Whilst only a very small committee, Every Child CQ (ECCQ) has been working in the background to support groups and individuals who are forging ahead with a range of initiatives to “shift the dial” on improving the lives and futures of young people in this region.

As we are an unfunded organisation, ECCQ has focussed on what we can achieve without paid staff and have taken on an auspicing role for unincorporated organisations over the last 6 months, thanks to the generosity of expertise, time and energy of the Management Group.

Every Child CQ continues to look for opportunities to pursue a collective change agenda to ensure our young people can grow, thrive and be happy in the Central Queensland region.

The Rockhampton Community Based Crime Action Committee (CBCAC) that has taken a lead role in building strong collaboration and understanding to address youth crime in the Rockhampton area. Several activities have been funded by CBCAC and auspiced by ECCQ, including the following initiatives:

• Our Space is an exciting and innovative initiative, supported by Stockland Rockhampton providing a shop front where services can connect with community in a safe space. CBCAC have funded a Coordinator for this initiative and are seeking further support from anyone interested in contributing beyond the funding period.
• The aim of the space is improving health and well-being outcomes for our children, youth and families with a primary focus on vulnerable and at risk youth.
• The target group for the space are the at risk and vulnerable youth and families that can be hard to reach via regular service delivery models.

• This activity is aimed at contributing to the Rockhampton CBCAC “priority gap” of Agency Collaboration. Further, it will provide the following community benefits in support of addressing disadvantage and reducing youth crime
• 1. A documented approach to doing place-based community development.
• 2. A blueprint for undertaking community development projects, including milestones.
• 3. A common language around community development.
• 4. A set of practical tools with clear instructions.
• 5. A local cohort of trained people with an understanding of community development, and the ability to use the model and tools.
• 6. A set of training materials for use again in the future.

• Using successful crowd sourcing collective experience intelligence to develop a framework for structured, coordinated, whole of community response to youth crime.
• Gathering global expertise, through an respected online platform, to seek and discuss what has/has not worked elsewhere and provide opportunities for our region.

• Provide opportunities and resources for young people to explore, experience, connect and engage in pilot program that includes, support and pathways to making better choices, positive personal growth, develop goal setting, and grow to their fullest potential. Increasing positive youth engagement, reducing unhealthy activities and reducing youth crime.
• Courses are held 3 days per week for 10 weeks and include Wellbeing, Personal Care, Dressing for Succes, Sexual & Reproductive Health, Alcohol & Other Drugs Session, Nutrition & Exercise, Low budget health food, Hair, Healthy Relationships, Social Media Use and Safety, Self Confidence.
• Provide resources for other disadvantaged young people who are not in the course but visit Our Space.

Maxine Brushe
President
Every Child Central Queensland Inc.

“Well what a very turbulent and unsettling year it has been for everyone, including Every Child Central Qld Inc.” This was how I began the Annual Report to Members at last year’s AGM, and the words fit the 2021 year just as well as they did back twelve months ago.

Every Child CQ had signed a contract with Stronger Places, Stronger People in September 2020 and were looking to engage a suitable person for this important work. Geoff Higgins was employed and gave great service in working in and with community to build on already established relationships as well as new ones. We take this opportunity to thank Geoff for his short, but very respectful and outstanding service to Every Child. Thank you Geoff.

Every Child was pleased to be able to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with the Darumbal People Aboriginal Corporation (DPAC) at beginning of last year’s AGM. The purpose of the MOU is to establish a formal relationship between DPAC RNTBC, as the custodians of Darumbal country, and Every Child CQ aimed at providing a platform for collaboration and equity in decision-making on Darumbal country in the Rockhampton district. The document recognises DPAC and Every Child CQ share a commitment to developing a new approach to improving the future for our families, children, youth and young adults in this place. We have a collective responsibility to provide a positive future for all.

I, as Every Child CQ Chair, also stated last year that we “anticipate that this will be the first of many agreements that commit to a strong focus on working collaboratively to break down barriers” and build shared acknowledgement , respect and understanding towards collaborative positive outcomes, with people of all backgrounds. We still see great benefit in establishing these agreements across community.

Following last year’s AGM, Geoff Higgins held a workshop to build the Rockhampton Community Alliance, to take the work done over the previous year on developing partnerships and collaborative thinking, as well as building required capacity and resources. It was time to start the action phase – developing policies, procedures, collecting and analysing data. evaluating the outcomes and doing all of this in truly collaborative and collective manner. The Rockhampton Community Alliance was the opportunity to create a safe space for this to sprout, nurture and grow.

