Gen Barlow, Tarrangower Times
Newstead’s major auspicing organisation, Newstead 2021 Inc, has contracted two community development workers for six months.
Local residents Joni Fitzgerald and Gen Barlow will work with Newstead groups and people on projects and find and match would-be volunteers with projects and micro-tasks.
The duo started mid-January and have until late June 2024 to have in place project plans for locals to chase Newstead‘s next big collective ambitions.
They’re the faces of Vibrant Newstead, a project that developed out of last September’s Community Visioning Day when 75 people gathered in the Newstead Community Centre to share and prioritise the town’s next big project ideas. Grants of up to $500 will be available for projects.
“Mostly, it’s about encouraging people’s ideas and supporting them to get going on them,” they said.
“Working together creates an opportunity for people to get to know each other to build trust and connect. And that’s got to be good. We’re about strengthening community life and connection.”
Newstead has a thriving community garden, impressive art and creative facilities at The Red Shed Arts Workshop and the Newstead Arts Hub, its solar farm is under construction, its racecourse offers great overnight camping facilities and its recreation reserve which has an electronic scoreboard, night lights and a top playing surface has led to growing junior and women’s cricket competitions. Plus juniors and men’s tennis is making a comeback. And thanks to active parents and community members, the school grounds look magnificent.
Newstead 2021 Inc, which contracted Joni and Gen, was established in 2008. It has supported groups and projects that boost the community’s social, creative, economic and environmental well-being since.
New president Dimity Fifer acknowledged support and funding from the Victorian Government for Vibrant Newstead, which includes mapping the town’s most effective ways to engage locals in community conversations and activities.
Vibrant Newstead is on Facebook and Insta @vibrantnewstead and can be contacted by emailing vibrantnewstead@gmail.com.
This article appeared in the Tarrangower Times, 9 February 2024.
