Nearly 100 people attended yesterday's Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal's (FRRR) lunchtime session at the Island to discuss how the community could best spend up to $950,000 allocated to unite and support the Nambucca's not-for-profit groups.
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"Funding will flow every year until 2023, but how and where that money is spent will be decided from today's discussions and from ongoing discussions into the future," Investing in Rural Community Futures program manager Alli Mudford said.
"We realise there are lots of people and lots of groups that keep this Valley going - they're the backbone of this community.
"This program looks at supporting organisations knowing that will have a flow-on effect to both community and individuals.
"What we gathered from our initial discussions here was that looking after and developing people is a major focus identified in the Nambucca."
In a brainstorming session attendees were asked to envision the kind of community they'd like the Nambucca to become over the next five years.
A myriad of answers were scrawled onto post-its over seven tables, but there were a few ideas which kept cropping up in multiple locations.
Overwhelmingly, the group wanted to engage our Valley's youth.
"Youth are not the leaders of tomorrow, they're the leaders of today," one person said.
"I feel that young people who do engage with our organisations need to be trusted and listened to more, so they don't feel undervalued and become disengaged again," another said.
Mentoring programs were high on peoples' list, as were safehouses, public transport at night for our youth, and more employment opportunities.
Better communication was another standout amongst the sea of post-its. Many felt it was important to improve inter-generational communication, and communication between organisations. Better communication also fed into a desire for more understanding of and respect for culture.
Until we really understand each other, we can't really work with each other in honesty and integrity towards a common goal.
Better transport was also uppermost in people's minds, as a means to decrease social isolation in the community, and create opportunities for a greater number of people to participate.
Teams were then tasked with devising 'shovel-ready' projects that our community could achieve in the near future.
There were some innovative ideas hashed out, including a "community Gumtree" - a site where two or more organisations needing to purchase the same new resource (like a trailer), could buy one together and share.
Another idea was the installation of "Valley Vibes" community noticeboards.
A Valley-wide service to facilitate all other services and encourage increased collaboration on ideas and collective grant applications was another idea mentioned.
"A cuppa and a yarn" was one type of event highlighted to increase ongoing cultural and inter-generational education.
And another group explored the idea of creating a Valley-wide events calendar with an associated website.
A group of Gumbaynggirr elders and attendees carried their discussion on well after the event finished.
A unifying focus of their discussions was the desire to revive their culture, with the hope that young Indigenous kids would feel empowered to dream big, with a strengthened connection to country.
They would like to see a resource/cultural centre built, a cultural calendar constructed, some cultural camps organised, an Aboriginal employment strategy, and support for workers to continue to care for kids in need in the community.
They would also love to see an Aboriginal Advisory Group like the Clontarf Foundation brought to our region.
Another FRRR session was held over dinner yesterday.