Learning the Macleay: Building momentum for community action.

This story will explore the story of Learning the Macleay, a community led initiative that has taken big steps since their beginning only 2 years ago :

From kick-off and making connections and building momentum at ChangeFest23

To hearing community voice through a deep engagement with community;

To community led action around key areas of priority including community governance.

Join Jo-Anne Kelly, Partnership Lead and the team as they share the outcomes of their community survey and engagement and together we will all explore the similarities and the differences across communities and across our work.

Learning the Macleay seeks to take action on three priorities:

Racism - How might the issue of racism be approached in key critical areas such as policing and education and community members who want to engage but don’t see or feel its impact?

Relationships - How might existing tensions between local Aboriginal community members and organisations and other organisations be held and processed to enable new ways of working together?

Right Timing - How might Learning the Macleay hold competing tensions between the urgency for change and the time it takes to learn together differently?

About the presenter

Jo-Anne Kelly, Partnership Lead

Jo-Anne Kelly, Partnership Lead, Learning the Macleay

Jo-Anne Kelly is a proud Dunghutti woman who has worked across a range of government and Aboriginal community controlled organisations over the past 30 years. She has worked in education, training, cultural & heritage, governance, business planning, out of home care, family research, community development and capacity building.

She is a mother of two who are chasing their dreams as well and her son is a qualified primary school teacher who has a Master of Arts in Indigenous Social Policy, a Diploma in Project Management as well as a Diploma in Management.

Jo’s aspiration is to make her community a better one which builds on the legacy of both her parents and her siblings.

Jo loves to travel and explore and is eager to learn from other Indigenous cultures around the world. She has recently returned from trips to Canada and New Zealand with fresh ideas and inspiration from their First Nation’s People and their own challenges.

About Learning the Macleay

Learning the Macleay is a social impact, community-led collective impact and place-based initiative that seeks to identify and build upon the strengths of the community and to create better futures for children and their families through locally tailored and evidence-driven solutions to local issues. 

About the Learning Network

The ChangeFest Learning Network is a regular opportunity for all of us across the ChangeFest Movement to share practice and learn, to connect and build, and to take a deep breath and reflect. It will provide us all with the space to listen and hear from each other in ways that will help us in our own work for community-led system change – whether it be in communities, government, large for purpose organisations and businesses.

This session is the first of our lunchbox sessions of the Learning Network in 2025. They are free and and provide opportunity to explore a story of community led change – and an opportunity to connect with each other across the ChangeFest Movement.