Ready Communities and Social Impact in the Regions 2024: Ready Macleay in Kempsey, NSW
Introducing Ready Communities, a new place-making program developed with cofounder and Evolve Network CEO Kerry Grace and supported by the Rural Economies Centre of Excellence at the University of Southern Queensland. The post below shares some of the why, how, and what’s next.
Ready Communities is a new program supporting place-based transformation and transition with a vision to engage 15 to 18 regions over ten years. The first Ready Communities program, Ready Macleay, launched in January 2024 in New South Wales, Australia. The program includes the Social Impact in the Regions conference, which for 2024 is from 4 to 6 September in Kempsey, NSW. The Social Impact in the Regions conference is designed in, by, and for regions to bring together conversations for impact in the local community and build national capacity in regional social impact leaders and practitioners across Australia.
Why Ready Communities?
Ready Communities has come about to support regional communities to thrive, accelerate and address challenges in place-based approaches, and align economic and social outcomes in rural communities. The initiative is also the culmination of decades of experience and research into place-based approaches to support regional transition.
First, there is a need to address the balance between regional communities and high-population capital cities with factors including distance, population, infrastructure, services, and financial and information capital access. This tension increases with trends in climate impacts, industrial transformation, and technological disruption. Communities are not defined by this tension, providing unique strengths in lifestyle, culture, diversity, and essential contributions to the national economy and identity. Ready Communities explores opportunities to capitalise on strengths and identify areas for collective community action.
Second, there is a need to support and supplement other place-based interventions. There is a growing body of work focused on place-based efforts and long-term programs are designed to address areas of disadvantage. By nature of the challenges of remote delivery, programs can feel as though support is ‘fly-in/fly-out’, lack connection to established support roles, overlook or even reinforce systemic issues, be ‘delivered at’ rather than ‘designed with’ community, and be siloed in specific issues or community segments. As a two-year program working with established roles on shared challenges, Ready Communities aims to augment and enhance existing work while building momentum for new initiatives.
Third, there is a need to take a holistic view and integrate economic development and community development perspectives. There is a body of work related to innovation and entrepreneur ecosystems, commercialising new technologies and creating businesses to build, grow, and scale. And yet without intentional intervention, there is an unspoken inevitable reality of inequality as opportunities are provided for those who already have access to capital. Programs focused on social challenges or marginalised communities can seem to run in parallel to and disconnected from entrepreneur-focused interventions. Ready Communities considers both social impact and economic opportunities through principles of social enterprise.
Ready Communities is an initiative developed by Kerry Grace and Chad Renando out of decades of experience and research and significant projects in place-based development. Insights from these projects inform the Ready Communities’ vision for thriving regional communities. Early support for the Ready Communities initiative is supported by the Evolve Network, the Rural Economies Centre of Excellence at the University of Southern Queensland, and the Global Entrepreneurship Network Australia.
The Ready Communities program
The two-year Ready Communities program includes a 10-month engagement and capability-building program, a three-day Social Impact in the Regions conference, and a 12-month alumni support program. The program design is informed by the collective impact framework, which includes establishing a collaborative backbone structure. Essential to the program is working with and supporting the development of capacity and capability in one or more community organisations that can provide backbone support during and following the program.
The 10-month engagement includes an initial engagement to identify focus areas, conduct a desktop and in-community mapping of policies and assets, identify and develop three to five focus areas or clusters, facilitate a series of activation events for each cluster, and provide a capacity and capability building stream for practitioners and leaders.
The three-day Social Impact in the Regions conference culminates conversations and activates outcomes from the 10-month engagement, and builds capability in practitioners and leaders. Delegates include those who support and apply social impact in regions including government, community leaders, researchers, social entrepreneurs, and economic and community development organisations. The format blends skills development and local practical solutions through interactive sessions and hands-on workshops as delegates learn through doing and connecting. Foll
Following the conference, leaders, facilitators, and practitioners from outside the region are invited to return to the region to create a 12-month program of engagement and follow up on the program and projects identified through the conference. Delegates are connected to a national network of leaders and alumni from other Ready Communities programs to align and build on work across shared interests and themes.
Ready Macleay
Ready Macleay is Year One of the Ready Communities program. Kicked off in January 2024, the Ready Macleay initial engagement identified connections and five focus areas to be explored with the community. The Ready Macleay program supports and is delivered alongside and with the established backbone organisation Learning the Macleay, which is part of the federal Stronger Places Stronger People program.
The five focus areas identified include Agriculture Communities, Youth Futures, Central Business District Activation, Creative Industries, and Housing. The focus areas support clusters to focus attention while allowing integration between the five topics and the inclusion of related topics.
Agriculture Communities
The Agriculture sector represents over a quarter of businesses in the region. Conversations related to agriculture communities include flow-on impacts across retail, tourism, hospitality, shared community assets, employment, and responses to climate impacts and targets. Building on established work in local agribusiness strategies and local agriculture initiatives and networks, topics raised include paddock to plate and getting more local food on local tables, support for farming commercial opportunities including regenerative agriculture, drought readiness, and diversification through tourism, intergenerational farming, youth pathways in agriculture, and support for women in agriculture.
