Frankston City honours its wonderful Neighbourhood Houses

Published on 13 May 2022

Frankston City’s neighbourhood houses have been honoured as part of Neighbourhood House Week 2022.

Mayor Nathan Conroy said: “Our vibrant community centres and neighbourhood houses are at the heart of our diverse communities. They provided extraordinary support during the lockdowns to support locals and maintain vital community connections.

“We believe our community centres and neighbourhood houses are among the best and recognise the important role they play in bringing residents together,” he said.

The Mayor noted that from welfare calls to locals, continued delivery of childcare (where possible), online learning and program delivery, donations to emergency relief organisations, social media connections and providing critical information to the community – our community centres were at the frontline of support and community connectivity during the lockdowns.

“We couldn’t be prouder of their dedication. It’s wonderful to see our neighbourhood houses and community centres re-engaging with people face to face post lockdown and continuing to do what they do best – offering a great range of services and activities,” he said.

Mayor Conroy visited two community centres and neighbourhood houses as part of this year’s Neighbourhood House Week (9 – 15 May), which has the theme ‘Building Resilience by Bringing People Together’.

“It’s a fantastic theme and it sums up what our community centres and neighbourhood houses are all about,” the Mayor said.

Belvedere Community Centre Manager, Meredith Mackenzie, said: “After two years of ongoing Covid-19 disruptions, our centre is finally able to open our doors to everyone to join in our range to programs.

“Our exercise and children’s programs are now running at 151 East Rd, the site we will be relocating in 2023 and we will be increasing our range of programs during 2022 at this location.

“Our favourite programs are still running at 36 Belvedere Rd – art, craft, games and adult education courses including Auslan, adult literacy, digital literacy and English classes. We are also running and supporting programs in the community with our range of community partners,” she said. 

Ms Mackenzie said Belvedere Community Centre is only able to offer the wide range of programs with support from dedicated volunteers.

“Our volunteers provide invaluable support in the office, assisting and running classes, keeping the gardens tidy and safe and our volunteer Committee of Management provide governance and strategic direction,” she said.

Belvedere Community Centre volunteer, Karen, said: “I love volunteering at Belvedere. It has provided me with a place of security and inclusion at a time when I felt very isolated and alone. I now feel part of a wonderful team working for the benefit of our whole community.

“In 2022, we celebrate our 30 years at our current site and look forward to 2023 when we will be relocating to the Healthy Futures Hub in East Rd Seaford where we will be co-located with an amazing array of organisations with a health and wellbeing focus,” she said.

Belvedere Community Centre is one of five independently-run community houses which Frankston City Council supports and maintains to help build and strengthen communities. Council directly manages another four Community Houses.

For more information about Frankston City’s community centres and neighbourhood houses, please visit https://www.frankston.vic.gov.au/Things_To_Do/Community_Centres_and_Neighbourhood_Houses