For more information, click here. 

For more information, click here. 

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. 

Enterprise name

CERES Fair Food

What’s the social or environmental cause your enterprise addresses?

CERES Fair Food works to bring fairness and resilience to our local food system, allowing small organic farmers, young innovative businesses and new migrants a pathway to thrive. We proudly employ many staff from Melbourne’s refugee community, and return 100% of profits to CERES Environment Park to inspire action for a liveable climate future.

Describe your trading activity (what do you sell and who are your customers?)

We deliver fresh organic produce and ethical groceries to homes and businesses across Melbourne.

How are you going with the work?

Since our beginning in 2010 we have grown to deliver to over 1000 households a week, directly supporting over 100 farmers and producers. Fair Food employs 45 staff and is currently supported by a network of around 70 volunteer Food Hosts and about 2500 regular customers. It is an absolute pleasure to see our diverse and engaged community connect and grow, as households embrace the power of their everyday choices to impact environmental and social change at a local level.

What is the biggest challenge?

Scaling our impact is probably our greatest challenge at the moment and something we are curious about as we look ahead!

What is your hope for the future?

That together we are able to transition from a wasteful, extractive economy to a resilient and regenerative one. A natural economy that sustains and nourishes everyone in our community.

For more information, click here. 

Enterprise name

Green Collect

What’s the social or environmental cause your enterprise addresses?

Green Collect addresses one of our city’s greatest needs: waste minimisation and disposal. We are the specialists in finding the best environmental outcomes for discarded office items, with a focus on hard to recycle items, and striving towards zero waste to landfill. As an inclusive employer, Green Collect also addresses our society’s need for meaningful work opportunities for people who have faced barriers to employment due to homelessness, drug and addiction problems, refugee background, or disability.

Describe your trading activity (what do you sell and who are your customers?)

Green Collect gives discarded office and household items a new life by finding their best environmental outcome. For our corporate customers, we offer a collections service for discarded and waste stationery and electrical items. These are then either processed to be reused, upcycled or recycled. Our retail outlets offer excellent quality second-hand items for home and office, and new earth-kind products.

How are you going with the work?

Green Collect’s services to corporate clients is expanding as more businesses seek the benefits of waste disposal opportunities with an environmental and social outcome. The recycling and waste industry is constantly evolving, requiring innovative solutions to complex problems – which is an area of expertise for our organisation.

What is the biggest challenge?

Developing internal systems to support a growing industry and developing the financial and management processes to support a growing enterprise.

What is your hope for the future?

To create a circular economy, whereby all items are utilised well and to their fullest lifespan, and the materials responsibly repurposed, thereby significantly reducing our reliance on natural resources and completely eliminating the need for landfill.

For more information, click here. 

Enterprise name

Chit Chat Coffee Cart

What’s the social or environmental cause your enterprise addresses?

Social isolation and multicultural skills training.

Describe your trading activity (what do you sell and who are your customers?)

Mobile coffee cart located in the Moe Library selling teas and coffees made by volunteers.

How are you going with the work?

We are a fledgling social enterprise slowly expanding our customer base and building a group of regular coffee drinkers. We hope to introduce a range of biscuits, cakes, slices and preserves made by our volunteers. Each week we are building our customer numbers and the confidence of the volunteers is growing along with it.

What is the biggest challenge?

Keeping a steady flow of volunteers. We offer free training in safe food handling and coffee making and once the volunteers get really good at what they do, they head off and get a job! (The ideal outcome really but it makes it difficult to maintain the work roster).

What is your hope for the future?

Our future hope is to employ a regular barista and continue to train volunteers. We are hoping to host volunteer-run, multicultural cooking classes so that they volunteers can earn a small income.

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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