Who We Are
A Collective Impact Initiative
Community working together to drive change
Sadly this is not always the case. Poor diet is a significant contributor to the rising number of people who are overweight or obese. Across Australia 2 in 3 adults are classified as overweight or obese, as well as 1 in every 4 children. These trends have costly impacts for the individual, the economy, and the health care system. The Community Plate is an initiative responding to this burden.
Poor diet is not just an individual problem. The contribution of social and environmental factors – for example the impact of our food system, how we make, grow, access, buy and consume food has become increasingly apparent. Healthy environments are key.
In 2017 a group of local primary prevention representatives came together to workshop the idea of taking a Collective Impact approach to the local food system. As a result Peninsula Health, Frankston City Council, Mornington Peninsula Shire, the Frankston Mornington Peninsula Primary Care
Partnership, the Department of Health and Monash University committed to taking a long-term Collective Impact approach to strengthen the local food system and better influence healthy eating outcomes across the Frankston and Mornington Peninsula Regions.
Officially launched in 2019, The Community Plate undertook an extensive community engagement process, connecting with organisations, businesses, funders and community members, to establish a collective community aspiration to guide our work.
We found that our community wants to connect meaningfully with a local healthy food system unique to Frankston and the Mornington Peninsula which provides a food culture that fosters food literacy, sharing, joy and health. Action is required to connect and empower consumers, retailers, and producers to drive change addressing barriers such as affordability, time, and access to healthy food.
Our Community Aspiration:
We are all connected to food that is local, healthy and abundant.
The Community Plate is now in the activation phase of our initiative with current work including:
- Establishing a local Action Group to drive change across the region. The Action Group will look at what we have already found out about our local communities connection to food and develop an action plan to support our communities vision that ‘we are all connected to food that is local, healthy and abundant’. This group is for anyone with an interest in creating local healthy food systems, connections, and opportunities.
- A localised social marketing campaign aimed at increasing vegetable intake in children and young people.
- Scoping the feasibility of bringing The Community Grocer to our region.
We invite you to join The Community Plate!
Community participation is critical to Collective Impact. The Community Plate continually engaging with organisations, agencies and community members inviting them to be actively involved.
If you’d like to get involved in any capacity click on our join the collective tab.
What is a Collective Impact approach?
A Collective Impact approach takes working in partnership and collaboration to the next level. The approach calls for multiple organisations from different sectors and community members to unite under a shared vision for change and adopt a common agenda. It is founded on the belief that no one organisation can solve a complex social problem on their own.
There are five core conditions that support a Collective Impact approach.
- A community aspiration or common agenda
- Shared measurement systems
- Mutually reinforcing activities
- Continuous communication
- A backbone support organisation