Central Coast Community Congress

From its beginnings the Congress has had three main aims:

• To discover and showcase stories of collaborative, strengths based community work occurring on the Central Coast
• To develop community development framework and agenda in the region that might nurture joint projects, innovative models and approaches
• To create a positive learning environment for everyone who takes part in Congress activities

History

The Central Coast Community Congress started with a conversation in the year 2000 about how people with a passion for working with communities might discover, collaborate on, celebrate and develop stories of community building on the Central Coast. The idea was to move away from a focus on needs and deficits and pay attention to the strengths, the resilience and the creativity of local people and workers on the Coast. We thought that this was our best bet for building fair, vibrant and connected communities across the region. From the inaugural Central Coast Community Congress conference in 2001, the Congress Working Party have sought to change the language, culture and outcomes of community development on the Coast for the last 10 years.

The Congress event happens biennially and brings together 250 community builders from the Central Coast and beyond to learn together and celebrate what has been happening in communities. The focus for this event is on 'real people doing real things' with contributions invited for everything from workshops and presentations to performing arts, and 5 minute conversations about projects and activities that build on strengths.

Visit the Central Coast Community Congress