Changing Lives, Changing Communities – a graphical look at Round One

  • An image of Eileen Munroe from the Toowoomba Changing Lives, Changing Communities event in 2018.
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Changing Lives, Changing Communities works to create new ways for people – citizens, community organisations, the private sector and government representatives – to come together, envision and ask “what will it take to create communities where everyone contributes, matters and belongs?”

As we continue to develop and prepare for a second round of two-day events, we have collated a quick snapshot of who came along and what they thought.

A total of 820 people attended the 11 Changing Lives, Changing Communities events. Broken down into each location, the numbers are: Cairns: 76. Townsville: 117. Mackay: 73. Capricornia: 48. Gladstone: 44. Fraser Coast: 41. Caboolture: 63. Brisbane: 93. Toowoomba: 79. Gold Coast: 102. Mount Isa: 49. Normanton: 35.

More than 820 people attended 12 events in communities across Queensland. The most bumper turn-outs were recorded at the Gold Coast and Townsville, with 102 and 117 participants respectively.

The demographics of survey respondents were measured in various ways. Language at home - 18.43% reported speaking a language other than English, with 81.7% reporting English. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders – 11.51% of event attendees identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, and 88.5% did not. Persons with disability – 20.13% identified as living with disability, 79.87% did not.

A diverse range of community members attended Changing Lives, Changing Communities events. The range of backgrounds and lived experience of each participant made sure each Changing Lives, Changing Communities event took turns unique to every neighbourhood visited.

How useful did you find the information presented at the event? Survey participants were asked to rate the information on a scale between 1 (not at all useful) and 5 (very useful). 55 people found the information very useful. 48 people found the information useful. 10 were in the middle. 2 people said not very useful. 1 found the information presented not at all useful.

More than 75% of event participants surveyed reported finding information presented across the two days to be either useful or very useful.

Survey participants were asked - What I have learned - will it benefit me and/or my organisation in the future? They rated the benefits of the event on a scale between 1 (not at all useful) and 5 (very useful). 55 people found the information very useful. 44 people found the information useful. 11 were in the middle. 5 people said not very useful. 1 found the information presented not at all useful.

Again, more than 75% of event participants surveyed thought the stories and information presented would benefit them or their organisation in the future. A small percentage disagreed.

What changed as a result? Responses to these questions were measured with a weighted average of 1 to 7. A rating of 7 represents strongly-agree, and a rating of 1 represents strongly disagree. These questions were asked in two rounds – pre-event, and post-event. The first “My community has a shared vision for the future”, recorded a pre-event survey average of 4.2. Post-survey the result was 4.86. This is an increase of 15.71%. “Our community has a plan to help people matter contribute and belong”: pre-event this was 4.26. Post-event this was 4.94, an increase of 15.96%. "Everyone knows what role they play in driving change”: Pre-event this was 3.96. Post-event this was 4.55, which is an increase of 14.9%. "I know what’s working well in my community and what my community needs”: Pre-event this result was 4.51 on the scale. Post-survey reported 4.98, an increase of 10.42.

People reported walking away from the events feeling better about their communities, with marked improvements of more than 15% across the key metrics of shared vision, future planning, and knowing what role they each play in change.

Local Champions are key to creating and sustaining change in local communities, to build on the work at these events. QCOSS trained 22 people to be Local Champions in their communities, while Queenslanders with Disability Network trained 15.

Local Champions are key to creating and sustaining change in local communities, to build on the work at these events.

QCOSS trained 22 people to be Local Champions in their communities, while our event partners at Queenslanders with Disability Network trained 15.

You can download the full infographic as a PDF by following this link. An accessible Word version is available here.

To find out more about the Changing Lives, Changing Communities project, please visit this page.

 

This work is in partnership with QCOSS, Queenslanders with Disability Network (QDN) and the Queensland Human Rights Commission.

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9 July 2019 |Focus area: , , |Location:

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QCOSS acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the original inhabitants of Australia and recognises these unique cultures as part of the cultural heritage of all Australians. We pay our respect to the Elders of this land; past, present, and future.

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