childrens hub one step closer...

It was a wonderful moment in my time as a councillor to be able to attend a recent community meeting to talk about the development of a Children’s Hub for the Dandenong Ranges.


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It marked an important time for me in securing the long term future of Sherbrooke Children’s Centre (SCC).

Prior to me being elected to council in 2005, SCC faced an uncertain future, was facing closure by 2009 with very little support from the council of the day.


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April 2005: The SOSCC campaign received a lot of media coverage, this story was to commemorate 1 year of fighting to save SCC.

I was part of a group of parents (Save Our Sherbrooke Children’s Centre) who fought furiously to save SCC. I have worked very hard to raise the profile of children’s issues and the importance of good quality, community based long day care since my election to council. The hard work has paid off and there has been a complete turnaround and reinvestment in children’s services. Part of this investment includes the development and building of a Children’s Services Hub to cater for families of the Dandenong Ranges to the tune of over $5 million.


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September 2004: SCC was voted "The year of the built environment: our favourite place".

The community are excited about the prospect of a centre dedicated to the provision of children’s and family services.

The meeting was to talk about what sort of opportunities are available in the development of the hub, of course long day care, pre school, toy library and maternal child health services are part of the mix but some of the additional uses could be playgroup, gymbaroo, intervention services, family counselling, school holiday programs, mobile library visits, computer training for parents, the list goes on and on and the prospects are immense.

I am very keen to see the Children’s Hub used as a centre of excellence and utilised as a training facility for workers in the childcare industry. I think the hub could be a shining example of best practice for children’s services in local government.

I look forward to working with the community on this project and giving our children and their families the best start in life.