Back in May the Nambucca Valley put its collective head together to come up with a project that fulfilled the criteria for a $60,000 start-up grant from the Foundation for Rural & Regional Renewal (FRRR).
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The offer is funding to get the ball rolling and open the way for further long-term funding to build the skills and resources to create a stronger and more vibrant future for the community.
The deadline for the grant was June 17 and after many hours of consultation and fine tuning, the project 'Nambucca Valley (Waluurr Ngambagagundi) - Hand in Hand: Sharing our stories about wellbeing from the collective heart of the people of the Nambucca Valley.' was submitted.
Lifetime Connect's Paul Sekfy, Nambucca Council's Teresa Boorer and Trudi Hayes from BISEP (Bowraville Innovative Social Enterprise Precinct) were major drivers, along with Cass Wilson from Uniting Care and Kerry Grace from Regional Development Australia.
"This funding opportunity was just too good to miss - it is unique because it is not for infrastructure," Teresa said.
And so 'Hand in Hand' aims for the esoteric goal of building the bridges to link our community's vast array of small groups, building on what we have in a more connected way - in short, to create a fuller operational Nambucca Valley Community Map
"There is so much volunteer effort, everyone is strained and all competing for the same funds ... if they were all joined up, there could be a collective effort and better outcomes."
We need to hear the beat of each others stories and then work out how we can weave them together for a better future
- Trudi Hayes (BISEP)
Trudi described it as "harnessing the motivation and the passion of all these people" and creating a forum for the necessary conversations to take place.
"The barriers everyone talks about are not physical - they are in people's heads, so we need to help break them down with honest discussions," Trudi said.
"We need to hear the beat of each others stories and then work out how we can weave them together for a better future... and let the past go."
For Paul, it is an opportunity to help everyone envision success.
"We need to use our imaginations and come up with ideas of what a successful community looks like," Paul said.
"The FRRR is asking for projects that build resilience. We are up against towns out west that are being ravaged by the natural disaster of drought - it is easy to see what resilience looks like there.
"Here we have different disasters - we have the disaster of acute youth unemployment and older underemployment ... we don't know what the answers are, but we can work together to try and find some.
"Like the Nambucca River that flows through this entire valley, we are all interconnected and I can assure everyone there is no such thing as a bad idea."
So the wait is on, with fingers crossed, for the September announcement.
Also making the news:
Ute Schulenberg
Journalism was always my plan but plans being what they are, I did not get to realise it until my early 40s ... and have loved every minute since. For me community journalism is the most intimate and honest place to be in this field - telling the stories of people I live with, side-by-side, every day. It is an honour.
Journalism was always my plan but plans being what they are, I did not get to realise it until my early 40s ... and have loved every minute since. For me community journalism is the most intimate and honest place to be in this field - telling the stories of people I live with, side-by-side, every day. It is an honour.
