Building Connected
Communities
Lea Stevens
Director, Northern Connections
Northern Connections
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Who are we?
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Unit of DCSI, office located at Elizabeth
Report to Minister Piccolo
Small team – Lea Stevens (Director), Bev O’Brien (Deputy
Director), and an Administrative Officer
Our role
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Improve the economic and social prosperity of the northern
suburbs
Work with the Cities of Playford and Salisbury, Town of
Gawler, District Council of Mallala and Light Regional Council
By supporting, facilitating, coordinating, connecting and
leading
Our region
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Our people
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Not homogeneous region in terms of population, socio-economic
status, etc.
Most people doing ok (some very well)
Significant proportion of our people are locked out of opportunities by
a range of issues – unemployment, mental illness, poverty,
homelessness, disability etc – and a high concentration of these
individuals and families reside in certain suburbs
Our services
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More than 300 services between three levels of government and
non-government sectors
Many ‘targeted interventions’ layered on, different funding streams
(leading to fragmentation and duplication), often short-term, many
pilots
People with 8-12 (or more) services and/or workers in their lives
Many millions of dollars being spent – often with little change in
outcomes
What this means for communities
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Full potential for social and economic prosperity is not
realised
People become
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Communities become
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dependent on services
disempowered
socially isolated
‘uncreative’ about solutions
Fragmented
Reliant on government to fix their problems
Policy makers/ services become
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Stuck in a groove of doing the same thing even though the
outcomes for clients do not change
How are we tackling this?
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A regional collaboration (focused on three priority areas - jobs,
workforce and infrastructure)
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Positive psychology (Seligman) – a model of wellbeing and
flourishing for individuals and communities
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Understanding our patch
Using evidence to inform our planning
Joining up effort and working differently
Using resources more efficiently and reducing duplication
Identifying the ‘game changing’ projects/ initiatives/ infrastructure
Focuses on change through empowering individuals
Schools & communities / workplaces / with jobseekers
Supporting new models of working
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‘Enabling change for (Aboriginal) families and services’ (TACSI)
Family by Family (TACSI)
Case management (BAFW – Playford LAG)