Creating inclusive neighbourhood houses

This project examines a critical but under-researched area regarding the inclusivity and accessibility of community and government services. Neighbourhood centres offer people a trusted access point to wider service systems and enable people to cope better with stressors such as economic downturn and sudden shocks. Because neighbourhood centres originated as spaces for community development, their services and referral work has been structurally overlooked. Focusing on how centres change their ways of working in response to tightening funding mechanisms will reveal emerging risks of gaps in service pathways and isolation for people of various backgrounds who use neighbourhood centres. The research that does exist indicates that financial pressures change neighbourhood centres' ways of working in profound ways.

This qualitative study will explore the interface between community development and service delivery in neighbourhood centres and identify strategies, practices and processes which promote diversity, inclusive governance and successful referral. This is a critical area for increased understanding given the enduring funding stress that centres experience and which is exemplified in Western Australian houses now being forced to tender for service contract to stay in existence and Victorian neighbourhood houses' struggle to be recognised for services such as food relief which it structurally delivers without proper financial support.   

• Ellen van Holstein 

2022 - 2023

• RMIT Vice Chancellor’s Fellowship Scheme