Building Connected Communities Lea Stevens Director, Northern Connections

Northern Connections Who are we? Unit of DCSI, office located at Elizabeth Report to Minister Piccolo Small team – Lea Stevens (Director), Bev O’Brien (Deputy Director), and an Administrative Officer Our role Improve the economic and social prosperity of the northern suburbs Work with the Cities of Playford and Salisbury, Town of Gawler, District Council of Mallala and Light Regional Council By supporting, facilitating, coordinating, connecting and leading

Our region Our people Not homogeneous region in terms of population, socio-economic status, etc. Most people doing ok (some very well) Significant proportion of our people are locked out of opportunities by a range of issues – unemployment, mental illness, poverty, homelessness, disability etc – and a high concentration of these individuals and families reside in certain suburbs Our services More than 300 services between three levels of government and non-government sectors Many ‘targeted interventions’ layered on, different funding streams (leading to fragmentation and duplication), often short-term, many pilots People with 8-12 (or more) services and/or workers in their lives Many millions of dollars being spent – often with little change in outcomes

What this means for communities Full potential for social and economic prosperity is not realised People become dependent on services disempowered socially isolated ‘uncreative’ about solutions Communities become Fragmented Reliant on government to fix their problems Policy makers/ services become Stuck in a groove of doing the same thing even though the outcomes for clients do not change

How are we tackling this? A regional collaboration (focused on three priority areas - jobs, workforce and infrastructure) Understanding our patch Using evidence to inform our planning Joining up effort and working differently Using resources more efficiently and reducing duplication Identifying the ‘game changing’ projects/ initiatives/ infrastructure Positive psychology (Seligman) – a model of wellbeing and flourishing for individuals and communities Focuses on change through empowering individuals Schools & communities / workplaces / with jobseekers Supporting new models of working ‘Enabling change for (Aboriginal) families and services’ (TACSI) Family by Family (TACSI) Case management (BAFW – Playford LAG)