2022 BRIMBANK LIVE in the Diversity and

Inclusion category HIGH COMMENDATION –

Brimbank Neighbourhood Houses.

Brimbank Council Managed

Neighbourhood Houses and

Community Centres

Cairnlea Community Hub

59 Carmody Drive, Cairnlea, VIC 3023

Delahey Community Centre

70 Copperfield Drive, Delahey, VIC 3037

Hunt Club Arts and Community Centre

775 Ballarat Road, Deer Park, VIC 3023

Sydenham Neighbourhood House

Level 1, 1 Station Street,

Watergardens Town Centre,

Taylors Lakes, VIC 3038

West Sunshine Community Centre

25 Kermeen Street,

Sunshine West , VIC 3020

Westvale Community Centre

45 Kings Road, Kings Park, VIC 3021

Keilor Community Hub program spaces

704B Old Calder Highway, Keilor, VIC 3036

For further information contact:

NHCCSocial@brimbank.vic.gov.au

9249 4000

info@brimbank.vic.gov.au

PO Box 70, Sunshine, VIC 3020

• TTY dial

133 677

• Speak & Listen

1300 555 727

•

www.relayservice.gov.au

, then enter

03 9249 4000

www.facebook.com/brimbankcouncil

www.twitter.com/brimbankcouncil

www.youtube.com/brimbankcitycouncil

Use Brimby, the online virtual assistant

brimbank.vic.gov.au

333 - 0922