Green Map, Neighbourhood House, Bendigo Bank…

Four months ago a Green Map for the Green Wedge Warrandyte region in Melbourne’s outer northeast was a germ of an idea. In two days’ time, in conjunction with Bendigo Bank’s launch of its Warrandyte Community Portal the Warrandyte Neighbourhood House (WNH) will launch its Green Map Community website, linking the shires of Manningham and Nillumbik.

‘Go For It’ Support From WNH Committee

After discovering the existence of Green Maps through their links to the Local, Living Economies movement, WNH agreed the Green Map philosophy rang true for our region and supported the proposal to create one. There were ideas of sitting outside the supermarket to gauge public support for the idea and with ringing heaps of people BUT…this didn’t happen…

WHY NOT?

Looking back I think the idea just hadn’t had time to develop and I got cold feet at the thought of ‘supermarket sitting’ in the middle of winter, thinking of how few people there would probably be on any one Saturday morning!

Why didn’t I ring the people on the list an obliging fellow committee member compiled for me? Apart from the idea, I didn’t have any actual strategy, or even a handout!

Baby Steps

I hear this phrase quite often and I think it’s good advice when you’re not totally sure of something. A very basic recommendation you may think but it was very important. I took things slowly and the bits ‘fell into place’. What does that mean?

Taking Shape

The committee recommended speaking to a highly regarded Council Environment Officer. This was the first contact with Local Government and very positive.

With talk of the project being well suited to winning a variety of grants, the direction of the project began to change AND we needed a ‘handout’ – a flyer outlining the project. This was written using the Seattle Green Map as an example – two pages only.

The WNH Green Map Sub-Committee

Through a general interest in inclusive participation in sustainable development I became involved with Mark Brophy and community-wide creative conversations and met the first of my ‘soul sisters’, who all share an interest in reaching out to both Indigenous and Non-Indigenous grassroots people to ‘Think global, map local’.

• Deirdre Downie runs her own business, Insight Now – the Pathway to Sustainable Change.
• Mia Palk is a committed community volunteer. She is heavily involved with Nillumbik’s Youth Ambassadors program and voluntary work with the outlying Hurstbridge Community Centre. She ALSO works fulltime and is our IT specialist.
• Jill Jameson is a very gentle and serene lady – with a will of iron. She has worked tirelessly overseas, particularly in Burma, in community development, and is a member of the WNH Committee of Management.
• Yours truly – editor of Pigs Will Fly Info Exchange.

Formative Activities So Far

• With all the grant talk I rang the Federal Government’s Area Consultative Committee for Melbourne East MEACC to confirm that such a project would be eligible for a Regional Partnerships Grant of $50,000.
• Wanting to start the project with the Indigenous story of our region, Manningham ANTAR and Nillumbik Reconciliation Group were contacted. We spoke with local Indigenous people and sent flyers to all though we have yet to have follow-up discussions.
• The Warrandyte Bendigo Bank ran an info night for all the local community groups receiving Bank grants and there was a presentation from young Dan Payne of Bendigo Bank Web Partner about the community portals Bendigo is providing free to help with long term sustainable community development. The concept of linking all community groups/activities/businesses had a striking similarity to our Green Map idea.
• After two meetings with Dan, we established both parties’ goals and agreed to work separately but with close links, with a view to providing a model for other communities.
• We agreed WNH should have an explanatory website and contact point ready when Bendigo launched their Warrandyte Community Portal at the Bank’s AGM on 21 November 2007.
• A most informative meeting with the Executive Officer of MEACC, Maya Avdigebovic, led to some excellent contacts, info on grant applications and an offer to help us draft a Regional Partnership Grant Application.
• After three meetings and plenty of butcher paper notetaking the Green Map Committee now has a ‘kick off strategy’ that will evolve with community input.
• We’ve had two expressions of interest in joining us already, just through word of mouth.
• WNH has officially registered with the Green Map System in New York.

Where To Now?

We’re all set to launch the website and start fielding questions and emailing out flyers.

With the Christmas silly season upon us, we’re planning a ‘Community Conversation About Our Local Green Map’ for February 2008.

In the meantime we will talk to as many public and private sector groups as possible so these Community Conversations will be truly inclusive and so we can gather as many letters of support as possible to accompany our Grant Application.

Any questions? Are any other Neighbourhood Houses interested?