Jan 22, 2020 | Community and cultural development
Enterprise name The Community Grocer
What’s the trading activity?
The Community Grocer (TCG) believes a vibrant market place is a powerful setting for social and environmental change. We run weekly affordable fresh food markets to support healthy connected communities. We address the physical, economic, and social barriers to fresh food access by holding markets in convenient locations in low-income areas; stocking culturally appropriate produce; and creating a weekly gathering space that promotes community connections and celebrates diversity.
What’s the social or environmental cause your enterprise addresses?
With the rising costs of living, many households are struggling to put fresh food on the table. 41% of Victorians now experience food insecurity. Moving beyond traditional welfare models of food relief, we offer customers choice and dignity to purchase quality produce at prices 60% cheaper than any other local food outlet, including the major supermarkets. We run five weekly markets in Carlton, Fitzroy, Fawkner, Heidelberg West and Pakenham, serving over 500 households each week.
What’s the biggest challenge?
We don’t have key infrastructure, like a cool room and vehicle, that would enable us to have control of our own purchasing and distribution (rather than relying on a wholesaler). This would increase our financial viability, create opportunity for growth and enable us to have positive environmental impacts by purchasing our produce from local sustainable farms and urban farming enterprise. We have the growing partnerships in place, but we need some cash to get set up!
For more information, click here.
Nov 26, 2019 | Community and cultural development
Enterprise name Collingwood Toy Library
What’s the cause The Collingwood Toy Library is a not-for-profit community managed organisation that provides a toy lending service to families with young children. We have 27 years’ experience promoting the educational value of play for young children and encouraging positive adult/child interactions through the provision of quality toys, games and equipment. By enabling families to borrow rather than buy, we assist families’ sustainability both financially as well as environmentally.
What’s the trading activity The Collingwood Toy Library has an extensive range of toys for loan to member families. The stock includes quality toys, games, puzzles, musical instruments, costumes and other play equipment, which is selected to stimulate the development of children, including those with special needs. We currently have over 900 children who use the library.
How are you going with the work? Over the past 3 years the toy library has grown from 300 member families to over 630 member families, that’s the biggest we have ever been in our 27 year history. We are one of the largest Toy Libraries in Australia and are continuing to grow. We have expanded our collection to include board games and puzzles for families with older kids as well as adults playing without children and we now have a huge selection of 1000 table top games for families of all ages.
Biggest challenge Our biggest challenge is lack of physical space to store and display over 4300 toys while still providing a space that is welcoming and serves as an informal meeting space for local parents.
Hope for the future We hope to continue to expand to be able to offer the great range of toys and friendly advice that our members rely on.
collingwoodtoylibrary.net.au
Oct 10, 2019 | Community and cultural development
Enterprise name CERES Community Environment Park
What’s the cause CERES works in a number of areas, but our largest and most well known is our environmental education programs. Our primary objective is to help people fall in love with the Earth again.
What’s the trading activity CERES encompasses an organic cafe, plant nursery and organic grocery, as well as our smaller venue hire, organic microgreens and free-range egg enterprises, just to name a few.
How are you going with the work? Our large 4.5 hectare physical presence means we capture thousands of people in the local community, who simply visit for a stroll through green space. In addition to these casual visitors, a significant number of people experience CERES through hiring a venue for events. With a range of informal and formal venues available at comparatively reasonable prices, this enterprise allows the opportunity to introduce CERES to members of the public who may not already be familiar with the site. As mentioned, there a number of different pathways by which people find their way to CERES, such as workshops, community groups and volunteering.
Biggest challenge Our biggest challenge is finding the capacity to carry out the many projects that are required to keep CERES running smoothly and effectively for the community. We rely on volunteers to assist with the shortfall, and could not keep the site open, maintained and free for all to visit if it weren’t for the hard work of our volunteers. While many of our activities can be supported by funds generated through our many small social enterprises, we are still beholden to the strategic focus of local and state government when seeking assistance to continue providing a dedicated service to the community.
Hope for the future Our hope for the future is that our work will expand further beyond Brunswick East, and the reach of our social enterprises will grow. We hope that more people will feel compelled to choose a closer and deeper connection with the Earth by visiting CERES and supporting the work that we do.
www.ceres.org.au
Sep 4, 2019 | Community and cultural development
Enterprise name
Kitchen Challenge with Food Works Australia
What’s the social or environmental cause your enterprise addresses?
We want to reduce inequalities and have no gradient of difference. We want to see more people in meaningful employment, creating strong and collaborative economies. We want to create more social innovation, develop better leaders and get policy changed.
Theory of Change: Our long-term goal is to have connected, understood and purpose driven cultures, reduced inequalities and improved employment opportunities and to see social prescribing as a mainstream pathway to improving health.
This will cure the problem of poor engagement, lack of systematic approaches, disconnected cultures, demoralised vulnerable communities and ineffective use of the health service by the medium to long-term patient.
Describe your trading activity (what do you sell and who are your customers?)
We develop leadership amongst teams. We do this in a disruptive, immersive, transitional and blended way – our field of practice to develop such impact is in the Kitchen. Kitchen Challenge is our main focus with a number of other projects. In addition we offer consultancy and policy advice in areas of social prescribing, health, food, education for corporates, universities, schools and other social enterprises.
How are you going with the work?
We have been trading with Kitchen Challenge just over 2 years after our fonder was awarded a Distinguished Talent Visa by the Government. We now have over 145 Alumni for Kitchen Challenge and offer it in Australia, New Zealand, UK and soon India and the USA.
We have clear impact results, lean data, theory of change and developing the finer details for the licensing of our product to allow us scale.
What is the biggest challenge?
As with all companies managing a pipeline is a challenge.
What is your hope for the future?
We wish to achieve our theory of change. Get policy adapted in our field and improve the equalities for all by having better purpose driven. collaborative and shared value approaches understood and implemented by the many not just the few.
www.kitchenchallenge.com.au
Sep 4, 2019 | Community and cultural development
Enterprise name
VMCH (Villa Maria Catholic Homes)
What’s the social or environmental cause your enterprise addresses?
We are a Not for Profit Aged Care and disability organisation. We have just formed a partnership connected to a coffee shop to help our clients with a disability acquire work experience.
Describe your trading activity (what do you sell and who are your customers?)
Aged Care and disability clients
How are you going with the work?
Partnership is in the formation phase.
What is the biggest challenge?
Development of a sustainable business model that will deliver positive outcomes for our clients and cater to their individual needs.
What is your hope for the future?
Expand through partnership to deliver more skills and employment opportunities to people with a disability.
www.vmch.com.au
