The Hive is a place-based, backbone for collective impact with community voice and aspirations at its heart. Our approach is unique, holistic and child-centred. We facilitate the collaboration needed to create long-term change in 2770.
The Hive plays a coordinating role at a suburb, postcode and system-level.
We facilitate collective impact work across key suburbs to create the conditions for change. We conduct postcode-wide early childhood focussed programs and activities aligned to evidence-based prevention or intervention pathways that support childhood development. We influence systems level changes in policies and strategies that benefit Mt Druitt’s children through social innovation and advocacy.
Many of Mt Druitt’s 6000 children aged 0-5 grow up in families that face complex social and economic issues. Less than 60% of 2770’s children attend preschool, one third are assessed as being developmentally vulnerable in their first year of school, and the number reported as being at risk of significant harm is more than double the NSW average.
The system in place to improve the lives of Mt Druitt’s children is failing. Our engagement with Mt Druitt’s community confirms this; families feel handed around between increasingly siloed services, and lost in a system that is fragmented and uncoordinated.
The Hive understands that not one single solution, or single organisation can make a difference on its own. So, rather than trying to effect change in a system that has not worked, The Hive acts as a backbone to bring residents, community leaders, service providers and organisations together to build a new, inspired system – one with children at its heart.
In 2015 ARACY produced a literature review titled ‘Better Systems, Better Chances’ that identified 20 interventions pathways that support 0-5 year olds to meet developmental milestones. Over time we aim to collectively tackle all of these intervention pathways across the 2770 postcode. In the short term it will be necessary to focus our effort and our limited resources by identifying a small number of priority pathways in specific locations.
The first five years of a child’s life are crucial. A child’s early development brings together complex interactions of biology and psychology. The eco-system surrounding a child includes family, community, Government, businesses and services. For a child to start well, the Hive understands that each of these factors need to be functioning effectively.
With a focus on early childhood development and learning, The Hive operates at suburb, post-code and system level to enable community capability and school readiness.
We actively collaborate with our partners to deliver services based on understanding the needs of the Mt Druitt community. This understanding comes from listening to families. It sounds simple, however this approach underpins our success. We don’t presume to know what the community needs – we ask a them, and then we truly listen.
We are place-based, meaning families can access the services and support they need, in trusted-places they can easily reach. We operate on-the-ground, in the heart of the Mt Druitt community, building trust to effect long-term, sustainable change.
We work with community, services, government and business.
Our work spans child, family, community and system.
We expand out work as we achieve results.
We continuously evolve our work based on our learnings, and our understanding of what the community is asking for.
Lead collective impact work across key suburbs to create the conditions for change in local communities.
This includes broad, deep engagement with local residents and service providers to understand resident’s aspirations for their community and develop a collaborative response.
Based on the learning from our suburb level engagement, we conduct postcode-wide early childhood development and learning programs and activities aligned to evidence-based prevention or intervention pathways that support childhood development.
The goal of these initiatives is to identify systemic issues and incubate new ideas that can respond to these issues.
Use the learnings from Steps 1 and 2 to influence system level changes in policies and strategies that benefit Mt Druitt children through social innovation and advocacy.
Bound by a shared goal and developed in collaboration with the community, The Hive’s initiatives enable sustainable change.
Working collaboratively with local services in four suburbs across 2770, The Hive forms a community backbone, responding to the communities needs and priorities.
