Friday 28 August 2020

Neighbourhood Houses

Hello ,

It’s been a while since the last communication from NECCHi (Newlands and East Coburg Neighbourhood Houses)!

COVID-19 (both the virus and the impact of restrictions) has bought challenges to many of us in the Moreland community – NECCHi included.

Restrictions for NECCHi have meant that our Term 3 program was sadly cut short - but there has been a silver lining. We have been able to slow down and reflect on the last two years and explore how we want to work with our community in the future.

This email covers:

Looking back - Newlands and East Coburg Merge

Only two years ago, Newlands and East Coburg Neighbourhood houses merged under the banner of NECCHi (Newlands and East Coburg Community Houses Incorporated) – where both houses would be managed under one organisation – a model we have not seen before in Melbourne.

Over the last two years, NECCHi has been lucky to experience the passion, enthusiasm, and diligence that the previous team (including Lee, Ash and Shilo) have offered our community. Their hard-work and dedication has opened the door to new possibilities for countless people across Moreland. On behalf of our community and the team, we would like to say a huge thank you for everything they have given to the NECCHi community over the last two years.

The New Neighbourhood Houses - NECCHi

COVID-19 has drastically changed the way we work, learn, socialise, and almost every other way we move through the world. We can’t deny the challenges we're all facing but in times of great upheaval, there are also opportunities to pull together and make change for the better.

NECCHi is no different – we are adapting the way we operate to respond to COVID-19 and at the same time, looking at ways that we can change to work better with our community.

A big change will be that, as a new team, will be combining our work across both houses. Unlike the last two years where Shilo worked solely at East Coburg and Ash at Newlands, NECCHi staff will rotate across both sites to be more available to our community and provide a better service.

We are working towards a paperless system that will be more efficient and better for the environment. We will have a new platform for booking and attending our classes which will reduce paper work for everyone! Less paper = happy planet.

We will be updating other ways we work as well – we will be in touch with facilitators to see how you’re going (we miss you!) and to let you know about our new processes and structure in the coming month.

New NECCHi Program

We are eagerly (and tentatively) awaiting the easing of Stage 4 restrictions. For NECCHi, this will mean that staff can return to the houses - although even when Stage 4 restrictions lift, it may be unsafe to gather in groups for some time.

For this reason, most of our term 4 program will be delivered online. It’s going to be no less exciting though! We have online yoga in the works, NUCA will continue their community climate action series, and it looks like we will have some community cooking! We will be sending out information in the coming weeks so keep an eye on your inbox.

Get active with #Moreland5km

On a final note, we have a question for you - are you getting sick of the same old walk during lockdown? To keep us engaged, the NECCHi team started sharing the places that we love to visit within our 5km zone.

Now we want to share them with our community to help us all stay active and motivated - we’ll be sharing our favourite hidden spots of Moreland on our Facebook and Instagram pages. Follow us to find out fascinating spots you may have overlooked or never explored.

You can share your own favourites on our pages as well - we’re looking forward to finding out where your favourite take-away coffee comes from and where to get the best views. Just look out for #Moreland5km

That’s it from the team at NECCHi- if you have any questions or need more information don’t hesitate to get in touch via email or our social pages.

Stay safe,

Rachael and the NECCHi Team