Thursday 14 September 2023
8:00am
Arrival and Registration
8:30am
Official Welcome and Opening, Simon Beaumont, MC
Welcome to Country
Opening Address, Annie Riordan, MLGP, State President, LG Professionals WA
Opening Address, Paul Gravett, MLGP, CDN Chairperson
9:00am Live Stream Session
Opening Keynote: Craig Hollywood, Australian of the Year, Western Australia's Local Hero 2022, Founder and CEO Short Back and Sidewalks
Craig Hollywood, Australian of the Year, Award winning CEO, and social impact maker, changes lives for some of the community's most vulnerable people, one hair cut at a time.
While sitting in a barbershop in 2016, Criag came up with the idea to offer free haircuts to people in need, and Short Back & Sidewalks was born. Civil Engineer Craig can't cut hair, but he does know the power of a conversation. His idea has grown into a volunteer-led movement that's positively impacted the lives of over 10,000 people in need across Australia.
From humble beginnings in a carpark in Perth, Short Back & Sidewalks now operates across the continent and continues to positively impact people's lives by providing a consistent, judgement free service which helps to break the stigma often attached to those in need.
Be inspired by his story and discover that ideas can come to us all in the strangest of places, that activating social consciousness can be sparked through the act of having a simple conversation, and how thinking outside the box can be a societal game changer.
10:00am
Morning Tea
10:30am
Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries update (Speaker TBA)
11:00am
Recognition Action Planning for Local Governments
Reconciliation Australia states that Reconciliation Action Plans (RAPs) based on business plans with strong, reportable targets have the power to turn goodwill into action, embed reconciliation into an organisation's work and sphere of influence, and create tangible benefits and real momentum for reconciliation.
Join this facilitated session to learn more about the RAP process for local governments. You will be guided on where to start with a RAP process, discover the most important things for local governments to consider in their RAP planning, and unpack a RAP process and its key elements.
11:45am Live Stream Session
Is your community ready to engage younger generations? (Speaker TBA)
12:30pm
Lunch
AGM
1:30pm
Concurrent Sessions
Where's the door?
Alison Wright, Community Facilitator, Imagines Futures.
Bringing together organisations across the sector, the Open Door Community of Practice is a collaboration of frontline workers with a vision to improve swift and effective access to services for people facing economic, health and social challenges. We bring together frontline community practitioners to share expertise and enthusiasm to innovate and advocate for opportunities to help how we help.
In this session you will discover some of our findings, including the gaps in service delivery that were uncovered, and how we plan to solve them.
The Great Sparkle Hunt: Discovering Community Gifts
Elaine Olsen, Partnerships & Business Development Lead and Nicola-Jane le Breton, Thinking Partner & Community Story Weaver
Ever played detective in your own community? Elaine and Nicola from Befriend will turn you into savvy community gift sleuths!
This session is your passport to the world of Asset Based Community Development, packed with practical tips to identify and amplify the gifts in your community.
Learn how our unique gifts can enliven a community, and be inspired by stories from innovative programs like The Possibility Fellowship and the Befriend Social Network.
Suicide Prevention Collaborative
Andrew Lillywhite, Anglicare WA
2:20pm
Concurrent Sessions
Community Development Approaches in Practice
Jessica Black, Community Development Lecturer; Lara Sappal, Community Services Principal Lecturer and Nichola Tomkins, Community Development Lecturer, North Metropolitan TAFE
Explore how different approaches to community development impact the social outcomes of our projects through this facilitated role-play scenario.
Step into the shoes of a community member for this fast-paced, interactive session and explore how the way we run our projects can impact those involved. Reflect on your own practice and stretch your capabilities through the introduction of best practice approaches from around the world.
Wellard Village Community Transformation Project
Alyce Brewis, Place Leader, City of Kwinana
Can a village be transformed in just seven days? The City of Kwinana, in partnership with RAC's Reconnect initiative, challenged its community to makeover Wellard Village in just seven days. The Wellard community came together to share ideas, vote, plan, and help build and install placemaking projects, including youth-specific elements which empowered local young people to plan and deliver! From tradies and community members playing pianos, to kids playing in the precinct, groups gathering in shared spaces and families engaging in street-based games, the striking results speak for themselves.
