Sally Edwards leaves her position as Coordinator Community Activation and Learning, Melton City Council, and as a member of the ALCN Executive. The Executive thanks Sally for her tireless work in promoting the work of learning cities in Melton, Australia.  Internationally. Sally made significant contributions to the ALCN in a number of ways, in particular, workshops, online learning, and co-organising (with Wyndham) the first Global Learning Festival as part of the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities . We wish her well for the future. For information about Melton Learning City contact Adam Josifovski, Acting Coordinator Community Activation and Learning, [email protected]

For the second half of 2020, the Australian Learning Communities Network (ALCN), RMIT University and Wyndham City Council partnered to host an RMIT International Development student to work with Wyndham City Council on the research and evaluation of two key projects: the Global Learning Festival (GLF) held in September 2020 and the Wyndham Learning Festival held in November 2020.  The student selected for this placement, Hellen Kibowen, comes from an indigenous community in Kenya and is studying a Masters in International Development at RMIT University while also working part time as a project officer with the Burnet Institute. She also has a background in anthropology. Hellen was very enthusiastic and with assistance from the Wyndham team added invaluable insight, humour and commitment to the two projects she was involved with, including developing questionnaires and writing stories using the Most Significant Change Technique to showcase the impact of the two festivals on those involved. As a final component to her work, Hellen shared her reflections about her experience at the first ALCN Executive meeting on 9 February 2021. Part of her next steps include using the skills gained in her work and studies, and marketing the Global Learning Festival to her networks in Kenya.  

The Learning Community team were so impressed with the caliber of this student placement, a request has been made to RMIT for another student placement in 2021.

Photo – meeting in “real life” for the first/last time – due to COVID-19 the placement was completed virtually!

• Bridging the digital divide/ learning with technology.
• Learning for and in the workplace.
• Fostering a culture of lifelong learning; inclusive learning; formal learning from K-12, post-secondary, higher education.
• Entrepreneurial learning; individual empowerment; learning for sustainable development (climate change), economic and cultural prosperity.
• Responds to COVID-19.

Background – About Enable
Enable is a leading and award-winning not for profit Social Enterprise on a mission to tackle disadvantage and the digital divide by connecting community, environment, and local economies.
Since 2015, Enable have supported hundreds of people from disadvantaged backgrounds to connect with community, environment, and improve their prospects of employment through innovative work and learning programs. 

Enable operate commercially in the Computer decommissioning and recycling, warehousing, fulfilment and storage and Online Retailing sectors with 100% of the profits from trade re-invested to operate and support a total of nine (9) work and learning stations to support participants with skill-building, confidence, and career decision-making. Enable program outcomes and issues addressed are best contextualized their overall periodical Impact Statements.
 
Issues and Impact
Enable, whilst a small not for profit and social enterprise have been delivering big on the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) since 2015.
 
Enable’s Impact Statement as at December 2019:

Issue 1: Poor employment participation rates of people with disability in Australia, with approximately 50% less likely to have a job. Unemployment is the major reason for poverty.
 
Impact:   Delivered 31,550 hours of employability skills to 855 participants most likely to experience barriers to employment to improve their chances of getting work.
 
Delivering on UN SDG 1: Rights to a job, building resilience of disadvantaged and unemployed community, advocating for social enterprise in Australia as part of the eco-system to reduce barriers to employment for people with disability.


 
Issue 2: High Unemployment in Hume (Melbourne’s north), this is 53% higher than the Australian average. Poverty is the major cause of housing stress and homelessness.
 
Impact:  Created 8,858 paid work hours to support local economic development and 15 Employment Pathway outcomes through Enable’s enterprise trade, supporting local disadvantaged and economic development across Melbourne’s north. Read the full article here.

1. We should harness all the resources of cities - local government, civil society, education institutions and other resources - to extend learning opportunities to all residents of the city, including disadvantaged groups; and
2. We need to use learning strategies to build community and social cohesion in the city.

I will address later in the paper whether our thinking about the future of learning cities requires us to broaden and deepen these themes. 
Following the establishment of ALCN, annual conferences were held in places like Albury Wodonga, Adelaide, and Newcastle with significant numbers participating. A critical feature of the learning cities Australia story was that development depended on local development inspired by local “believers” with little support from national and state governments. This resulted in a patchy pattern of development with large areas not serviced by learning cities. Most of the early development was in Victoria and South Australia. Read the full article here.

For further information contact:

Dr. Leone Wheeler
Hon. CEO, Australian Learning Communities

Mobile: 0456 038 236.  Email: [email protected]
ALCN website www.alcn.com.au
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