As most of you would be aware, Every Child CQ withdrew from the contract with Stronger Places, Stronger People in July 2021. This was a decision that the Management Committee agonized over for some time, but was inevitable given the fact that we could see no appropriate role for Every Child CQ in the proposed move forward.
Every Child CQ’s Management Committee ultimately determined that it would be in our best interests, to withdraw from the program and the funding, and to revert to our original Charter in creating social innovation by using the principles of collective impact to bring about systemic and long lasting change to health, wellbeing and life outcomes for Central Queensland children, to ensure that every child has every chance to reach their full potential.

Every Child CQ’s vision and drive remains the same and we continue to value – connecting, collaborating, changing, coordinating and challenging community to get results that make a positive difference in children’s lives.

Since we withdrew from SPSP, we deliberately stepped back for a while as we did not want to be seen as an impediment to the proposed work of Stronger Places, Stronger People in the Rockhampton region.
We have had no indication from government, either Federal or State, or the Stronger Places, Stronger People officers, as to where the program is now at, but there were millions of dollars allocated to the Rockhampton Region to roll out the program that has not yet been allocated, to our knowledge.

Our Space, the project at Rockhampton Shopping Fair that has been supported through funding from the CBCAC, has been auspiced by Every Child CQ Inc. This is a great opportunity to engage with community in their space, time and safety.

Every Child CQ still sees the great value of a Rockhampton Community Alliance that has broad community involvement, bringing voices from across community, the seen and unseen, the hear and unheard, the fortunate and those that struggle from day to do, because everyone has lived experience that can help understanding, acknowledgement and explore solutions. This is an opportunity we need to continue to explore with community and government, to continue working towards building positive futures for our children and community wellbeing. Hopefully early in the new year, we may be able to share with you some ideas and opportunities.

We thank you for your attendance today. Every Child CQ appreciates your support and continued involvement in creating a safe, secure and happy future for children and families across Central Queensland.

Maxine Brushe
President
Every Child Central Queensland Inc.

2020 Annual Report to Members

Well what a very turbulent and unsettling year it has been for everyone, including Every Child Central Qld Inc. (Every Child CQ).

Our January meeting with stakeholders was a resounding success with in excess of 100 people in attendance and the workshop following provided a good starting point to conversations around building the Community Alliance and developing a shared agenda. Further workshops followed, including three in May, held virtually due to COVID 19.

Every Child CQ Inc has worked with Darumbal People Aboriginal Corporation (DPAC)throughout this year. DPAC is the Registered Native Title Body whose primary function is to address issues relating to the social and economic disadvantage that are confronted by Darumbal People, and we are very pleased to sign off on a Memorandum of Understanding with DPAC today.

The purpose of the MOU is to establish a formal relationship between DPAC RNTBC, as the custodians of Darumbal country, and Every Child CQ aimed at providing a platform for collaboration and equity in decision making on Darumbal country in the Rockhampton district. This document recognises DPAC and Every Child CQ share a commitment to developing a new approach to improving the future for our families, children, youth and young adults in this place. We have a collective responsibility to provide a positive future for all.

This has taken a while to get signed off due to COVID, however we are committed to the document and see it as a  first step in

acknowledgement and understanding of Indigenous issues and their impact on wellbeing of children and families. We also anticipate that this will be the first of many agreements that commit to a strong focus on working collaboratively to break down barriers and build shared understanding towards collaborative positive outcomes.

Our biggest challenge this year has been that whilst the Stronger Places, Stronger People Program had been announced by the Minister in July 2019, no funding for this important work was released until September 2020. The implication of this delay and Every Child not having funds to continue engagement of our very capable Coordinator, Susie Cameron understandably returned to her substantive position with Qld Health in June of this year.

Since that time, the Every Child CQ Management Group has continued to work with Government to secure funding to try to take the work forward. The funding received by Every Child CQ recently is to build the Community Alliance only. The short term nature of the funding, and the need to contract someone who has already built respect and trust across community has made filling this position very difficult. However we are not prepared to compromise on this fundamental role in bringing people and organisations together to ensure that the Community Alliance and the work it undertakes has sound governance around it, ensuring high level accountability, transparency and effectiveness.

We have been told that the next step is to provide evidence that the Rockhampton community is ready to partner with government to deliver the Stronger Places, Stronger People agenda. How do we do that? We need to evidence that as a collective we are committed to working together, not always with the same thinking, but are willing to compromise, to agree to disagree in a spirit of cooperation and respect to develop a shared agenda and a willingness to proceed to shared outcomes.

Over the last year, work has been done on developing partnerships and collaborative thinking, building required
capacity and resources. We now need to move onto actions – developing policies, procedures, data analysis and evaluation tools and source funding to create the required infrastructure for community to do this together.

