We need you to help us make change. What can you do?

The Social Shift, funded by the Department of Social Services Local Services Plans - Community-Led Support Fund, is an exciting place-based community development opportunity and is the result of significant investment in the Hinkler region.

The department developed a Local Services Plan  for the Bundaberg and Hervey Bay region through consultation with stakeholders in the region, which identified five key priorities for the community.

The LSP-CSF will provide short-term funding to meet the immediate needs identified in the Local Services Plans and support the implementation or expansion of support services in the region.

HBNC has a long history of driving social innovation for the region and will be the Brokerage Organisation to support community to co-design new initiatives to address the priorities in the Local Services Plan.

Visit The Social Shift website

As a Brokerage Organisation, HBNC will collate and collect proposals from the community, and pass these on to the department for assessment.

The Social Shift will provide a platform for individuals, organisations and government agencies to work together in addressing our social challenges while also building resilient and vibrant communities.

CEO of HBNC, Tanya Stevenson, says “Emerging evidence and research support that complex social issues can only be tackled successfully at a local level, with whole-of community involvement and prevention and early intervention the key success factors. The Social Shift will provide immediate support for the social needs and aspirations of the Hinkler communities”.

HBNC have developed a website called The Social Shift where all information about the LSP-CSF grant opportunity can be found.

Applications are open now!

Community-led Ideas

Community change is challenging.

As an individual or organisational changemaker, we are often better at deploying program-based or focused strategies to solve simple problems than we are at shifting the systems which are holding the problem in place.

It is difficult to shift large and complex systems on our own. Even working in the context of a single organisation, scaling systems change is challenging given limitations on resources. Achieving deeper and more robust systems change, especially within communities, requires a new set of skills and mindsets that results in a different way of approaching and working through change.

HBNC will be delivering a number of workshops over the coming months to support capacity building for community members who have ideas on improving our community across the five priority areas in the Local Service Plans. These include: Mental health, Drug and Alcohol, Domestic Violence and Economic independence.

HBNC will also facilitate the Social Innovators Pitch Nights in October, however, you do not need to wait for this to get your application in.

Community-led change requires us to navigate our way across local and community dynamics. It embraces the diverse voices, while also pushes us to consider the whole system. It calls on us, as changemakers, to be courageous, ask challenging questions, to be patient and continue to move forward.

Visit www.thesocialshift.com to find out more information.