Youth Futures
The Youth Futures conversations focus on opportunities to support youth across the region and include topics of education, entrepreneurship, workforce and employability, life skills development, and wellbeing. Working with education providers, established youth networks, and local service providers, topics raised include creating effective pathways for young people, increasing employability and connecting the youth workforce to local business, engaging young people in entrepreneurship and social impact, supporting teacher development and school capability and capacity, and strengthening linkages to early-age support and wellbeing services.
Central Business District (CBD) Activation
The CBD activation stream has developed through walking through the main street to hear perspectives from store owners, retailers, and customers on the health of the town’s main street. Challenges and opportunities are both unique to the region as well as shared by rural communities across Australia. The focus area will include conversations relating to beautifying main street, leveraging and activating multi-use shared spaces, renewal strategies for vacant stores, and investment attraction opportunities.
Creative Industries
Creative industries play an essential role in the vibrancy, livability, and transformative capacity of a region. Aligned with momentum from local arts and culture plans, conversations related to creative industries include cultural heritage, visual and performing arts, shared spaces, events and festivals, development and application of emerging technologies, and tourism.
Housing
Housing is a national challenge with particular impacts on regional communities. We acknowledge the complexity of the issue with local considerations in Kempsey including housing densities, diversity, choice, location, dwelling types, and affordability. Our conversation focuses on different ways to use living space to alleviate the housing crisis and other alternative approaches.
Ready Macleay Community Conversations
The five themes will be explored through a series of community conversations or activations. The first activations are from 26 February to 1 March and will consider areas of focus in each theme, integration between themes, and general opportunities that might be identified outside of the themes. The conversations will also identify key roles related to the opportunities and what might be realistically able to be developed leading up to the conference in September.
The support over the ten months will vary based on the initiatives. Common across all initiatives will be regular virtual check-ins and two additional in-community conversations in May and July to bring the community together to share learning and build momentum. The conversations will be supported with capacity-building sessions for local practitioners focusing on core competencies including community facilitation and consultation, event management, and community engagement.
Social Impact in the Regions Conference
The Ready Macleay Social Impact in the Regions conference will be in Kempsey, NSW from 4 to 6 September. The conference will act as a key event to present outcomes and workshop ideas related to the five cluster areas as well as provide capability-building skills across the field of social impact, social enterprise, and cross-section of economic and community development.
The conference will provide a novel and unique experience for delegates who will learn skills through interactive panels, presentations, action-based workshops and learning circles, and in-community engagements. The venue will include a circus tent for main events and sessions throughout the town related to each theme. Delegates, presenters, facilitators, sponsors, partners, and the community will interact over the three days to learn and apply knowledge and experience.
The conference is designed to engage and activate all aspects of the social impact ecosystem, including government, philanthropy, investment, industry, research, retail, service providers, and the general public. The conference is neither the start nor end of the conversations, but a high point between the work leading up to the event and the 12 months of support after the event. Presenters and facilitators will be provided opportunities to return to the region for the 12 months following the conference to continue the engagement and realise further impact.
Understanding Ready Communities’ outcomes and impact
The Ready Communities impact model is based on the premise that challenges in rural communities are systemic in nature. These challenges require collective action through connection and collaboration across the system. Communities improve readiness through a regular pattern of identifying and realising opportunities to address these shared challenges. The impact is realised through the connections, capability, and capacity developed through the community identifying opportunities and delivering outcomes of the focus areas, as much as the results of individual initiatives.
Outputs
The Ready Communities outputs include the individual activities that can be observed, such as visual maps and information, the number of participants, identified priorities and projects, connections, and activated roles and institutions. These outputs are simple to measure and can be observed through the program.
Outcomes
The expected Ready Communities outcomes are based on five features of place-making identified in the lead-up to the 2024 Global Entrepreneurship Congress (GEC). The GEC engagement process included consultation with over 500 leaders across 30 working groups defined by industry sector (agriculture, mining, health, creative industries, etc.), area of impact (women, youth, First Nations, climate, etc.), and function (government, research, investment, etc.). The insights from the collective conversations identified five outcomes from place-making work.
The outcomes would be expected to be realised in the first one to two years of the program.
First, we can expect increased clarity and understanding. Questions that will be answered include: Does the community have a shared understanding and map of roles and actors in each focus area and their accountabilities? Is there an understanding of policies, including alignment and gaps, and the amount and nature of funding opportunities? Is there an appropriate custodian of data and information and is the information accurate, accessible, and relevant? Are there research partners, opportunities for continuous information management, and evaluation frameworks in place?
Second, we can expect improved connection and connectivity. Questions that will be answered include: What is the nature (quality and frequency) of connections within community across roles, functions, sectors, and community groups? Are there boundary-spanning activities to access networks and capital across and outside the region? Are there regular formal or informal meetups or events for individual focus areas? Is there connection for people with ideas to start and scale their ideas, initiatives, or businesses? Is there connection for research to be put into practice? Is there adequate digital connectivity or a means to access digital connectivity?
