Those that experienced the day, sit with their personal experiences and memories, the qualitative.
The qualitative.
We lived in a beautiful part of Victoria, Clonbinane. We often referred to our home as living above a “valley of clouds”. Our children were born and raised amongst the gums.
Valley of Cloud
The fires destroyed our home and possessions and changed our lives. Often we are asked if things are “better” or “worse”. I think my answer is “changed”
Fire
The fire almost took my life. Our family dog was with me. He did not survive.
My family lost their home and pet and almost lost a father and husband.
I learnt my wife and family are incredibly strong and resilient people.
We felt the support of the entire Broadford Community.
My children made new friends and grew and thrived through adversity.
Work and career changed dramatically.
A journey for a new home began, struggled and then ultimately a chapter had to be closed,
A friend and colleague passed away recently. Her funeral filled the local church, spilling from the facade in to the courtyard and beyond.
Many came from great distances to pay tribute to her and remember her life. The number of those assembled was a very fitting tribute.
Chris worked tirelessly for the young people in the region. I knew Chris for just over a decade and had the privilege of working very closely with her [and sharing many late nights and delirious bouts-of-laughter with her] for over seven of those years.
Her commitment and dedication to improving the skills and life chances for young people across our region was inspiring. Even through periods of illness, over many years, Christine was still working to bring people together and improve education and training opportunities for young people.
Chris cared deeply about her work.
Chris cared deeply about improving her local community.
Chris led by example, worked with everyone and always had a smile.
The disturbing scenes in London over the last few days bring in to a stark contrast the competing challenges of the immediate, short-term need for social order and the extended, long-term need for social inclusion.
There are many thousands of pictures and words that will be written about this London summer.
The soul sinks at the pictures – of a woman leaping from a burning building, of the owners of a family shop seeing their life’s work turned to ash, at the sight of a thug unzipping the rucksack still on the back of an injured teenager and taking from it what he wants. The soul sinks at the sight of people trashing the places where at least some of them live.
Zoe Williams, also writing in the Guardian about the psychology of looting says:
Looting in Hackney
this is what happens when people don’t have anything, when they have their noses constantly rubbed in stuff they can’t afford, and they have no reason ever to believe that they will be able to afford it. Hiller takes up this idea:”Consumer society relies on your ability to participate in it. So what we recognise as a consumer now was born out of shorter hours, higher wages and the availability of credit. If you’re dealing with a lot of people who don’t have the last two, that contract doesn’t work. They seem to be targeting the stores selling goods they would normally consume. So perhaps they’re rebelling against the system that denies its bounty to them because they can’t afford it.”
Many are asking, “Is this a one-off or the beginning of wider, deeper unrest?”
I don’t know the answer to that question, but I suspect the longer-term response rests in the effectiveness or otherwise of some fledgling educational and social-enterprise experiments.
I am particularly familiar with Hackney, having visited and studied some of the educational institutions that have been developed in the area over the last decade, so the events there strike a personal and professional chord with me.
This is an economic struggle for social mobility and schools will be one of the keys to the success or failure of these communities, indeed the wider society.
Mossbourne Camera
Hackney and surrounds has been the site of unique educational and social-enterprise experiments [for want of a better word] with the introduction of the Mossbourne Community Academy and the Petchey Academy. These were part of Tony Blair’s “Academy” programme established in 2000. These schools are directly funded by central government and are independent of local government control. These schools receive additional support from personal donors, benefactors or corporate sponsors, either financially or in kind, they are self-governing and many are registered charities or operated by other educational charities.
Mossbourne community academy was established seven years ago on the rubble of Hackney Downs school, which was once dubbed the worst in the country.
Mossbourne Community Academy opened in September 2004 and is now an average sized
Mossbourne Grounds
inner-city school with substantially more boys than girls. The proportion of pupils entitled to free school meals is very high, as is the proportion of students from minority ethnic backgrounds. The proportion of students for whom English is not their first language is well above average and the proportion of students with special educational needs and/or disabilities is above average. The academy specialises in information and communication technology (ICT). In summer 2009 the first group of Year 11 students took public examinations. In September 2009 the newly created sixth form began with a sizable group of Year 12 students. The academy is extremely heavily over-subscribed. It reflects a fully comprehensive intake drawn from the locality. The academy has a stable staff and high student stability.
The Petchey Academy specialises in health, care and medical science. The academy moved into its new premises in September 2007. The students reflect the wide ethnic mix in Hackney; about half are of Black African or Caribbean heritage and a significant proportion come from homes where English is not the first language, but few are in the early stages of learning English. The local area is one of considerable disadvantage. About a quarter of students have learning difficulties and/or disabilities, which is higher than that typically found. The academy is significantly over-subscribed and draws its students from about 40 primary schools.
The initiative of the new Academy schools was [and still is] highly controversial, but the focus on producing achievement where previously there was none and focusing on access to employment and higher education pathways, where previously there were none has to be recognised as “drawing the line in the sand” for future generations.