Canning Cultural Ambassadors Program
Gauri Thanasingam, Welcoming Cities Community Development Officer, City of Canning
The City of Canning is the most diverse council in WA, with 51% of residents are born overseas. Diversity is one of the City's greatest assets, however community leader interviews revealed challenges in accessing City resources by its Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CaLD) community.
The Cultural Ambassadors Program was developed to provide the City with cultural consultancy and be a pivotal part of the city engagement to its diverse community, and is just one of the City's investments in collaborating, listening, and empowering a more resilient community. The presentation will showcase outcomes and learnings to help other local governments build stronger connections.
3:00pm
Afternoon Tea in the Corporate Partners Trade Area
3:30pm
Concurrent Sessions
Love my Neighbourhood - A Place Based Community Development Approach
Sinead Gilligan, Community Development Officer (Community Safety), City of Kwinana
How can placemaking create safer places for vulnerable communities and ensure everyone feels safe in their neighbourhood?
Worrall Court, a street featuring modest scaled social housing development in the City of Kwinana, has long experienced exceptionally high and serious crime issues. The City recognised problems were so entrenched that the place and community needed a reset and investigated innovative ways to tackle this, with phenomenal results!
Six months on, crime has dropped 70% and the community is stronger and more hopeful. Discover the strategies and results catching the attention of NFPs and Councils across the country.
HOME Karawara Food Relief Program
John Serafini, HOME Karawara Food Relief founder and Marie Walker, Community Development Officer, City of South Perth
The HOME Karawara Food Relief program provides recipients with more than a meal, it also nourishes people through connection to the community and a sense of belonging.
Lived experience homeless advocate Josh Serafini founded the HOME Karawara Food Relief program to develop a more collaborative approach to food relief programs between local government and people with lived experience of homelessness.
This session will share the City of South Perth's journey walking alongside Josh on the path to more inclusive outcomes for community.
Yarning Circle
Laura Crisp, Childhood and Youth Development Planner, City of Wanneroo; Victor Woodley, Aboriginal and Islander Education Officer (Boordiya - Leader), Yanchep Secondary College and Anthony Johnson, Principal, Yanchep Secondary College
In 2020 Yanchep Secondary College (YSC) hosted a NAIDOC event at Kalbarri Park in Yanchep, and important cultural meeting place space for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff, students and families.
The event sparked an exciting collaboration during 2021-22 between the City, young people and staff from YSC, local Cultural Consultant Derek Nannup, Whadjuk Nyoongar Artist Sharyn Egan and Yanchep Police.
This is a story about youth empowerment, the impact of intergenerational cultural storytelling, young people partnering with their community and key stakeholders coming together to create a space for connection and care of country.
4:00pm
Conversation cafe
7:00pm
Dinner and Awards Ceremony
Friday 15 September 2023
8:00am
Arrivals and Registration
8:30am Live Stream Session
Opening Keynote Address
Dr Tanya Finnie
Learn how to grow your cultural intelligence to better collaborate across cultures, whether CaLD communities, gender, generations, or sexual orientation, and gain a deeper understanding of applying cultural strategies to establish inclusive community practices across the sector.
Inclusive strategies are critical to the success of community development. Tanya's practical session framed around the public sector diversification strategy for community development practitioners is both entertaining and packed with practical strategies you can immediately implement.
9:30am
RAC Vision: Connecting Communities
Sharon Rowse, Community Impact General Manager, RAC WA
RAC's General Manager Community Impact, Sharon Rowse, will explore ways that our cities, towns and communities can embrace changes to the way we move around. How can we create vibrant, liveable neighbourhoods, improve road safety and encourage active and affordable transport?
Sharon will cover RAC's upcoming initiatives, and highlight some recent case studies of how RAC, local government and communities have worked together to deliver on shared goals.
10:15am
Morning Tea in the Corporate Partners Trade Area
10:45am
Masterclass Sessions
The Innovation Way Live Stream Session
Glenn Capelli
In challenging times your greatest asset might be your team's ability to think and act beyond conventional models of intelligence.
In this active, engaging and hands-on workshop you'll discover creative and practical ideas to spark group genius, learn unique thinking tools for everyday use, and explore innovations for better health, performance and finance outcomes benefitting your family, workplace, community and self.
Glenn Capelli has presented to communities and organisations worldwide, including to local governments across the country. Be prepared to think, converse, stretch and laugh as you apply The Innovation Way.
