COMMUNITY BUILDERS WEBINARS CONNECTING RURAL AUSTRALIA New series: what it takes to build strong, enterprising and sustainable towns.
Rural Aid has today announced the new topics for its popular “Community Builders” webinars series.
The free webinar series, sponsored by Bushells, was created during the early months of Covid-19 restrictions to support small towns in rural and remote Australia in developing stronger futures in the face of adversity.
The theme of Rural Aid’s August series is Tales and Lessons from Strong, Enterprising and Sustainable Rural Towns.
According to John Warlters, CEO of Rural Aid, the webinars are about bringing fresh ideas and real world case studies of successful small towns to the rest of Australia.
“Population decline, drought, bushfires and now Covid-19 are all challenges that destabilise the fabric and economic viability of our small towns. We want to provide proactive solutions and inspiration for the people who “get stuff done” in those towns; we call them the community builders. This series is being built off the back of the success of our first Community Builders series held earlier in the year.”
Mr Warlters said that while community leaders, business owners, primary producers, Councillors and key community organisation representatives are the most common attendees, anyone is welcome to register and join in.
“These webinars have become critical opportunities to connect, and exchange ideas and information to broaden the collective knowledge base in rural Australia,” Mr Warlters said.
The webinars are hosted by Peter Kenyon, community change and renewal expert from The Bank of Ideas.
“Peter has spent over 35 years in the field of community change and renewal, and he has a wealth of knowledge on delivering initiatives, programs and long-lasting improvements to our precious small communities across Australia and beyond,” Mr Warlters said.
Episode one features a town in Tasmania and one in Western Australia with case studies on turning around a community in decline, host Peter Kenyon said.
“Deloraine is a quaint town near Launceston with a population of around 3000 people and Balingup in the south east of WA has under 500 locals. These are two rural communities with forty-plus years of continuous community reinvention. Both towns benefited from alternative and traditional farmers finding common ground and both have developed significant calendars of special events,” Mr Kenyon said.
Guests from these towns will speak on the initiatives that worked for their communities, and attendees can ask questions through the chat function of the webinar platform.
- Week 1: 6 August 4pm-5pm AEST | How to turn around a community in decline
Week 2: 13 August 4pm-5pm AEST | Reinvent your town’s fortunes through alternative tourism - Week 3: 20 August 4pm-5pm AEST | How to use events to put your town on the map
- Week 4: 27 August 4pm-5pm AEST | Bold community campaigns that work in small towns
To register to be part of the Community Builders Series, visit: ruralaid.org.au/towns/webinars
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About Rural Aid
Rural Aid is one of Australia’s largest rural charities. Well known for the highly successful ‘Buy a Bale’ campaign, the charity also provides financial assistance, water and counselling to farmers in times of drought, flood or fire. Other initiatives support its vision that farming and rural communities are safeguarded to ensure their sustainability both during and after these natural disasters. Visit www.ruralaid.org.au for further information on these programs and other support for our rural communities.
Media: 0447 116 757 | media@admin.media.ruralaid.org.au
Spokesperson: Rural Aid CEO John Warlters | 0409 618 641
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