Relationships Australia is delighted to share the latest expansion of our leading social connection campaign, Neighbours Every Day [NED]. Commencing in 2024, the popular Neighbourhood Connect program is now a feature of NED, following a decision to transfer custodianship to Relationships Australia.
For nearly ten years, Neighbourhood Connect has supported Australians to connect with neighbours and start their own neighbour groups, making it an exciting addition to NED.
Speaking about the synergies between the two programs, National Executive Officer of Relationships Australia, Nick Tebbey, said: “The NED campaign aims to bring together like-minded people, resources, and organisations to grow stronger, well-connected communities. For this reason, we see Neighbourhood Connect as being an important opportunity for us to enhance our resource suite with further practical options for people seeking to not only create belonging, but also to share belonging within their communities every day.”
Speaking about Neighbourhood Connect, Irene Opper and Maureen Maher noted that “We have been humbled to witness sometimes reluctant local Connectors making a difference in their streets and neighbourhoods. From nervous door knocks to fun first gatherings, group members have not only shared local knowledge and simple neighbourly support, but along the way, created lasting and trusting friendships and created more friendly neighbourhoods!”
Both Neighbourhood Connect and NED have, at their core, a commitment to empowering everyone to create and share belonging, and both have witnessed the critical role this can play in leading to improved well-being and a reduction in loneliness. It also contributes to strength and resilience in the face of external pressures.
In transferring custodianship of the program to Relationships Australia, Neighbourhood Connect identified an opportunity for its important legacy, created over almost ten years of tireless work, to live on and, hopefully, grow to reach even more people.
“We hope in the coming years that Relationships Australia will be able to secure the resources to relaunch the Neighbourhood Connect community building process far and wide and make good use of our Training and Mentoring program, resources and our learnings.” said Ms Opper and Ms Maher.
Relationships Australia is grateful to Neighbourhood Connect for the trust it has placed in us to continue building on its work. We are genuinely excited by the transformational nature of these simple but important tools for Australian communities.
At a time when relationships have been under great pressure, the importance of building and maintaining meaningful connection has never been more apparent. Through these resources, we hope to continue supporting anyone who wishes to create and share belonging in their communities.
Relationships Australia encourages all Australians to make use of these practical Neighbourhood Connect tools which can be found at: https://www.neighbourhoodconnect.org.au/resources/.