ACTIVITIES

Agency Work	Book Chapters
Breakfast in the Vineyard	Burmese Refugee Children
Business Supporting Communities	Community Business Partnerships
Community Renewal	Conference Paper
Domestic Violence Campaign	Emergency Relief Handbook
Men's Health Evening	Men's Wellbeing Matters
New Book	Partnerships
Strategic Planning	Young Musicians

The following contains a summary of some of the activities of Community Connections.

New Book

Our newest book is called Great Ideas to Make Your Community Project Successful and aims to assist community groups to achieve greater success with their projects. Initially, the book was drafted as a simple handout which I had planned to distribute to groups which had asked me to help them with their projects. Joe Cauchi, the Director of Sustainable Communities for the Mornington Peninsula Shire, suggested that we should publish it as a book. It is now available.
Download and print the book details and order from here.

Men's Wellbeing Matters

Mornington Peninsula Community Connections has been working with the Mornington Peninsula Shire to develop a new project which focuses on supporting men and their families on the Peninsula. It is a trial project which aims to encourage men through community development and health promotion approaches to take greater responsibility for their health and wellbeing.

The project arose from concerns about the alarming current state of men's health in Australia. National men's health groups such as the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and Andrology Australia together with with Peninsula GP Network have provided strong encouragement for the development of the project.

I have written a discussion paper about the role of the project which is being widely distributed in the community.

Breakfast in the Vineyard

As part of the abovementioned project, Mornington Peninsula Community Connections has been involved in organising a number of men's health breakfasts at Hickinbotham of Dromana winery. Men's health experts and sporting personalities have provided professional and personal messages of good health for men. Professor Rob McLachlan from Andrology Australia, cricketing great Merv Hughes and AFL champion Simon Madden have attracted large audiences to hear their messages about the importance of regular health checkups and preventative approaches to maintaining good health.

Men's Health Evening	In partnership with the Mornington Peninsula Shire, Mornington Peninsula Community Connections has played a leading role in the organisation of a major men's wellbeing evening to be held in June 2008 at the Peninsula Community Theatre. Well-known and respected speakers have been engaged for the evening, including the Governor of Victoria and world-renowned men's health expert Professor David deKretser, television, radio and newspaper journalist Tracee Hutchinson (host), former AFL champion Simon Madden, champion long-distance runner Steve Moneghetti, sports physician and former Olympic track athlete Dr Peter Larkins, former AFL champion Robbie Flower, local GP and men's health advocate Dr Mark Sujecki and entertainer Mark Mitchell (Con the Fruiterer). Sponsorship has been obtained from a range of sources to cover the costs of the forum. Download information here. (1 page 1.1Mb)
Domestic Violence Campaign	Barrie Thomas, the co-director of Mornington Peninsula Community Connections and owner of The Body Shop franchise in New Zealand, is helping to take action against domestic violence by launching The Body Shop's 2006 Kids Are Unbeatable campaign which focuses on children as the forgotten victims. This year The Body Shop has joined forces with a number of key organisations in New Zealand to raise funds and awareness to help protect children who are exposed to domestic violence. Barrie said, "I really love it when we campaign in the stores. I think it really brings the staff and stores to life. It's great that we can use our business to try and make a difference to society. It's good to work in co-operation with organisations such as jigsaw and Women's Refuge on the campaign." Download information about the campaign here. ( 5 pages, 1.2 Mb)
Burmese Refugee Children	Another project in which Barrie is involved is in Thailand. The Body Shop New Zealand, in partnership with Children on the Edge and Espirit (Singapore and Malaysia) is supporting the efforts of a number of local social action groups on the Thai-Burmese border to improve the appalling living conditions in refugee camps, especially for children. Ongoing civil war between the Burmese military junta and many of Burma’s minority populations has led to human rights abuses and the destruction of villages. As a result, there has been a mass migration of refugees to neighboring countries, especially to Thailand. Barrie has visited the Thai-Burmese border twice this year and has committed resources from The Body Shop New Zealand to support a number of migrant schools and an orphanage within a refugee camp. Download information about this project here
Business supporting communities	In partnership with the Frankston Community Support and Information Centre and the Mornington Peninsula Shire, the Getting Involved project will encourage and assist local business people to become more involved in supporting their communities. The project has two major components - a website containing information about why and how they can become more involved and a free consultancy service. The latter is provided by Vicki Martin, the manager of the Frankston Community Support and Information Centre, and I. A feature of the website is a series of case studies of local business people who are already involved in supporting their communities. The RACV Foundation and Mornington Peninsula Shire funded the project. The website address is www.gettinginvolved.com.au

