The following article was written for a local newspaper by Di O'Neil to celebrate the community building capacity that initiatives such as the Long Gully Legends football team can have.

What does the Long Gully Legends Football Club in Bendigo have in common with Collingwood and South Sydney Football Clubs? It certainly isn't the desire to win at any cost. In the words of Cameron the coach, 'We didn't care if we lost every game for the year by 100 goals. Bringing the community together through the kids and for the kids was our aim.'

But all were born in a time of adversity. Each brought a community together. And, like its two big brothers, the Legends team has gathered fiercely passionate supporters around it.

The Legends under 12 football team is for both boys and girls and has a charter to 'bring good will'. Against all odds, this team is building resilient and proud kids.

 

The Community

Driving through the public housing area in Long Gully, it looks like any other housing development built in the early 1970's: brick veneer houses, no front fences. You will notice lots of kids because 95 per cent of the 230 dwellings are three bedroom homes and the rest have four bedrooms. The old primary school and kindergarten have been closed down.

If you lived here you would have witnessed violence and you may have felt unsafe. It is likely that you will have experienced, first hand, being refused credit because of your address.

The 1996 Australian Bureau of Statistics census indicates the relative youth of the population, the low median weekly household income, the high rate of unemployment, and the large number of single parent households. Anecdotal evidence suggests high incidents of Child Protection concerns. Police in Bendigo know the area well.

But Long Gully parents care about their kids. They worry that this environment might lead them into trouble. Eighteen months ago they decided to do something about their children's futures. In true-blue Aussie form, they turned to sport to provide a safe recreation opportunity for the kids. They sowed the seeds of the under 12 football club.

Having a go

A group of adults sought the assistance of an interested community worker who then facilitated these pioneers through the initial stages of the club's development.

Pam, a club official, explained: 'Most of us had never belonged to a team or committee before. I used to stop home all the time.'

Two people did a sports administration workshop, another a first aid course, others developed skills in meeting procedure. 'It works because the people who started it wanted it to work, got off their bums and had a go, showed we were fair dinkum and through that people started listening.'

Club members knew about discrimination and lack of opportunity. They didn't use a Long Gully address when applying for jobs. Sometimes their children had been actively excluded from sports teams in other suburbs. They decided this club would be inclusive and build good will.

Giving everybody a fair go

Developing expectations of good will very early was very important. When conflict happened, club members referred back to those expectations. Early in the season, an uninitiated 'access' dad was yelling abuse from the sideline; the ugly parent syndrome! With some anxiety a small group of supporters approached him to explain the 'bringing good will' message. He saw the sense of it.

There are many stories about the struggle to keep 'good will'. Cameron recalls, 'A little boy pulled a knife on another kid and that was a big problem. The parents of the boy who had the knife pulled on him wanted to call in police and the welfare and get the kid kicked out of the club. Lots of members wanted the same.' But the outcome: with everybody's agreement the boy was stood down for three games but had to attend all practices. Some weeks later that little boy kicked a goal and the coach and many others cried with pride. 'That kid only kicked that goal because we looked after him.'

Lots of these little players had witnessed violence and disrespect in other aspects of their life. Imagine the pride the club officials felt at the Bendigo Junior Football League Awards Night when representatives from other clubs congratulated them for the respectful way the Legends behaved at games.

Discipline has to be tough but fair in a team where players take turns and girls are as valued as boys. Some wondered if such demands might scare people away-but not so. Players remain keen. Two hundred supporters turned up at a home game and supporters turned up in droves at training. A grandmother said: 'I look forward to practices. I go along to them all and watch the kids.'

A sense of belonging

For the first year, players and supporters travelled to away games in an old London double-decker bus. There were not enough private cars. Imagine the surprise of onlookers as this bus did a double lap around a busy city roundabout on the way home from the team's first winning game. Those onboard were celebrating their win, but even more so, their sense of belonging.

Residents of Long Gully say they feel safer now. They are more likely to watch out for all children. One resident explains, 'The other day while drivin' down the street, I saw a group of young boys fightin'. I felt able to stop and break it up because I knew these kids and their parents through the Legends. Before the Legends, I would have driven straight past-too scared to stop.'

Australian social scientist, Eva Cox, would call this social capital; being connected, having increased levels of trust and opportunities for reciprocal relationships. James Garbarino, a leading American researcher and commentator and his colleagues, have demonstrated that communities that provide legitimate opportunities for young people to participate, are more likely to produce more resilient young adults who make safer decisions. Federal and state governments across Australia are using these findings to develop suicide and drug prevention programs.

Andrew McCallum, president of the Victorian Council of Social Services and Chief Executive Officer of St Luke's says, 'This football team has achieved what welfare programs can only dream of. Instead of targeting people identified by their problem, it has brought people together on the basis of their ability to contribute to a common good.'

As Jackie, a committee member said, 'The politicians can talk and argue about fighting drugs with fancy programs, but we're doing something about it in our own back yard. And we are all benefiting from it.'

The impact has been much wider. When the state Office of Housing commenced a total redevelopment of the estate, it acknowledged the increased sense of participation and belonging. It actively sought advice from residents. These people now know they have the power to influence and a responsibility to speak up. So, of course, if the locals hadn't been invited in, there would have been hell to pay.

