What’s been happening at the GG HQ?
You may have noticed some changes recently at the Maryborough Resource Centre. The team from Go Goldfields has been working with Council to create a space dedicated to building creative solutions and opportunities for community-led change for Central Goldfields children and their families.
The Hon. Mary-Anne Thomas, Minister for Regional Development formally launched the new Go Goldfields headquarters and community space in Central Maryborough in May marking another significant milestone in the story of this social change partnership.
The Minister also announced a $1 million commitment from the Victorian Government towards the work of Go Goldfields, specifically the Every Child, Every Chance initiative, aimed at ensuring every child in Central Goldfields Shire has every chance to grow up healthy, safe, and confident.
The event commenced with a Welcome to Country and Smoking Ceremony led by Aunty Marilyn Nicholls and over 100 community members, business leaders, sector and service executives, and front-line social support staff.
Notes from our Nurture & Learning Space
As part of the Go Goldfields Every Child, Every Chance (ECEC) initiative we have created a new Nurture & Learning Space at the HQ. The space provides:
- A welcoming community space for families to connect with others and find out about activities and services to support children, parents, and carers.
- Home to ‘the Nest’ – a community-led and professionally supported drop-in program for families.
- Access to a maternal child health nurse for any questions or concerns outside of key appointments and other visiting child-focused health and therapeutic practitioners.
- A child-friendly and accessible meeting place for facilitated learning and support.
- Peer-led learning opportunities and flexible information sessions to support parenting and caring for children (keep an eye on our Facebook page for more information available soon!)
Applications open now for New Position
To support this new venture, we are currently looking for the right person to play a leading role in creating safe, welcoming, and accessible services, programs, and activities within it our HQ.
Informed by community needs, the Program Coordinator will work with partners and families to build support networks, coordinate programs, enhance the availability of information, and improve accessibility for early years health, education, and care. If this sounds like you or someone you know – access the position description here.
ECEC Research & Engagement Report 2021
Building on our community-led principles, it was critical that the Every Child, Every Chance initiative was informed by a comprehensive community engagement program. This would also be essential to provide the evidence base for the ensuing Change Plan – to identify and monitor where change needs to occur to improve outcomes.
Go Goldfields backbone appointed Local, Logic, Place to help design, implement and report on a comprehensive community engagement program. A multidiscipline reference group was formed to bring together recent research and other recent consultations with our community to map across the five priority areas to ensure our engagement deepened the conversation and our understanding.
Almost 200 parents and carers to children aged 0 to 8 years participated in our ECEC community engagement program. The discussions focused on what is needed to support children and families in the shire. We heard from you about what the challenges and pressure points are for families and caregivers as they undertake their important role in raising children. As well as hearing from children about what is important to them to feel safe and happy!
The report will be finalised, published, and shared with community, stakeholders, partners, and other data-driven collective impact sites around Australia in later this year.
Please share this community update with your staff, collaborators, and local decision-makers.
Carolyn Bartholomeusz
Manager, Go Goldfields
Central Goldfields Shire, Victoria, Australia
