Community Cooperative
The Community Cooperative model seeks to promote both the rights and dignity of people with a disability. A cooperative is a community of people who voluntarily work together to meet a common need. In the case of The Community Cooperative, the need is for affordable and beneficial support that is co designed with participants for participants.
What is a Community Cooperative
The Community Cooperative is a community of people who live in the same apartment complex, town house or share house, who voluntarily choose to share the cost of the on-site support with other tenants with disability. Cooperative members under one roof sharing supports, form one cooperative. Enliven Community currently works with approximately 17 individual Cooperatives, individualised by address.
Through the cooperative members sharing some support resources, participants can support each other, to make increased levels of privacy, autonomy and independence more achievable for everyone. The cooperative is a way of helping members to make their support funding go further.
Why Independent Facilitators are important
An Independent Facilitator is not the on-site support provider or the SDA provider. They are an independent party, there only to facilitate the Community Cooperative.
Independent Facilitators support the cooperatives and their members in 3 ways:
• Information sharing (highlighting what’s possible!)
• Supporting decision making (asking members what’s important to them?)
• Skill and capacity development (empowering members to provide feedback, self-advocate and contribute to their service design)
Being part of a Community Cooperative ensures that the person with disability and/or their family and supporters are the decision makers on all decisions relating to shared support. This capacity building is achieved through utilising an Independent Facilitator to assist with calling and hosting the Community Cooperative meetings.
The Facilitator, in addition to their facilitation skills, has expertise and knowledge in working with people with a disability, or are individuals who live with disability themselves. The Independent Facilitator is vital to the success of The Community Cooperative as they enable all members of the Cooperative to have an equal opportunity to be involved and have their opinions heard.
Why the Community Cooperative could be right for you
Community Cooperatives are not one-size-fits-all. They’re shaped by you and the people who are in the cooperative with you. Your Community Cooperative can reflect your interests, needs, and wants.
Community Cooperative living is a great way to get the most from your NDIS SDA Onsite Support Funding or Core Support budget because you can optimise shared support with other members of the Cooperative.
If you’d like to know how a Community Cooperative could work in your home and living arrangement, get in touch with us on
1300 210 220 or email us at hello@enlivencommunity.org.au
