Rural Leadership Program to Nurture Local TownsA program to stimulate business and growth in six of Latrobe City’s towns and townships through a Rural Leadership project, has been announced by Latrobe City Council. By Latrobe City Council - 16th October 2001 - Back to News A program to stimulate business and growth in six of Latrobe City’s towns and townships through a Rural Leadership project, has been announced by Latrobe City Council. The announcement follows a $50,000 State and Regional Development grant, matched dollar-for-dollar by Council.
Latrobe City Mayor, Councillor Brendan Jenkins, said implementation of the Rural Leadership Program would provide real opportunities for local township communities to influence the future direction of the Municipality’s regional townships.
The six towns and townships involved in the program are Traralgon, Moe, Morwell, Traralgon South, Boolarra and Glengarry.
"The Rural Leadership Program will nurture the development of the six local towns and their community leaders. The core element of the program is to stimulate business and township growth through a recognition of strengths and weaknesses, honing in on local attributes that can be built upon," Cr Jenkins said.
"The program also has an importance to the municipality as a whole, as it forms part of the City’s Economic Development initiative to sustain, maintain and retain growth throughout communities, irrespective of their size within the Latrobe City.
Cr Jenkins said the program followed a successful StreetLife project that concluded earlier in 2001, which had identified assets and development opportunities in six other Latrobe townships.
"The Rural Leadership Program builds upon the earlier success of the StreetLife program in a further six communities. It provides us all with a greater understanding of how each community sees itself and its future. As such, we can all work towards a common goal and assist each other in realising the full potential of the region," Cr Jenkins said.
"The participation of local communities and the information provided by local residents is an integral part of the program, which will involve extensive consultation with residents via community meetings. These meetings will provide residents with background details, a context for the program, and will call for the development of community network groups.
"Participants will be asked to undertake a survey of their locale and take photographs of various attributes. The information they gather will be used to develop themes and images of their local community, from which positive aspects of their community, and potential areas for improvement can be identified.
"Increased internal awareness has enormous economic and social benefits for individual townships and the region as a whole, including increased business and visitor attraction, tailored targeting and promotions, as well as sensitive and complementary infrastructure development," Cr Jenkins added.
"Following the appointment of a Rural Leadership Officer to coordinate the project, residents of the six towns and townships will be invited to participate in the program through advertisements in the media, and through community organisations and contacts," Cr Jenkins added.
Source: www.gippsland.com Published by: latrobecity@gippslander.com
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