We are so excited to begin rolling out “The Community Cooperative”, a national two-year Pilot Project!
At Enliven Community, we are passionate about our work supporting the Community Cooperative Model in housing arrangements with shared supports. This Pilot Project will allow us to deliver this model to more people, learn more, and continue to improve the mechanisms that allow people with a disability to have more choice and control in their life.
The Pilot Project will be supporting people with disability living in SDA and supported accommodation environments in NSW, VIC, ACT and SA, to establish their own Community Cooperatives.
Aim of the Pilot Project
Our aim is to facilitate discussion between people with a disability, who share supports, to enable them to make decisions on how their shared supports are designed and received.
Our independent Facilitators will work individually and collectively with the Cooperative, to identify opportunities for the members to increase their skills and capacity, to have more control over their shared supports. The cooperative aims to position members as a “consumer” within the NDIS, by prompting discussions and providing tools and resources to increase the groups confidence and capacity.
Who will lead the Pilot Project?
The Pilot Project will be led by a Steering Committee which includes people with lived experience. They will work closely with the projects two advisory groups; the sector-based advisory group and lived experience-based advocacy group.
We’re looking forward to developing our understanding of how Community Cooperatives are valuable and viable throughout the sector. We’re working with an independent evaluator to ensure we’re delivering the best service we can, and document our learnings along the way. At the end of the Pilot, we will share out findings with the whole Australian disability sector, with a ‘proven concept’ that can be duplicated in the wider community.
Driven by lived experience
Most excitingly, this Pilot gives innumerable opportunities to amplify the voices of people with disability to direct this model of support. This looks like:
- Our Lived Experience Advisory Group
- Designated seats on our Steering Committee
- Employment opportunities
- Co-designing resources and collateral
- The opportunity for all pilot participants to provide anonymous, invaluable feedback of the model to our independent evaluator.
Our vision
We want the Pilot Project to influence the future of the disability sector, so even more people will have access to quality, independent decision-making supports, especially in shared support situations. This is a huge moment for our organisation, and we look forward to sharing our journey with you. We will be posting regular updates on our website and social media pages, so keep an eye out!
