MacroMelbourne - Call To Corporates
20 July 2006 at 1:07 pm
Corporates are being urged to take part in a 2-day Forum in Melbourne next week (July 27-28) to engage with the community sector in the MacroMelbourne Initiative – aimed at reducing disadvantage in the next 25 years.
The MacroMelbourne Initiative is about looking ahead and helping the philanthropic and corporate sectors to be proactive and strategic in their giving.
The MacroMelbourne Initiative is a project of Melbourne Community Foundation (MCF).
MCF’s partners in the Initiative include the Committee for Melbourne, Melbourne Cares, Pro Bono Australia, RMIT University’s Centre for Applied Social Research and the Victorian Local Governance Association. The Department for Victorian Communities has provided a substantial grant to enable the Initiative to proceed.
A discussion paper prepared by Deakin University’s Corporate Citizenship Research Unit (CCRU), in collaboration with the Victorian Council of Social Service (VCOSS), provided the evidence base for the Initiative.
The discussion paper maps demographic change and current research around disadvantage in order to stimulate discussion and generate strategic thinking about possible responses.
The Age Newspaper’s Business Section has joined as a media partner to give the Initiative wide corporate and community debate.
MCF Board member and MacroMelbourne Chair Karen Mahlab says the Initiative is building a knowledge base about current needs and emerging trends, as well as the impact of government policy and planning on Melbourne’s growth and development.
Mahlab says its aim is to identify and highlight the groups within the Greater Melbourne community that are being left behind as the city grows and changes. Most importantly, she says it aims to support and encourage strategies and directions for action.
Mahlab says the underlying understanding on which the MacroMelbourne Initiative has been developed is that it is better to confront and deal proactively with the issues and trends that will have long term impact, rather than wait and have to respond to them as problems further down the track.
She says the government and community sectors are coming together and now it’s time for corporates to walk the talk and take part in next week’s forum.
The forum is in two half days – Thursday 27thJuly from 5.30pm -7.30pm and Friday 28th July from 9.0am-1.0pm.
For more information and bookings (the Forum is free) contact Andrea at MCF on
03 9412 0412.
