Early years team takes state award

A CITY of Ballarat team dedicated to providing early years learning opportunities for the region was recently celebrated with a State Government award.

The municipality’s Early Years Partnerships team, earlier this month took home the Creating Collaborative Community Partnerships accolade in the Victorian Early Years Awards.

A collaboration with Uniting Ballarat and Grampians Public Health Unit, the team received the award for developing the Ballarat’s Children: Collaborating for Systems Improvement Sessions program.

City of Ballarat’s director of community wellbeing Matthew Wilson said the initiative is a great example of collaboration across different sectors for the benefit of children and families.

“It’s great to see medical, education and care, and community services practitioners from across Ballarat coming together to improve outcomes for Ballarat’s children and families,” he said.

“The commitment of staff from different sectors to sharing knowledge and resources is commendable and worthy of recognition.”

The program was established last year and entails a series of monthly two-hour sessions centred around networking and development, and building stronger relationships between participants.

Each meeting averages 50 attendees across the region’s education, medical, and community sectors.

“What a wonderful achievement for all involved,” said Uniting Ballarat’s senior manager for community engagement and support Warrick Davison.

“The cross-sector collaboration has not only strengthened networks in the region, but assisted professionals to develop their knowledge and resources ultimately benefiting children in our region.”

The program was co-designed by the City of Ballarat’s Best Start facilitator with financial support from the Ballarat 4 Kids, the State Government, and Uniting Ballarat.

Now in its 19th year, the awards saw 10 winners out of 17 finalists, with each recipient receiving $15,000 in grant funding.

Other groups in the running for the award were Ararat Early Learning Centre’s Grandfriends Program in partnership with East Grampians Health Service, and Gorrinn Village, as well as Rainbow P-12 College’s Accessing Essential Services for Rural Kids, with Royal Far West.