Philanthropic partners pictured above with the Treasurer and Minister at the launch of PLACE on 30 October 2024.

Communities leading positive change across Australia are at the heart of PLACE (Partnerships for Local Action and Communities Empowerment) the new national centre for place-based collaboration announced by the Treasurer Jim Chalmers and the Minister of Social Services Amanda Rishworth on 30 October at Our Place in Carlton, Melbourne.   

Dusseldorp Forum has partnered with a number of place-based initiatives over the past ten years which are delivering real impact by bringing together the resources their communities need to thrive. In places where communities face entrenched issues of structural disadvantage and injustice, they are offering some of the most promising solutions to the persistent challenges of fragmented services and systems that do not meet the needs of children, families or the communities they are there to serve.  

PLACE is designed to strengthen and sustain the conditions for place-based initiatives like these to grow and thrive, so more communities are enabled and empowered to accelerate progress on the challenges that matter most to them.   

“This organisation will work with communities and government and philanthropic organisations to get the money that’s often already in their community, working better in programs that align to what the community wants.”

Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth

Two years of input from a broad range of stakeholders involved in place-based work across Australia has informed the design of PLACE to undertake four key functions;

Importantly PLACE will be governed by a community accountability model redefining how communities and national structures collaborate for enduring impact. Although operating nationally it will be led by and accountable to the communities it serves.

We are excited to see place-based ways of working being recognised by the Treasurer and the Minister for Social Services as a vital enabler of national social and economic policy aspirations. This significant investment by government and philanthropy in the national infrastructure of PLACE, is an important step in ensuring that the aspirations of communities are at the centre of social and economic policy and more importantly that these aspirations can be realised by the systemic reform required.

The best way to solve issues communities face is by listening to them, developing solutions led by local people. Place-based support has and can have a profound impact, and now more Australian communities will benefit from these kinds of initiatives.

Treasurer, Jim Chalmers

Please read the full joint media release here.