Community Business Partnerships

Mornington Peninsula's Community Connections' book, Partnerships with Business - A Guide for Small Community Groups, is being distributed widely among community groups in Victoria and interstate.

Information about purchasing the book can be obtained from Frankston Community Support and Information Centre 03 9768 1600. Download and print the book details and order form here.

Young Musicians

Mornington Peninsula Community Connections has been involved in supporting a group of local business people keen to provide opportunities to young musicians from the Peninsula to develop performing skills. The project arose from concerns about the lack of venues which give young musicians opportunities to perform live which is resulting in a reduced availability of performers for local wineries and restaurants. Peter Sullivan, the musical director of Channel 9 in Melbourne, led the project which took the form of workshops held at Hickinbotham's Winery in Dromana. The young people graduating from the workshops have been provided with opportunities to perform live at Hickinbotham's.

Emergency Relief Handbook

In partnership with Frankston Community Support and Information Centre, Community Connections has produced a book titled Emergency Relief - A Guide for Small Community Groups. Co-authored by Vicki Martin and I, the book provides basic practical advice on a wide range of topics relating to emergency relief. The book aims to assist committees, employed staff and volunteers to plan and operate their services well.

The book emphasises giving people a hand up as well as a handout.

The printing of the book was funded by the Commonwealth Department of Family and Community Services. FaCS ordered 1000 copies of the book which it distributed to every agency in Australia that it funds through the Emergency Relief Program.

Funding has been received from the Ross Trust for a reprint of the book.

Book Chapters

As well as authoring our own books, Barrie Thomas and I have had chapters published in a number of other books, as follows:

Social capital & Public Policy in Australia book cover

Conference Paper

Joe Cauchi and I have had a paper accepted at the IPAA National Conference in Sydney in June 2008. The title of our paper is Hubris, ignorance and disrespect: A Contemporary Definition of Community Development. The paper will present a number of fundamental flaws with community development practice, especially the so-called process of empowering communities which in the authors’ collective 50 years experience as community developers more often than not results in communities becoming disempowered.

The conference is for senior and mid-level public servants in Federal, State and Local Government, young professionals working or interested in the public sector, academics and students of public administration, private sector executives working with government, others interested in the future of public administration in Australia.

Strategic Planning

With government funding bodies now requiring applicants to have strategic plans, I have been receiving more requests from grass-roots community groups to assist them with the process of developing their plans.

Currently I am working with the Mornington Peninsula Volunteer Resource Service to develop a strategic plan for the group.

Usually, assisting a group to develop a strategic plan involves meeting with the group fortnightly for three to four months if they want me to facilitate the process or a one-off information session if they want to do it themselves.

Community Renewal

I have been engaged in discussions with the Mornington Peninsula Shire about planning an evaluation of the Rosebud West Community Renewal project. The aim of the project is to develop an action plan that can be managed by a community group to further improve Rosebud West as a place to live, work and play. The project is a partnership between the Mornington Peninsula Shire, the Department of Planning and Community Development, local organisations, and the local community.

Agency Work

Community Connections continues to receive a steady stream of requests from local community groups to provide advice on planning, policy development, service review, public relations, partnerships, problem solving, staff recruitment, volunteer recruitment, training, research and community action.

John Murphy