What Community Engagement, at its Best, Means for Local People

The Exodus Community is a community development project located in West Heidelberg, Melbourne, Australia. Operating since 1998, the project was established to commit to meeting the identified emerging needs of local residents.

On the fringes of the city’s affluent eastern suburbs, the West Heidelberg Olympic Village was built to host athletes of the 1956 Olympic Games. At the end of the games, the accommodation was converted to public housing and used to accommodate slum dwellers from around Melbourne. The village was constructed as a temporary development, never intended for long-term use. With poorly constructed accommodation, built on swampy land, these blocks became prone to deterioration, cracking and mould.

By the end of the 1970’s, an enquiry into poverty declared West Heidelberg as a district of “special need“, with the sadly familiar story of unemployment, drugs and poverty to name just some of the challenges confronted by the community and its people.

Following my interest in understanding more about community engagement, I contacted Harry Prout, a Marist Brother, to set up a visit to the community project. Harry, who was instrumental in founding the Exodus Community, is a man who has dedicated himself to meeting the needs of the local people. Having taken the tram in the wrong direction, Harry generously came to my rescue and collected me from some random other Melbourne suburb. On arrival at West Heidelberg, Harry takes me on a tour of the estate.

It’s a fascinating and emotional drive-by, arousing a multitude of feelings and emotions as I witnessed the neighbourhood and learned from Harry about the lives lived in this challenging and equally inspiring place.

I learned there was a time when gang culture was so dominant that drug dealing, murder, robbery and addiction problems were the norm. Thankfully, things are now much improved with a greater sense of hope and possibility.

It used to be that many of the young people simply weren’t going to school. So in response, Harry in partnership with a local social worker, got creative and set up a classroom where the children decided what commitment they were able to make to attending. So popular was the initiative, over time, this became a community school in its own right.

I was told of the four houses destined for demolition and how, through extensive negotiations with multiple stakeholders and sheer hard work and determination, they have been saved as social housing for those in the community most in need.

Harry takes me to The Shed which is a community drop-in space constructed in the garden of where Harry lives - his place housed the Danish Olympic team back in the day!

I’m invited for lunch and this is where I experience this community’s enormous heart and soul.

I’m inspired by the people I meet here. Each has their own story to tell. A challenging past of darkness and despair. A time of hopelessness and helplessness. I’m touched by the openness with which people share with me, giving me the privilege to glimpse, just a little, how things used to be.

One thing is abundantly clear as a common theme with all those I meet here – the Exodus Community is a lifeline. This place gives people hope And aspiration.

Being together, enjoying lunch and belonging to community, meets a basic fundamental human need. Everyone expresses how vital the community is for their sense of well-being. And I understand why it’s important, since in the simple act of being together and eating together – a communication channel is created for learning about all the other needs people have. These informal conversations bring insight into people and their requirements and from this the response of the Exodus Community emerges. Responses such as advocacy, legal advice, education and training etc. It truly is a grassroots development.

As testimony to the people of the Exodus Community, a beautiful publication tells inspiring stories of some of the local residents, many of whom I met.  

If ever there was a place where community engagement demonstrated best practice, the Exodus Community is it!