Banksia Gardens Community Services Sustainability

Banksia Gardens Community Services is a vibrant organisation with its headquarters located in the heart of Broadmeadows. Banksia Gardens is a neighbourhood house, a learn local, a registered charity, and an organisation with a strong commitment to community development and action research principles. Our Programs focus mainly on early childhood, education and training, gender equity, young people, environmental sustainability and community participation and advocacy. More than 30 groups and Associations are located at our headquarters and other sites, in 2023 more than 80,000 people used our Service. Banksia Gardens Community Services understands the importance of environmental sustainability and its intimate relation with the pursuit of climate justice. We believe that delivering climate justice and protecting the environment are compatible aims. As an organisation, we are committed to raising awareness of environmental sustainability within the workplace and in the community, and acting responsibly to minimise our environmental impact. We use the term ‘sustainability’ to describe practices at our organisation that have the least environmental impact – not degrading or depleting natural resources. We also use the term ‘regeneration’ as we aim to not only sustain the resources that we currently have, but to renew, restore and encourage growth of natural resources in and around the centre.

Climate Adaptation Requires Youth Action

CARYA was launched in 2020, bringing together a courageous, cross-cultural group of young adults to learn about, discuss and take action on some of the key social and environmental issues impacting (and being impacted by) climate change. Our CARYA participants complete a 8 week training program, meeting expert speakers and discussing topics such as food security, climate justice, biodiversity, climate as a health issue, and waste. Training is intended to set up participants with essential sustainability knowledge, networks and communication skills. Training is flexible, and includes several field trips for CARYA participants to enhance their learning experience, with past trips including a local bush tucker walk guided by first peoples, visits to the Nangak Tamboree Wildlife Sanctuary, e-bike rides to the Eco Justice Hub in Brunswick and a tour of the thriving urban backyard ‘The Plummery’ to meet permaculture expert Kat Lavers.

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Gender Equity

For many years, Banksia Gardens Community Services has been a local pioneer in the push for gender equality and ending violence against women through its Good People Act Now (GPAN) project. In 2019, BGCS made gender equity an organisational key priority area, establishing a gender equity working group to help drive this change across all of the organisation’s operations. The GPAN Project was established in 2014 in response to the high rates of family violence incidents in Hume. Since 2014, GPAN has trained hundreds of young people to be gender equity champions and active bystanders in their communities. We promote our message through community campaigns, local events, sporting clubs and schools in a variety of ways, including live performance, info sessions, movie making and social media.

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Common Bean Cafe

The Common Bean Cafe is our social enterprise established to provide a space for young people to gain work experience and develop their skills and confidence required in finding work. Youth unemployment levels in Broadmeadows are currently at 27.2% (ABS, 2016). By providing young people with a supportive transitional training and employment program we are helping to combat youth unemployment in our community! Every six months, the Common Bean Cafe provides a transitional employment opportunity and on the job training to a new group of young people form our community. During their placement with the Common Bean, the young participants gain accredited training in areas relevant to hospitality, general employability skills, six months of paid work experience and an increased sense of confidence which will allow them to obtain employment independently in the future.

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