Third, we can expect to build capability and capacity. Questions that will be answered include: Are there programs for building capability in individual leaders? What is the capability of roles and institutions in the region, including government policy-makers, angel investors, industry support, peak bodies, business associations, education institutions such as schools, TAFE, and universities, collaborative bodies and community groups, and service providers? Do these individuals and organisations have capacity, including financially sustainable business models?
Fourth, we can expect to see evidence of collaboration for purpose. Questions that will be answered include: Is there a shared understanding of the challenges and opportunities in the community? Are people coming together to make progress on shared challenges or opportunities? Is this progress being measured and shared? Are new groups self-forming to address new challenges and opportunities? Are the individuals in these groups representative of the diversity of the community and inclusive of those impacted?
Fifth, we can expect to see advocacy and promotion. Questions that will be answered include: Is there a voice to advocate for the various groups and communities in the region and for the region overall? Is there a shared narrative of the challenges and opportunities? Are successes being promoted to those impacted and who can influence greater outcomes? Are there constructive and beneficial relationships with media to support telling the stories of outcomes and impact?
Impact
Impact is assessed against six dimensions of resilience. These dimensions are intentionally broad and not intended to provide a promise that all will be addressed in each community. Rather, they provide a reference point where several areas can be expected to be realised over time based on both outcomes of individual focus areas as well as the implementation of the overall Ready Communities initiative. Assessing against the full list also helps identify areas of unintended consequences where improvements in one area may have an unexpected or detrimental outcome in another area.
A quick note is needed on resilience, as the term can be misused and even weaponised in a regional context. Resilience is not used to refer to a return to what was or to settle into a new state of equilibrium. For many communities, there is no returning to what used to be and it can seem as though there is constant change or major disruption following disruption. The sentiment can also be used to defer support in light of considering a community ‘resilient’ as highlighted in stories from those impacted by natural disasters.
Resilience in the context of the Ready Communities impact framework refers to a state of readiness and adaptability for change:
“The existence, development, and engagement of community resources by community members to thrive in an environment characterized by change, uncertainty, unpredictability, and surprise” (Hightree et al. 2018).
A holistic view of resilience considers impact across six dimensions of resilience. The first dimension is individual resilience. This considers the impact on the individual, including psychological health, wellbeing, and skills.
The second dimension is social resilience. This considers the structure such as population composition, skills diversity, home ownership, mobility, liveability and the community including community group connectedness, volunteering and civic engagement, trust and norms or reciprocity, place attachment and pride, conflict resolution, and vulnerable group connectedness.
The third dimension is economic resilience. This includes economic structure such as employment, income equality, age of working population, skills, and job density; economic security such as savings, collective ownership, business mitigation, financial and investment instruments; and economic dynamism such as inward and external investment, business cooperation, entrepreneurial activity and openness, locally owned businesses, public-private partnerships, supply chain effectiveness and efficiency.
The fourth dimension is institutional resilience relating to the leadership and structures in the community. Considerations in the institutional dimension include leadership and participation such as stability, shared planning and vision, transparency and accountability, and decentralised responsibility and resources; resource management such as skilled personnel, efficient management, and redundant capacity; contingency such as risk reduction and resilience integration, climate impact planning, risk pattern and trend understanding, emergency and mitigation planning, and inclusive risk planning; collaboration such as cross-sector partnerships, inter-agency MOUs, and knowledge transfer; R&D such as innovation and technology updates and research and translation channels; regulation and policy such as policy relevance, quality, and application; and education and training such as education availability and quality across stages, information availability and application, and migration and adaptation incentives.
The fifth dimension considers environmental resilience, with considerations including improved agriculture productivity and resource management and reduction in negative environmental impacts.
The sixth dimension relates to infrastructure resilience. While large-scale infrastructure requirements may be outside the scope of many of the initiatives, there may be outcomes related to robustness and redundancy such as provider collaboration, space multi-functionality, and distribution and redundancy; ICT reliability and availability; and land use accessible needs and services.
Future plans
One of the main questions we get asked is how we select our regions and where we are planning to go next. Year One is in Kempsey, NSW where we are building capacity in the program and the community. We have a short list for Year Two in 2025. We expect to scale to additional regions by years three and four with a ten-year vision for 15 to 18 locations.
Join us on the journey
Ready Communities is the culmination of decades of experience, trials, and lessons, contributions from amazing leaders, mentors, and colleagues, a passion project and long-term commitment of both co-founders, and the realisation of impact goals for partners and supporters. We are grateful for the support and amazing people and organisations who are on the journey with us and excited about those who will join along the way. We look forward to realising the impact of efficient and effective approaches to place-based transition and transformation across Australia.
If you are involved in social impact in the regions, then you will want to attend the conference 4 to 6 September. We are in the process of updating our socials so you can follow along on our journey. If you are in the Macleay Valley region, look out for flyers, emails, invitations, and taps on the shoulder to share in the journey. If you are from an organisation that would see value in partnering for impact in any of the five themes, in the Macleay Region, or the overall approach, connect with us for a partnership prospectus.
Thank you for being a part of the journey. Your feedback and support are always welcome as we work together to build a community of practice for regional impact in Australia.
