The Good Neighbourhood Project takes shape

NEIGHBOURHOOD renewal organisation Norlane Community Initiatives launched its new identity earlier this month, adopting the name The Good Neighbourhood Project (GNP) to better reflect its vision for the community.

The non-profit organisation, which has been operating for more than five years, seeks to work with the Norlane community to create innovative and imaginative solutions to address needs specific to the community including food security, social isolation and wellbeing.

Among its community initiatives is the Aviary Cafe, a low-cost eatery that has also hosted a weekly community meal; The Farm Next Door, a volunteer-run urban farm; and Labuan Square Commons, an ‘incubation space’ for residents to gather, discuss ideas and hold events.

Co-director Simon Reeves said Norlane Community Initiatives was only ever intended to be a temporary name, acting as a placeholder while a new organisation was quickly established to continue the work of community development project Urban Seed after it closed its doors in 2017.

“We thought, ‘We’ll get back to creating a new name soon’ and time got away from us,” he said.

“But we also spent a lot of time discovering who we are, what our identity was, how we like to work in the community, getting to know the issues and the struggles and the strengths.”

Mr Reeves said the new name for the project emerged out of its work and the stories of the locals it supports.

“There’s a lot of good people in this neighbourhood and overall, it’s a really great place to live. It’s a good neighbourhood,” he said.

“We’ve found that people really want to belong to a bigger thing that’s happening in the neighbourhood.

“It’s something people can identify with, find a sense of belonging and then find ways to contribute towards.

“We think it really will help contribute to the movement here already in the neighbourhood – people getting together and helping each other out and creating pathways towards the good neighbourhoods.”

Despite the name change, Mr Reeves said the non-profit’s focus – centred around the core concepts of people (cultivating community), places (supporting the ‘heartbeats’ of the community where people gather) and power (advocacy) – remains the same.

“We hope that (the name) generates a real sense of pride for people…and builds up their confidence in the place that they live,” he said.

“And people get involved with some of our projects…and then develop relationships and then they say ‘I used to want to leave Norlane, get out of here, find somewhere else to live and now I want to stay’.”

For more information, head to thegoodneighbourhoodproject.org