Obviously, the proof will be in the results of these schools. The most recent Ofsted report [ Office for Standards in Education] clearly demonstrates exceptional and outstanding achievement rates for students attending the Mossbourne Academy and good achievement for the Petchey Academy.
In 2009, it was reported that the Mossbourne Academy produced an extraordinary 84% of its pupils achieving five good GCSEs including both English and maths – a performance way above the national average, by children who started out below educational par.
In the context of these riots and civil disorder, one wonders what role these institutions are playing, or can play in the future? This is a new dimension to the challenge of providing social mobility and the promise of participation in society for these schools.
Of course this is too early to tell, but the growing divides in modern societies in wealth, employment and more importantly, simple opportunity, are challenges that we all need to consider.
The Gini index of income disparity since World War Two offers some insight in to the challenges we can expect to see in countries around the world, as in many cases, fewer and fewer people not only possess more, but more importantly fewer and fewer seem to have access to any pathways, traditionally provided by a “good education” to the jobs, incomes and therefore the lives that are part of a traditional social contract.
Gini Index since WWII
The question for for our democracies seems to be, when is enough inequality enough?
The Victorian Government has released the Victorian Government Action Plan: Strengthening Community Organisations.
A significant outcome is the establishment of the Office for the Community Sector at the Department of Planning and Community Development. It will be responsible for implementing the plan which addresses the streamlining of bureaucratic processes; workforce development in the community sector; and ongoing sustainability for community organisations.
We would like to alert members, subscribers and all LLEN stakeholders to three outstanding upcoming forums that focus on much of what is at the heart to the work of the Central Ranges LLEN. Three world-class opportunities exist to engage with key policy makers, community leaders and researchers who are all focused on strengthening communities by finding ways to better synchronise local planning, improve skill, competitiveness and economic and social outcomes.
The two most important developments in policy making in recent years concern efforts to ‘join-up’ different public services and related initiatives to strengthen communities to help them become more economically and socially resilient.
The Centre for Public Policy Governments and Communities in Partnership conference will bring together key policy makers, community leaders and researchers from around Australia , together with leading experts from the UK, Ireland, Austria, Canada, the United States and New Zealand . The aim of the program will be to deepen the academic and policy debate about the impact and value of these transformations, and also to support the needs of practitioners to discuss cutting-edge cases and issues with colleagues from around the world.
Michael Porter, acknowledged as the most influential living management thinker, and respected Harvard Business School professor, will share his latest unpublished material on strategy and global competitiveness, with an in-depth focus on Australia. Professor Porter is a leading authority on competitive strategy and the competitiveness and economic development of nations, states, and regions. He leads The Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness.
Professor Porter’s work on Institutional structures for rural economic development and his work on regional clusters is of particular [and critical] interest to many stakeholders within the LLEN and broader region. I highly encourage representatives from peak industry bodies and local government planners to consider attending this event.
Asset Based Community Development – National Facilitator Training Workshops
An exciting opportunity exists for people Australia – wide who have an interest and commitment to Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) philosophies and methodologies, and want to further their facilitator / trainer skills, and become part of the creation of an Australian National Network.
The Asset-Based Community Development Institute (ABCD), established in 1995 by the Community Development Program at Northwestern University’s Institute for Policy Research, is built upon three decades of community development research by John Kretzmann and John L. McKnight. The ABCD Institute spreads its findings on capacity-building community development in two ways:
(1) through extensive and substantial interactions with community builders, and
(2) by producing practical resources and tools for community builders to identify, nurture, and mobilize neighborhood assets.
Three facilitator training workshops are being held, each with a maximum of 30 participants. Training will be provided and certified by the ABCD Institute at Northwestern University in Chicago, USA.
Contributors include The Municipal Association of Victoria, Centre for Community Child Health – The Royal Children’s Hospital and Peter Kenyon’s “Bank of Ideas” group.
The Board of Directors of the Central Ranges Local Learning and Employment Network Inc. [CRLLEN] wishes to advise that its Annual General Meeting for 2006 will be held between 07:00am – 9:30am on Monday May 15th at the beautiful FLOWERDALE ESTATE, on the Broadford-Flowerdale Road, Strath Creek.
As was the theme of last year’s meeting, we want to consider new structures and frameworks that will support the transition of young people into work and further education and how this can support the development of healthy communities.
Our keynote speaker for the morning is Professor. Johanna Wyn.
Professor Wyn is the Director and Head of Department of the Australian Youth Research Centre, based at the University of Melbourne.
As part of the meeting, an announcement concerning a major initiative for 2007 will also be made to all members.
Full details of the meeting, Keynote Presentation and all voting and election information can be found by following the link:
The Australian Government ‘Local Answers’ program helps strengthen disadvantaged communities by funding local, small-scale, time limited projects that help communities build skills and capacity to identify opportunities and take action for the benefit of their members. Applicants should consult the Local Answers Guidelines, and ensure their application thoroughly addresses all of the relevant selection criteria to be in contention for funding. Applications close 23 September 2005. 22 August 2005
A G M 2006
