Copyright © Bob Neville 2017 – www.communityregeneration.com.au

FACT 1 No amount of money handed to communities can change

underlying social realities or make them sustainable - but

something else can regenerate them..!

FACT 2 The only Small Communities that can maintain liveability in

the future will be those which grow strong Community-

Inclusive foundations and nurture them continually.

FACT 3 A community’s sustainability does not relate to its SIZE but to

its “liveability” – regenerated from its micro-diversity of

“Community Gold” and its spirit of Community Inclusiveness

Thriving Towns or Zombie Towns? Understand the ONLY WAY to a Sustainable

Community and HOW to achieve it

Small Rural Communities

Copyright © Bob Neville 2017 – www.communityregeneration.com.au

There is a great mystery which perplexes our Governments today. That is “how do we address the declining communities’ syndrome?” Multiple millions of dollars are thrown at the problem by Councils and various Industry Corporates - but the grass roots challenges just get worse.

I call this money “Corporate Fool’s Gold” because it does not and never will address the underlying issues that relate to regeneration of small communities. It starts with understanding the very foundation of sustainable economy – productive farmland, clean water and clean air. There are many common-sense natural science principles that are so simple, so logical and so undeniable that only children, grass-roots community people and farmers seem able to understand. Indeed, what’s happened to the Family Farm? The reason why our Governments and others have not found a genuine lasting solution is simply that they are not looking at it or for it from a genuine “ground-up” perspective?

Small communities (collectively) create strong regions - therefore, to strengthen the whole, we need to sustain the foundation communities.

The real reason why Government Programs and Corporate Fool’s Gold, via a top-down-driven “Solutions Industry” cannot solve the problem and never will is because they don’t understand or acknowledge the true causes. Consider just two of the principles of the Natural Science involved through simple analogy – then - start to get the true picture. Principle number 1: If you shower your kids with everything they want, from the day they are born until they reach their early teens, what will be the end result? Pretty obvious..! They will grow up believing that everything should be provided for them - they will never be satisfied - they will simply become “takers” with no sense of individual self-esteem or desire to work and achieve.

They will not comprehend the difference between “earned income” and “credit”. Many will be quite happy to sit around and become social media slugs. This expectation in life can also sadly lead to many far more devastating consequences, for themselves and for others. So how does this relate to flawed Government Funding Programs and wasted “Corporate Fools Gold?”

Recently I visited a number of small Communities which have been showered with the “gifts” of Corporate Gold for many years. When you visit these communities the first impression is one of amazement – the streets are “paved with gold” – figuratively speaking. They all have beautifully kept streets, gardens, parks and recreational infrastructure that would be the envy of even the most populated suburb of Sydney. They are literal “jewels” where their Councils have had access to unprecedented levels of Mining Royalty Grants over many years. Yet, in most of them you hardly see anybody in the streets much of the time. All have declined around 12 percent in population over the past 10 years and most are predicted to decline another 12 percent over the next 10 years. The reality is while all of this Corporate Gold has provided “beautiful looking communities,” this has simply masked extensive social, economic and environmental challenge, with increasing lack of employment or opportunities for young people due to business decline and apparent unprecedented lack of community inclusiveness. Further, the era of Corporate Gifts is coming to an end for these communities and they are struck with infrastructure which is not only out of

real proportion to their real needs, but which is likely to be beyond their capacity to maintain in coming years.

The social challenges will continue and get worse unless there is intervention of the right kind. No doubt there will be cries for “more gold” – as that is the expectation that has been bred into communities and their Councils. But it is clear that more Corporate Fools Gold will not resolve the issue of sustainability. Why? It is because “gifts” showered on to children or communities as a way of life, do not build character and does not lead to more inclusive communities. Nor better communities or more liveable communities with more people whose lives are truly fulfilling and more young people who see a future there. The more we feed that false expectation and the longer it is allowed to persist, the harder it will ever be to change.

But what is an inclusive community?

An Inclusive Community identifies, embraces, values and justly considers ALL ideas (for business, Community improvement, Community service, innovation, inventiveness, culture, arts, talent, skills and creative expression) across every dimension of age, culture and human endeavour, regardless of social, economic, cultural, physical or intellectual status. In other words, an inclusive community puts more value on the uniqueness of every individual’s potential to contribute to making theirs a better community. This adds value to ideas, encouraging and supporting genuine individual entrepreneurship - providing a pathway for development of individual human potential.

In 2011 Bob Neville received the Inaugural Individual State Award for “Building Inclusive Communities” out of 50 statewide

nominations. The Award is sponsored by Macquarie University and the Ethnic Communities Council of Australia (NSW)

Copyright © Bob Neville 2017 – www.communityregeneration.com.au

Principle number 2: An inclusive community is far more micro-diverse, socially and economically and as a result, a more liveable, more stable and less vulnerable community.

Over recent months I have been working with a diversity of small communities towards establishing a number of Small Community Regeneration MODELS throughout Australia. Where inclusiveness is low and micro-business/social diversity has declined, they are facing greater social challenge and decline in population. They have become more and more dependent on Government and less self-entrepreneurial.

