communitybuilders.nsw - About this Site

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Premier's Message

Welcome to the NSW Government's communitybuilders web site. This site aims to help local communities across the State share ideas on how to enhance and strengthen their community.

One of the greatest advantages of the Internet is that it is available wherever you are. Whether you are living in Dubbo, Strathfield, Eden or Lismore you can log on to this site to read about the experiences of other communities and share ideas.

This site aims to communicate how different communities have addressed various issues such as enhancing public safety, stimulating employment and promoting reconciliation. It shows how my government is forging partnerships with communities around the state.

It is very much your site. Although the Premier's Department ( moved to Communities Division, Department of Community Services July 2004) will be responsible for updating the site and keeping information fresh, the site's success will depend on people such as yourself sharing the information you think is relevant.

When I travel around the State I am continually struck by a strong community spirit, especially in rural and regional NSW. Through this site I hope communities will learn from each other and help make NSW a stronger, more cohesive society.

Premier NSW

Background

communitybuilders.nsw was developed in response to the desire expressed by communities to access information about what others are doing and what works to make their community safer, healthier, inclusive, and more vibrant and enterprising. This initiative was announced by the Premier at the Strengthening Regional Communities Forum held at Dubbo, western NSW, in September 1998.

Communitybuilders.nsw is an interactive clearing house where the users contribute its content and ongoing development because they publish their stories and tips to the site. Users include everyone involved or interested in making our communities more dynamic, healthy and successful, ranging from community members of all ages, different community organisations, community workers, and all levels of government and business.

communitybuilders.nsw went live in February 1999. In March 2001 we launched Stage 2 in response to user feedback and suggestions.

The Premier's Department of New South Wales (Australia) coordinates this site as a joint government and community project in partnership with a wide range of people involved in community building. ( From 1 July 2004, the site is coordinated by the Communities Division of the NSW Department of Community Services.)

communitybuilders.nsw will continue to evolve to accommodate new ideas and developments in community building, to incorporate new technologies and in response to user feedback and suggestions.

The Bank of I.D.E.A.S. inspires this site

One of the people who gave advice on developing this website was Peter Kenyon, a man with a passion for community building and with a wealth of experience in motivating people who are interested in building their own communities.

Peter also contributed to the establishment of Western Australian program called Community Builders Initiative.

The Bank of I.D.E.A.S holds the Australian trademark rights to the name, 'Community Builders'. This has been done only to ensure the integrity of a specific leadership training methodology which the Bank of I.D.E.A.S has implemented from America. The NSW Government has been given permission by the Bank of I.D.E.A.S to use the title communitybuilders.nsw for this website and is very happy to describe the resources provided by Peter and the training methodology used by Community Builders.

What is community building?

Community building is about people from the community, government and business, taking the steps to find solutions to issues within their communities. Coming up with their own solutions to problems that affect them, adapting what has worked elsewhere and enlisting support from government or other partners, gives people a sense of achievement and empowerment. Community building is based on collective participation of people, individually and as a community, who act together to create change.

It incorporates many other concepts eg. community renewal, place management, social capital, sustainable communities.

This site will be useful for community organisations, volunteers, policy makers, academics, community leaders and all those involved in government and business.

What will I find?

The emphasis is on practical resources and how to do things including checklists on what is community building; how to use and interpret statistics; group work techniques; managing conflict; how to consult young people; funding sources; sustainable urban design; and partnerships with community and business. Most of the resources are Australian but some overseas material is also included.

Case studies are featured to show how others have made changes in their communities; what worked, what they learned, what made a difference. You can share your story too if you publish it using the online forms. Other users are sure to find your story inspiring.

You can exchange ideas, ask questions share your experiences with other community builders in the Discussion forum .

To promote your community events, conferences and workshops and see what else is happening use the Events calendar.

Organisations involved with community building are able to promote their work through Featured Organisations

Editorial Policy

1. Vision

Our vision for this site is that it serves as a practical resource and communication channel to people who are working to strengthen the capacity of their communities.

2. Objectives

Our editorial policy reflects the following objectives. The site will:

Offer opportunities for different government departments and community groups to come together as users and contributors.
Feature material which is of use for economic development, community capacity building and environmental protection.
Create links between material which stimulates users to think beyond their immediate need for information and encourages them to make connections between their work and the work of other people involved in community building.

The editors will:

Select information and discussion topics which are lively, interesting and informative and which will inspire site users to think about how they may begin building their own community, or to re-invigorate existing community builders.
Use feedback on the articles and case studies to ensure that visiting the site is a regular activity after people's initial visit.
Endeavour to provide accurate and comprehensive information which is visually appealing and quick to down load.
Rely on the Online Strategy of the NSW Government to extend the access to information technology to community users. The site also gives effect to the strategy by promoting an awareness of the benefits of the web for finding information on community building and for communicating with other community builders.

3. Measurement of success

Measurements of the success of the site will be:

Numbers of people wanting to submit their material or hyper-links to their own site
Numbers of visitors to the site
Feedback on the type of articles people wish to see
Use of the discussion forum
Assessment of other sites linking to it
User surveys will also be used periodically

Read the full Editorial Policy

How to use this site?

communitybuilders.nsw is arranged into modules that follow the life cycle or different stages of community building. Each module is divided into topics and provides practical resources, case studies and related reading. The modules appear under the following titles:

External Links

Please note that when you select a link that takes you to another website, you leave the communitybuilders website, and the site opens in a new browser window.

Internal Links

When you select a link to another section within communitybuilders, a new browser window does not open and the browser’s back button can be used to return to where you were.

Documents available for download on communitybuilders

Documents for download from communitybuilders are generally in Word or PDF format and wherever possible we provide an HTML version of that document. However, as many of the resources published on the site are contributed by other organisations, it is not always possible to provide an alternative format to PDF.

Contact details are provided for these organisations at the end of each article, and if you require an alternative version of a resource we suggest you contact them directly.

Be part of communitybuilders.nsw

communitybuilders.nsw is an interactive, dynamic site where the users are the contributors of the information. Please join in and share your experiences and stories with other users. You can add any information, community stories, news or events by filling in easy to use online forms.

If you need any help, please contact us.

Help

This is the section if you need some assistance with

Is communitybuilders.nsw useful for you?

We need your feedback to ensure that communitybuilders.nsw is providing the sort of features and information that you want. How is the site useful to you? Have you found ideas or tools you can use for your work in your community? How will you use them? What is your project? What was the outcome?

We often get comments saying “ it’s a great site, I use it several times a week”, but this doesn’t tell us why it’s a great site, or what people are using it for or how it is adding value.

Each article has a response form. It helps our evaluation if you can tell us whether the information was useful or relevant and why or how you are going to use it.

Plus there's a general technical problems form where you can report technical problems with the site.

Stay up to date

You can subscribe to our free monthly Newswire, which we’ll e-mail to you, covering details of all the latest information added to the site each month.

Disclaimer

1 July 2004


	The Bobby Goldsmith Foundation (BGF) is Australia's oldest and largest AIDS charity. BGF provides direct financial assistance, financial counselling, supported housing and employment support to men, women and children living in poverty with HIV/AIDS in NSW so that we can achieve our vision that no one should live in poverty because they have HIV/AIDS. Would you like your organisation to be featured here? If so, please email us with a couple of paragraphs about your organisation and your logo (if you would like your logo featured).