The federal shadow minister for charities, Andrew Leigh will be discussing SDG 8 and the impact that covid-19 has had on the NCHC sector with us on March 10.

We will also be joined by Matt Pfahlert, CEO & Co-founder of ACRE and Social Enterprise Academy Australia.

Matt is a well-known social entrepreneur with a long-standing commitment to rural Australia. One of Australia’s pioneering social entrepreneurs, Matt started his first social enterprise in 1993 and now leads a team of social enterprise educators and practitioners. Matt is helping to shape regional and rural Australia through igniting entrepreneurship in young people and their communities.

Motivated by a desire to create prosperous, healthy, thriving communities, in 2016 Matt led a $2.5M community buy-back of the Old Beechworth Gaol. A neglected Australian heritage icon famed for its connection to Ned Kelly and the Kelly Gang and located in Matt’s hometown. The site is being re-purposed as an exemplar of social enterprise, impact investment and rural rejuvenation through community owned assets.

Houses & Centres

To contextualise this in a NCHC we will also be talking about houses and centres who are running social enterprise and looking at the contribution these have on their local communities and how houses/ centres have implemented them.

Ranui Harris, Centre Manager at Manjimup CRC, started an employment hub because she is passionate about providing employment opportunities after finding that the forestry industry in the area was decimated and many people in the town were starting to leave. She felt that it created a cycle of prosperity because it was a free service to employers, provided opportunities for people to seek employment and training.

Ramona Barry from the Bridge Darebin, will be discussing the Moon Rabbit Cafe, which is an award winning, environmentally innovative social enterprise!

This is great networking opportunity for anyone looking to start a social enterprise or interested in meeting with a federal minister to discuss issues close to home!

More info to come. Make sure you register for this event!