Rural Communities Australia

  • The Wyatt Trust Backs 1:1 Mentoring and Support Pilot

    The Wyatt Trust Backs 1:1 Mentoring and Support Pilot

    RCA, working with Di-Monty Training Solutions, is developing and implementing a 1:1 Mentoring and Support Initiative across our community development programs in Mount Gambier. This initiative has been given valuable backing by The Wyatt Trust, who have been a strong supporter of RCA’s workforce exclusion projects in Mount Gambier 2016-2017. The 1:1 initiative comprises a…

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  • Dr Scott Heyes joins our Advisory Board

    Dr Scott Heyes joins our Advisory Board

    We are delighted to announce that Dr Scott Heyes is joining our Advisory Board, and to welcome him to the RCA community. Scott is currently an Associate Professor of Cultural Heritage in the Faculty of Arts and Design at the University of Canberra, Australia. He is Convener of Indigenous studies in the Faculty. He has…

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  • RCA gains PBI and DGR recognition

    RCA gains PBI and DGR recognition

      Rural Communities Australia is delighted to announce that it has gained Public Benevolent Institution (PBI) recognition. The ACNC fact sheet clarifies what this means: “A public benevolent institution is a type of charitable institution whose main purpose is to relieve poverty or distress. Public benevolent institutions are recognised by the ACNC and ATO as…

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  • State History Conference Presentation: Robe Conservation Study 1979

    State History Conference Presentation: Robe Conservation Study 1979

    On October 25 Dr Geoff Wells presented to the State History Conference 2015 at Robe SA, on the Robe Conservation Study 1979. This study was a ground-breaking piece of work in many ways. Mounted at the end of a decade which had seen the first substantial building blocks put in place in environmental policy and…

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  • Social Impact Bonds and systemic risk: a preliminary analysis

    Social Impact Bonds and systemic risk: a preliminary analysis

    Social investment has become a new and widely-embraced approach to increasing funding in the social services sector.  Associated with it is an anticipated change in the way the not-for-profit sector operates, moving it to more explicitly business and managerial practice.  It is hoped that by engaging commercial incentives, and by using commercial principles and mechanisms,…

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  • RCA submission to the SA Parliamentary Inquiry on Fracking

    RCA submission to the SA Parliamentary Inquiry on Fracking

    There is a strong push on to commence fracking operations on an industrial scale in the south-east of South Australia. RCA opposes the initiative. The push is coming from mining companies, such as Beach Energy, and is supported by both sides of politics. A Parliamentary committee has been established to inquire into fracking in the…

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  • Evidence of return migration to regional areas

    Here is a preliminary study which indicates an interesting trend of return migration to rural areas.  The study draws on ABS 2011 statistics of in- and -out migration, cross-indexed against demographic groups.  It seems to show that there has been a net return migration among younger people, in their 20s, drawn by more affordable property,…

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  • Paying the poor a stipend

    Here’s an interesting case study from the US.  It follows a group of Cherokee Indians in North Carolina, who were living below the poverty line.  A group of these families was provided with supplementary income, administered through their group and with no strings attached.

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  • Independent advocacy: talk

    Here is a presentation on a number of different aspects of independent advocacy given by David Donnison, one of the foremost international researchers, practitioners and writers in the field.  

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  • Rural sourcing: US approaches to supporting rural youth

    US country towns are nothing if not entrepreneurial in their approach to supporting their young people economically. Here is a report on a range of measures being used by local government.  These programs are being called ‘rural sourcing’. Approaches include matching graduates with rural jobs, and incentivising entrepreneurship with tax credits and office space, even…

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