Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation is proud to be a founding partner of the Regen Melbourne Network and a supporter of the first Community Insights Report launched this week by Dr Kate Raworth as part of Melbourne Knowledge Week. Regen Melbourne is led by Small Giants Academy with the Foundation, City of Melbourne, Circular Economy Victoria and the Coalition of Everyone, alongside many more participating organisations and individuals.
Regen Melbourne is a growing network of passionate and skilful individuals and organisations who are taking a systemic approach to looking with fresh eyes at the major interconnected challenges we are facing as we emerge from COVID-19 pandemic. Combining the doughnut economics model developed by Dr Kate Raworth, which places a city within its ecological ceiling (environmental limits) and its social foundations, and a community engagement model is a unique approach. Using one on one interviews, facilitated workshops and digital tools, Regen Melbourne has captured the vision of hundreds of Melburnians about our shared future.
As the community foundation for Greater Melbourne, our purpose is to identify and scale solutions that address Melbourne’s big social and environmental challenges. We achieve this through a focus on supporting innovative and effective projects and organisations, convening and participating in impactful collaborations and working at a systems level on the biggest challenges. We also provide donor services to engage more people in structured philanthropy and solving community challenges.
As we recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a special opportunity through Regen Melbourne to reflect and envision the city we want. The
Community Insights Report includes reflections about what we have all learned from our shared response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the immense pride that so many of us have in our community. Participants also developed a shared understanding of our social foundations – what it means to be a healthy Melbourne, a connected Melbourne, an enabled Melbourne (education, economic opportunity, energy), an empowered Melbourne (social equity, peace and justice, participation) and an ecologically healthy Melbourne.
Based on the community insights so far, we want a city that is knowledgeable, connected to culture, full of life, affordable, sustainable, collaborative and enabled. What is also clear from this report is that within the challenges we face there lies enormous economic opportunity, including secure jobs for all in the next economy. This report is the beginning of developing a very inspiring shared vision for Greater Melbourne.
I commend and congratulate the Regen Melbourne Network and Small Giants Academy on this excellent community visioning report and look forward to the next phase of Regen Melbourne’s work. I encourage everyone to get involved by visiting
regen.melbourne Dr Catherine Brown OAM
Chief Executive Officer
Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation