Heyfield Community Resource Centre, Buchan Neighbourhood Centre, Orbost Education Centre and Paynesville Neighbourhood Centre Learn Locals have banded their limited resources together. They can now enhance their impact on their many small and remote communities, promote a common regional Learn Local brand and become a single point of contact for East Gippsland adult learners, while being named 2022 Victorian Learn Local Partnership Award winners for their achievements.
The Learn Local Partnership Award recognises a partnership that has improved pathways from pre-accredited training to accredited training and/or work.
Heyfield Community Resource Centre Gippsland project worker Christine Brooks, and Merralyn Barnes from Orbost Education Centre, accepted the 2022 Victorian Learn Local Partnership Award on behalf of the East Gippsland Learn Locals group at the Victorian Learn Local Awards hosted by the Adult, Community and Further Education Board in Melbourne on Friday, February 24.
Since 2006, the annual Learn Local Awards have represented the Learn Local spirit, celebrating the success of individuals, programs and training providers across Victoria, and are a highlight on the sector’s calendar.
Heyfield Community Resource Centre manager Caroline Trevorrow said the partnership with Buchan Neighbourhood Centre, Orbost Education Centre and Paynesville Neighbourhood Centre evolved organically, with centres identifying the opportunity to expand the awareness of the programs available and share in their limited resources.
“Sharing resources is probably one of the big things in a partnership,” Ms Trevorrow said.
“Because we are all small organisations, we’re sharing tutors, we’re sharing course content, we’re sharing marketing material, and it allows us to focus on building a good quality course, and we don’t get bogged down in a lot of the admin because we are all sharing the load.”
Learn Local is a state-wide adult education network active within numerous Victorian communities; however, unlike Heyfield Community Resource Centre, Buchan Neighbourhood Centre, Orbost Education Centre and Paynesville Neighbourhood Centre who have banded together to provide a single point of contact for learners, Learn Local providers tend to work in isolation.
“When we have our area meetings with all the other Learn Local organisations, they always look to the partnership that we’ve formed and say ‘this is an example of what Learn Locals can do when they partner together rather than work in isolation’,” Ms Trevorrow said.
“The four of us all applied for funding to roll out a financial literacy program in Gippsland.
“So that is another example of how we have worked together.
We’ve pulled out resources, we’ve got some funding together, and now we are rolling out financial literacy for women from Heyfield all the way through to Orbost and up into Buchan and some of those more remote communities.”
The partnership formed by Heyfield Community Resource Centre, Buchan Neighbourhood Centre, Orbost Education Centre, and Paynesville Neighbourhood Centre Learn Locals not only provides more resources across the organisations, but also allows providers to extend adult education services to a broader audience.
“The partnership means we can reach more learners in more areas,” Ms Trevorrow said.
“It gives us the flexibility, like Heyfield, we could have a program that we are really, really good at and really good at offering, and we can take that into other communities because we now have those partnerships in other communities and vice versa.
“We are stronger together,” she added.
This year, Heyfield Community Resource Centre, Buchan Neighbourhood Centre, Orbost Education Centre and Paynesville Neighbourhood Centre Learn Locals are offering their full range of ‘Get ready for work’ programs plus ‘Financial wellbeing for women’ and their highly regarded digital literacy program.
Those over the age of 17 are eligible for all programs, which can be used for Workforce Australia points.
For more information about East Gippsland Learn Local programs, call 5156 0214 or visit the Gippsland Learn Local website at gippslandlearnlocal.community/
