Community projects explore civic participation
22 May 2026
Engaging in democracy is the focus of a new collaboration between Neighbourhood Houses Victoria and the Parliament of Victoria.
Thirteen community projects are being supported in a pilot of the civic partnership projects initiative.
Each project idea has been developed at the local level to enhance community understanding of Victoria’s democracy.
'We are really excited to be working with Parliament of Victoria on this program,' said Neighbourhood Houses Victoria CEO Keir Paterson.
'Neighbourhood houses make a big contribution to community connection which helps build social cohesion,' he said.
'There are 400 neighbourhood houses across Victoria, but every neighbourhood house you go to will be slightly different because they work within their communities and with their communities to identify issues and problems and work together with their shared assets to come up with solutions.'
A wide range of creative and interactive projects are being delivered under this new partnership, through neighbourhood houses in various parts of Victoria.
The Carlton Neighbourhood Learning Centre is creating a video series on civic participation and advocacy, co-designed with local young people and people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. The videos are designed to explain practical ways to participate in Victoria’s democratic process.
In Gippsland, Rosedale Neighbourhood House has created an exciting project called ‘Young leaders with big ideas’. It will be a primary school community forum where students can advocate for local issues directly to members of parliament.
Over in Western Victoria, the Harrow Neighbourhood House is gathering youth in the area to help work on a mural to represent the town.
The first to commence their project was Chelsea Heights Community Centre, which hosted a local information session about parliament followed by visits to Parliament House. Community members explored how our parliamentary system works, hearing directly from local MPs as well as having the chance to chat with them and parliamentary staff in an informal setting.
'I was interested in learning more about the parliamentary system in Victoria. I had a little bit of an understanding, but I thought maybe I could learn a bit more and there were more areas that I could learn, so I decided to come down,' said Indah, one of the community members who participated.
Other neighbourhood houses across the state are delivering their own tailor-made projects that include art and filmmaking initiatives as well as workshops and information sessions.
All the projects are designed to increase civic understanding in local communities, as well as engagement between those communities and Parliament.