Some struggling communities have been suddenly “blessed” with a resources industry boom, with great expectations of Corporate Gold and many wonderful things to change these communities. Many grasped the illusion that a new industry would make their communities better places, and in many ways visually, they did. But the downside is that this showering of gifts has not created more inclusive, more sustainable communities, but has simply masked and augmented underlying social challenge and increased dependency.

Further, many who were deluded by the glitter of Corporate Gold had the underlying, unrealistic belief or hope that the “good times” were here to stay and unfortunately over-invested their future in it. When this Industry suddenly takes a reverse turn, many in these communities can be left holding their bags of “fool’s gold.” No community should ever build long-term hopes on mining or any other singular major corporate controlled industry, as this only seeds extreme vulnerability.

Mining is subject to constant change, often even beyond its own control. Communities should therefore see such industries as a potential (and I emphasise “potential”) short-term bonus and realise that longer-term sustainability of their community should only be founded on the realities of life before and after mining and therefore plan accordingly.

Booms simply distort the natural balance of small community economies, increasing prices for goods, services and housing out of perspective and creating a boom for short term opportunists. The stable, long term community members and local businesses are always the losers.

Far wiser to be growing a more inclusive, stable, better community based on supporting and increasing its own micro-diversity which is much more sustainable overall. This is what the PROCESS of Small Community Regeneration is about, putting the community itself in charge of making its community better and more liveable, not necessarily “bigger.” Communities need to be consistently improving their own Local Economic Zones, regardless of the fluctuating national and international economy, always viewing “boom time” windows of opportunity with open eyes. When the downturn comes, which it always does, they are better positioned to adjust. Consider the analogy of the “Little Red Hen”

How then, does Inclusiveness improve liveability and sustainability, when top-down, fragmented, patchwork or misdirected Funding Programs cannot?

To give credibility to what I am saying about the direct link between community inclusiveness, micro-diversity, liveability and sustainability, recently I was called upon to conduct a Community Gold Program Review in the NSW Riverina town of Temora. After having conducted a social challenge and inclusiveness assessment, I was amazed to find it rated among the strongest I have encountered. In fact, I questioned the results with the Council’s General Manager who confirmed that previous studies have shown Temora to be one of the most liveable communities in Australia.

It has richly diverse micro-business activity and it has extensive social and historical infrastructure, with something happening constantly and this has been a magnet for visitors. There is a welcoming, friendly atmosphere all-round and a genuine sense of community inclusiveness. This did not just happen - it has been cultivated, valued and sustained by a Council and Community which seem very much mutually-inclusive. Temora too is subject to the impacts of corporatisation of its surrounding Farming Industry, but unlike communities at the other end of the inclusiveness and liveability scale, it is largely self-insulated by its strong level of micro-diversity and inclusive spirit, something which cannot be bought with Corporate Gold.

Why then, would Temora want to investigate becoming part of the Community Gold Program?

Quite clearly, Temora’s community-regenerative momentum needs to be maintained and sustained in order to insulate the community as much as possible from dependence on any one major Industry. Further, There is an enormous seed-bed of new micro-economic and social opportunities there every year which have not been identified, therefore providing a constant potential source of self-regeneration within the community itself – true “Community Gold”.

This option of community self-driven regeneration is open to any community willing to do so. Therefore I encourage every community to keep Corporate Fool’s Gold in clear perspective and start the process of ground-up Community-driven Regeneration -

before it is too late.

Additional Reading: The Economic Logic and Benefits of Small Community Regeneration

Copyright © Bob Neville 2017 – www.communityregeneration.com.au

A New Social Entrepreneurial Industry is born …! Sustainable Community and Economic Development for Small Communities…!

Where individuals and their seed ideas are truly valued as the seed-source for community regeneration in a spirit of genuine Community Inclusiveness

What is an “Inclusive Community”? An Inclusive Community identifies, embraces, values and justly considers ALL ideas (for business, Community improvement, Community service, innovation, inventiveness, culture, arts, talent, skills and creative expression) across every dimension of age, culture and human endeavour, regardless of social, economic, cultural, physical or intellectual status. Small Community Regeneration is a Natural Science and an emerging industry that seeks to continually identify, facilitate and regenerate each community’s collective micro-diversity, social, economic and environmental sustainability to improve liveability. It does this by working one on one with individuals own seed ideas, available resources, opportunities and support. Through the Community Gold Program, its focus is Small Community based sustainability, not out of control, unsustainable “development”. Just like a garden, your community can get “better” – not essentially “bigger”. This applies not only to all rural communities, but equally to communities/suburbs within larger Regional or City-based communities.

Contact me via the Website, or Linkedin or Facebook (Bob Neville)

Community Regeneration is in collaboration with Starfish Initiatives which is a Registered Charity with a purpose and passion for creating and supporting genuine rural and regional sustainability.

The “Community Gold” ™ Program A sustainable process based on a Natural Formula

for Community-driven Regeneration