Demographic trends and workshop on demographic storytelling: 16 Critical Liveability Attributes
Glenn Capuano, Demographer
Join us for a data-driven demographic briefing, learn the technique of dominant-emerging analysis and discover how tools such as .id can build the story of a place and the role it plays within a region. Uncover the main population trends in WA, including how COVID and border closures affect the state's population growth now and into the future, and our changing age structure, migration patterns, and socio-economic characteristics of the state pinpointing disadvantage.
Through the lens of the highly topical issue of housing affordability (or lack of it) in regions, finishing with an open workshop where participants can bring their own demographic questions and case studies to create a demographic story.
Amplifying Collaboration and Innovation: ChatGPT and AI in Community Development Initiatives
Dr Ross Yates, Lecturer, School of Business and Law, Edith Cowan University
This session will offer some interesting insights into transformative technologies such as ChatGPT, DALL-E and Adobe Firefly which hold immense potential to revolutionise various aspects of our work and increase creativity and innovation in the community development environment. During the presentation we will explore the benefits and risks associated with ChatGPT and AI. We will discuss how these technologies can augment our productivity and decision-making processes, while also addressing the importance of responsible usage and fact-checking. Furthermore, we will examine practical applications of AI in the realm of community development, considering the role of AI tools in education, content creation, and assisting with natural language tasks. By engaging in this presentation, we aim to enhance our understanding of ChatGPT and AI's potential for improving community development initiatives, while also being mindful of ethical considerations and the need for human oversight. Join me as we discuss how we can leverage these technologies responsibly and harness their power to drive positive change.
[Kindly written by ChatGPT]
12:20pm
Lunch
1.30pm
Masterclass Sessions
The Innovation Way Live Stream Session
Glenn Capelli
In challenging times your greatest asset might be your team's ability to think and act beyond conventional models of intelligence.
In this active, engaging and hands-on workshop you'll discover creative and practical ideas to spark group genius, learn unique thinking tools for everyday use, and explore innovations for better health, performance and finance outcomes benefitting your family, workplace, community and self.
Glenn Capelli has presented to communities and organisations worldwide, including to local governments across the country. Be prepared to think, converse, stretch and laugh as you apply The Innovation Way.
Fostering wellbeing and resilience for community development practitioners
Stacey Hutt, Director, The Collan Effect
Join this nurturing space where practitioners can reflect and learn more about personal wellbeing and resilience for community development and engagement.
explore perspectives on the unique nature of resilience within the community development sector including an overview of current industry research and trends.
Participants will start this session with an anonymous group survey to develop insights around collective wellbeing, resilience, and professional growth, and will walk away with new insights, tools and techniques for personal wellbeing. Enrich your individual goals and strengths, and develop strategies to optimise mindfulness through your work.
Amplifying Collaboration and Innovation: ChatGPT and AI in Community Development Initiatives
Dr Ross Yates, Lecturer, School of Business and Law, Edith Cowan University
This session will offer some interesting insights into transformative technologies such as ChatGPT, DALL-E and Adobe Firefly which hold immense potential to revolutionise various aspects of our work and increase creativity and innovation in the community development environment. During the presentation we will explore the benefits and risks associated with ChatGPT and AI. We will discuss how these technologies can augment our productivity and decision-making processes, while also addressing the importance of responsible usage and fact-checking. Furthermore, we will examine practical applications of AI in the realm of community development, considering the role of AI tools in education, content creation, and assisting with natural language tasks. By engaging in this presentation, we aim to enhance our understanding of ChatGPT and AI's potential for improving community development initiatives, while also being mindful of ethical considerations and the need for human oversight. Join me as we discuss how we can leverage these technologies responsibly and harness their power to drive positive change.
[Kindly written by ChatGPT]
2:30pm
Closing Keynote Address: Generation Bridges - Embracing Communications Diversity
Robbie Figg
Generation Bridges - Embracing Communication Diversity is an engaging session that highlights the diverse communication styles prevalent across generations. Participants will explore the impact of technolgy on communication, uncover the subtle differences of language an terminology choices, and nonverbal cues. By fostering a culture of respect for the experience and wisdom of older generations, attendees will learn to avoid generational stereotypes and assumptions. Through some interactive activities, attendees will practice active listening, empathy, and look into the art of knowledge sharing and mentoring.
3:30pm
Conference Closing Remarks
Sam Kempton, Deputy CDN Chairperson
4:30pm
Networking and Refreshments