Building Community-the Shared Action Experience

Building Community is a ground breaking and important book. It represents an enormous amount of practice wisdom in community capacity building and will be an invaluable resource for opening up creative thinking in this area. It documents a radically different approach that builds on the strengths inherent in a community to define their own goals, inspire enthusiasm and 'sing up' that rarest of commodities-belief in the possibility of change. It contains well-referenced research with excerpts from journals, newsletters, books and magazines that combine to tell this powerful story of growth in one Australian community. We hear the voices of community members through quotes in the book and meet them face-to-face on their own turf via the full-colour video interviews on the accompanying CD.

'Filled with hope for the future, Linda Beilharz and her colleagues from St Luke's join with the residents of Long Gully on the journey towards the creation of a self-determined community. Their story of change is as practical as it is inspirational. By viewing Long Gully through an appreciative lens, the Shared Action team was able to become a life-giving mirror reflecting the best of the community back to the community. This reflection process, one of the core principles of strengths-based community capacity building, freed the Shared Action team to engage the members of Long Gully on an equal basis and produce significant social capital through play and fun. Simultaneously, it enabled the residents of Long Gully to act powerfully on their own behalf. The changed lives of the people in Long Gully stands as a testament to their success and can serve as a valuable lesson for all who aspire to make positive change in communities.'

Chester J. Bowling, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor and Extension Specialist Community Leadership and Management, Ohio State University

'Foreword' from Building Community: The Shared Action Experience, by Andrew McCallum

Community Capacity Building is seen as the 'New Way' in enhancing communities to find their own solutions to what is perceived to be the difficulties they face in maintaining a healthy social environment. Some may say it is rebadging of old style community development.

'Shared Action' falls clearly into that genre but with some marked differences.

Although outcomes and positive developments are key to the success of shared action, this book is far more than that and reflects on what all involved saw as an amazing social journey, that highlights more in the process than in the outcomes.

This book looks behind the physical manifestations of 'The Project' and drills into the complexities by which such 'capacity building' initiatives stand or fall. In so doing it chronicles valuable insights, eminently transferable about what can be achieved by resourced communities and what impedes Communities in identifying and achieving their goals.

'Organic' is a word that springs to mind when tracing the ebbs and flows of shared action. Assumptions that initiated the project were modified, scraped and reworked many times in tune with community expectation beliefs, and knowledge

To me one of clearest messages that comes from Shared Action, and has subsequently influenced much of the thinking around St Luke's, is the need to build trust and listen. Listening to what individuals and communities know about themselves and trust in that what they say will be acknowledged as legitimate and that those who would claim to assist are not just a further example of the passing parade of intrusion into their lives by those who claim to have solutions.

The positives that are Shared Action can all be traced back to these factors.

What is also clear is that these projects do not just start and end. There must be recognition of the prior body of experience, expertise and achievements that are already in existence. These elements may have fallen dormant because of many factors but they can be aroused with the right understanding.

The recognition of this is extremely important if progress is to be made.

Equally there is no end. If the perceived successes are built around a 'Project' then it will not be sustainable. Projects finish communities continue so; the unlocking and way forward must be built on the skills and expertise that will continue within the community. The legacy that 'Shared Action' leaves is, affirmation of current skills, continued capacity to recognize and utilize those skill and the to where with all to seek both physical and human resources.

Shared Action has achieved all of this and plus with provided the community with the knowledge ability to track of where to from here.

I am sure energy levels will and do fluctuate in these enterprises. What is important and has been clearly recognized in the Shared Action experience is that the education of policy markers and organizations is necessary to the sustainability of the process.

Communities need the availability of resources and access to expertise. Community organizations, and all tiers and Government need to recognize this. How this is provided is an essential ingredient to the maintenance of sustainable solutions. To read the book and reflect on the experiences of those involved reveals how "done to" a perceived debilitated a community can feel.

To listen to those who shared the journey is to understand how resource rich communities are when their capacity is unlocked by competent professional facilitation that adds value rather and imposes expertise.

The "Shared Action Story" is a unique resource in the area of community enhancement that provides valuable learning for those who wish to acknowledge the untapped skills and unrecognised pride that exists within communities. 

Building Community: Reflecting on Beginnings

Community members said that welfare agencies don't help to build community. They work with individuals and very rarely consider a broader context of family, neighbours and friends. For example, no matter how an agency tries to disguise its vehicles, people know when the emergency food is being delivered. In this and other ways people felt stigmatised through their use of services.

Community members had a few suggestions about how services could have a different impact. One idea was to build relationships between workers and residents outside the service delivery framework. Workers could get to know people by helping in the community house garden or playing in the netball team. Community members wanted to be known by workers as more than people with problems; they wanted workers to know they were also 'givers', had competencies, could work hard and achieve results. They felt services would be delivered in a very different way if workers appreciated their abilities, breadth of contributions and knew them better.

Another idea was that emergency relief such as food parcels could be provided differently. A community supermarket where people could purchase food or receive free food would allow communities to choose items rather than accept what was offered. The addition of choice within a 'normal' setting was seen to enhance dignity.

Community members thought it would be even better if other welfare agencies could join them in striving to build a more supportive community. They could see greater value in investing time and effort into prevention rather than intervening once problems emerged and adding to families' stresses by implying blame.

 'I think St Luke's-a family services agency in Bendigo, Australia-are doing some of the most innovative and important work in the solution-focused community.'

Michael Durrant

Director, Brief Therapy Institute of Sydney