Morning:
Welcome – Mayor, Councillor Sandra Wilson
Presentations from 4 local presenters (mainly Newport people)
Christian Groves spoke of the challenges he faced with his backyard project, the ValveCosy - a device that helps the pressure release valve on hot water storage tanks stay warm and save energy. Christian shared his learnings from his eco enterprise, from the design stage through to manufacturing on shore in Australia.
Gavin Mountjoy presented an overview of Westgate Community Wind, which proposed the installation of Melbourne’s first community-owned wind turbine installed on the north side of the Westgate Bridge, using the Bendigo Bank Community Enterprise™ model.
Faith Symons and Emma McGregor presented from Reuse It Baby Market, a market that specializes in second hand and recycled gear for mums and bubs. Emma shared her personal motivation for starting up the market in 2009, Faith revealed how she has developed the concept since she took over the reins in 2011 and both told us what they have learned about running this kind of enterprise.
Tom Bevan from UCAN Cafes, operating at Williamstown and Altona North libraries, gave us an overview of Yooralla's experience in setting up and running a social enterprise that provides award wage employment and training for young people with disability.
Afternoon:
1 minute go-around : what is your name, where are you from and what has brought you here today? (About 20 participants)
Open Space Topics
Session 1 - 2 topics
A. How do we use online tools?
There are lots of ideas already out there
Here’s a list of useful sites:
- Kickstarter (Crowdfunding)
- Possible (Pledging)
- Lulu (e-book publishing)
Does a global market undermine a local economy?
Is there a benefit from targeting local provision of local needs.
How do you pull together all the small business resources and evaluate them?
A Whirlpool forum for social enterprises. Whirlpool itself?
Its important to access local knowledge using global tools.
Government business development resources are often behind-the-times or too profit-focussed.
Idea for newsletter online and hard copy.
B. Progress to a relocalised economy – what are the indicators, where are the livelihoods?
Definitions and benchmarks / starting point – KPIs.
Plan for it – communicate positively, about the future not 'sustainability', use of surveys, how often people leave Hobsons Bay, work with Chamber of Commerce, number and range of local jobs, lifecycle.
Know and be able to recommend green tradies (Green plumbers, green sparkies, green builders...)
Community bike scheme
More bike shops (1 for each suburb)
The Hobsons Bay Dollar / Local Exchange Trading System (LETS)
An urban farm
Community garden
Home production
School gardens and kitchens
Compost hub.
Community wind.
Session 2 – 2 topics
A. A business Structure for Heta
Heta stands for Health and Environment Through the Arts. Income source grants
NEO Charitable entity
Be guided by your purpose
Board of directors – volunteers. Exec of partners. Staff
Look at how yoga schools structure themselves
Government requirements – ABN etc for grants, liability
Collective
Beehive
B. What would a Sustainability College look like?
(No notes provided)
Feedback
REFLECTIONS
Get the right people together and watch what happens :-)
Local people and networks have so much to offer!
SUGGESTIONS
Council – hard to navigate, appropriate avenues through council. Advise on who, what, when required to start/support small business would be invaluable.
Please document this gathering via a webpage etc so other groups may use it as a seed to grow their own process
Regroup in 6 months – network? - further focus? ...next steps?
Distribute presentations
NEXT STEPS
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Main Organiser: Wendy Clarke
MC: Michelle Fisher
Workshop Facilitator: Christoph Hensch
THB Volunteers: Kate Leslie, John Lawrence, Donna Livermore, Rob Scholten, Rowena Joske
Council support: Jen McQueeney (Environmental Engagement Officer), catering, venue hire.
Catering by: Asylum Seekers Resource Centre
Submitted by Kate Leslie on 10 February 2014