This is the next phase – where we will all be required to “leave our hats at the door” and bring our lived experiences to the table, i.e. our experiences not as an organization specifically or with an individual view, but rather as a parent, a friend, a student, an aunt/uncle/survivor, a teacher, or football coach. This is the valuable knowledge we know is out there… however, a space needs to be created where this can be safely shared with a view to improving the lives of others, through our own life learning lens. The Community Alliance is to be this space.

Every Child CQ’s vision and drive remains the same, that is creating social innovation by using the principles of collective impact to bring about systemic and long lasting change to health, wellbeing and life outcomes for Central Queensland children, to ensure that every child has every chance to reach their full potential.

This is a vision for our community , that will require a whole of community approach and the Community Alliance will provide an opportunity to bring voices from across community, the seen and unseen, the heard and unheard, the fortunate and those that struggle from day to day, because everyone has lived experience that can assist us to understand, unpack and explore solutions to issues, steps to take on our journey of working closely together to improve community wellbeing.

In the words of Henry Ford, “Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success.” We are keen to ask you to progress the beginning of success today, together.

After such a haphazard year, Every Child CQ looks forward to a strong and purposeful year in 2021 towards creating a safe, secure and happy future for children and families across Central Queensland.

Maxine Brushe
President
Every Child Central Queensland Inc.

President’s Mid-Year Update

 the very committed people in government and the Not-For-Profit sector to harness effort in a more simplified and collective manner has never been greater.

During this time our Coordinator, Susie Cameron, has ably led an agenda to connect and build on the resources within community towards a shared understanding of the issues and developing a shared agenda, through the establishment of the Community Alliance. In tandem with this valuable work, the Management Group of Every Child CQ has engaged with State and Federal Government officers of the Stronger Places, Stronger People (SP/SP) Program to secure funding to maintain the community momentum to drive this work forward.

With regards to the ongoing work of Every Child CQ, we remain hopeful of securing adequate funding in the near future to sustain the employment of a capable person to continue to establish the Community Alliance as a Community Voice to promote and together,  drive systemic change to address community issues.  We are currently working with SP/SP officers and are looking forward to sharing some good news with you shortly in this regard.

Susie has now returned to her substantive position with CQHHS and we at Every Child CQ would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank Susie for the great work she has done in community, particularly in building trust and reciprocity, engaging unheard voices, and delivering tangible outcomes through collaborative partnerships, including a partnership with Darumbal People Aboriginal Corporation (D-PAC). Her skill will not be lost to community as she continues her CQHHS role and Every Child CQ looks forward to continuing to work with both Susie and the broader community to achieve what we know the Community Alliance has the capacity to do for this region.  Susie will also continue to be a passionate supporter of the work of Every Child CQ in a voluntary capacity.

Maxine Brushe
President
Every Child Central Queensland Inc.

Keppel MP and Assistant Minister for Education Brittany Lauga has opened the first Child and Family Health Clinic at ‘Our Place’ Stockland on the 16th of January 2020.

“When I was a young mother with a small baby I found Stockland a great place to be, so I was delighted when I was asked to open the first Child and Family Health Clinic. The way Every Child CQ, the Community Police Board and Stockland Rockhampton have worked as a collective to provide this dedicated space is something we can all be proud of” Ms Lauga said.

“The fact that it has grown out of the work of the Community Police Board really demonstrates that if government works hand-in-hand with community and business, we can together find new approaches that positively impact underlying needs in our communities.”

‘Our Place’ is an initiative of Every Child Central Queensland Inc., the Rockhampton Community Police Board and Stockland and provides a dedicated space in Stockland Rockhampton, where community can access services and services can engage with community.

Coordinator for Every Child CQ Susie Cameron explained that “a range of services and activities are being run out of Our Place with Every Child CQ the lead agency for the Management Committee which includes Stockland Rockhampton, Darumbal Youth Services, Queensland Police Service (QPS), PCYC, Central Queensland Hospital & Health Service (CQHHS), Education Queensland and Qld Dept of Youth Justice.”

Ashley Hull from the QPS stated “the Community Policing Board which is made up of several agencies has done some good work with Stockland Rockhampton over the last couple of years and this success has helped bring us here today”.

“Everyone involved in this initiative want the community to feel that this is their space” said Christine Stevens from the PCYC.

“The CQHHS are very pleased to be able to bring their Child and Family Health Clinic to Stockland Rockhampton and to be a part of a collective way of supporting community. The clinic will run every Thursday from 9am to 3pm providing a drop-in service for well-babies and children 0-8yrs. The Child Health Nurse can monitor children’s growth, development and behaviours and support parents on the parenting journey” said Christine Young the Nurse Unit Manager for Child and Maternal Health, CQHHS.

The official launch for Our Place is being organised for the 28th of February 2020, and will include the announcement of a competition to design a logo for Our Place.

For more information about Our Place please email coordinator@everychildcq.org.