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Flemington Works

Flemington Works is an innovative initiative funded under the Victorian Government’s “Community Revitalisation” Program.

Who are we and what do we do?

We work with the local community on a range of social and economic inclusion initiatives and our priority groups are women and young people in public housing.

Since funding started in 2018, Flemington Works has :

Influenced programs, service delivery and policies such as social procurement to increase economic participation of residents
Worked with Council’s human resources team on a range of inclusive recruitment improvements
Provided avenues for and encouraged residents to use their voices to shape service design and delivery and engagement activities
Increased employment for hundreds of local community members
Increased self-employment opportunities for residents
Contributed to relevant forums and employment initiatives to better understand and improve connections across the jobs and skills ecosystems
Partnered with others to increase economic participation outcomes
Explored opportunities to tackle the root causes of economic exclusion.

Where are we are going?

Flemington Youth Committee

Flemington Works initially used social innovation methods to create employment and entrepreneurial opportunities with residents of the Flemington Housing Estate. This work highlighted many systemic barriers to economic participation. Subsequently, our focus shifted toward increasing social and economic inclusion using place-based approaches to create systems change. Being community-led, collaborative, evidence-based, and innovative are central themes of our work.

In 2023 our community-led approach has progressed to using an evidence-based framework called Collective Impact. This internationally recognised process moves us out of program delivery and further into systems change. We’re working to bring community, service providers and policy and funding partners to the table to identify a common agenda or community aspiration for change that shifts the traditional power dynamic and centres community as experts in their own lives.

Through a series of 4 events, we’ll establish an initial focus; the vision for change, some strategic learning indicators and determine which high impact initiatives will lever sustainable change.