We provide strategic consulting support to enable organisations to address complex issues and achieve their goals. We specialise in community and social planning, community infrastructure planning, strategic and business planning and community and stakeholder engagement.
Community and social planning
We have a deep understanding of how to assess community need. We understand the legislative and policy context for community programs, we have extensive experience in interpreting and communicating demographic data and we understand how to assess community aspirations and current and emerging community needs. We have proven methodologies to deliver thoughtful and practical plans and reports that will support organisations to deliver on identified priorities.
Projects include Community Plans, Needs Analysis for Community Hubs or Cultural Spaces, Access and Inclusion Plans, Ageing Well Strategies, Cost Benefit Analysis for Aquatic, Recreation and Leisure Facilities and Children, Youth and Family Strategies.
Engagement and facilitation
We understand the importance of constructive engagement and are skilled in contemporary engagement techniques. Organisations we have worked with in this space include the Victorian State Government, Red Cross, Vic Roads, the Municipal Association of Victoria, Outer Urban Projects, the City of Melbourne, many Neighbourhood Houses, Moonee Valley Legal Service, the Victorian Legal Services Board and a large number of local governments.
We design and deliver consultation and engagement that builds confidence in community members and stakeholders. Our approach facilitates active participation in policy development and decision-making and is tailored to each specific project.
Consultation and engagement tools we use include community listening posts, co-design processes, one to one discussion with stakeholders, workshops, online engagement including surveys, polling and community forums. Working with our clients, we identify and implement tools which are right for the project, for the community and your organisation.
Community infrastructure and project planning
Providing infrastructure to support service delivery and community activity is a core role of local government, government agencies and community organisations. Establishing the need for infrastructure involves careful assessment of the organisation’s policies and priorities, understanding community need, opportunities for shared use or hub approaches and the need for facilities to be welcoming and accessible. The significant cost associated with infrastructure provision means that any recommended approaches have to be financially sustainable into the future.
We understand the processes necessary to deliver community infrastructure and have guided several major community infrastructure projects to completion. We have highly developed expertise in preparation of business cases for projects, our approach aligning with the requirements of State and Federal Treasuries, with a focus on outcomes and benefits and comprehensive risk assessment.
Projects include Community Infrastructure Plans, Feasibility Studies and preparation of Business Cases.
Policy development and service planning
We have extensive experience in policy development and service planning in the early years, arts and culture, libraries, community facilities, leisure and recreation and community services.
Projects include planning for library services, review of community programs and services, review and development of service models for early years services and work to establish and sustain collaboration and partnerships.
Our experience in the early years is extensive. Responding to the early years reform agenda of the State and Federal Governments, we have worked extensively on projects including preparation of Children and Families Plans, service planning and service reviews, early years infrastructure planning, assessment of demand and service system capacity, feasibility planning and co-design processes, business cases and workforce planning.
Strategic and business planning
We are experienced in designing and delivering strategic and business planning processes that align with organisational objectives and are consistent with community / client expectations and legislative obligations. This includes establishing planning frameworks, developing strategic plans and supporting the development of Council Plans for local government.
We offer a range of business development services including benchmarking processes, preparation of advocacy strategies and leading and preparing grant application processes and submissions to government or other bodies. We have an excellent strike rate in securing funding through the preparation of funding applications to government and philanthropic organisations.