Issue Four:
Liverpool Neighbourhood Connections
Liverpool Neighbourhood Connections (LNC) is a not-for-profit charitable organisation that has transformed numerous lives across the Liverpool local government area. The services at LNC enable individuals experiencing disadvantage to overcome challenges through accessible information, advocacy, community development programs and capacity-building initiatives. Central to LNC’s work is the operation of seven dynamic social enterprises – Pepper’s Place Catering, Pepper’s Place School Canteen at Warwick Farm, Greener Cleaner, The Rising Collective Boutique Online shop, Food Relief Enterprise, Wildflower Hair Accessories, and Glenfield Public School Canteen. LNC empowers the region through affordable services that provide employment and training opportunities to members of the community experiencing the most disadvantage, including girls, women, migrants, and people seeking asylum. The integration of vocational training with workplace experiences helps to facilitate sustainable economic development and enhance the livelihoods of the Liverpool community.
“Our centre has become a place where women from different cultures and who speak different languages, can come and feel safe and feel heard. Our aim is to show kindness, nurture our community and empower women.” – Pat Hall, Chief Executive Officer at Liverpool Neighbourhood Connections
LNC implements an empowerment approach to its operations at each of their social enterprises. Through this approach LNC is able to help marginalised community members gain control in their lives through combined strategies that challenge external limitations and personal self-limits. The seven social enterprises of LNC use this approach to provide practical training and employment opportunities that overcome systemic obstacles. For example, Pepper’s Place Catering has offered up to 40 hours per week of employment to women experiencing disadvantage, serving as a critical intervention against unemployment and economic instability (Liverpool Neighbourhood Connections, 2024). Personalised case management and skills development programs at LNC have empowered individuals to develop self-confidence that leads to personal and community sustainability (Pareja-Cano et al., 2020; Malta, 2023). One particular success story describes the journey of a woman who, after spending 10 years in isolation, managed to secure full-time employment and enrol in Community Services studies after starting with casual Floristry training at TAFE. This story demonstrates the strategic support methods and tailored interventions provided by LNC to create self-confidence while enabling people to cross societal obstacles to generate enduring changes in communities experiencing disadvantage.
Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory is reflected in the nature of LNC’s operations. The establishment of multiple social enterprise programs that target different social and environmental factors allows LNC to help build individual development and community strength. At the microsystem level, initiatives such as Pepper’s Place Catering and Greener Cleaner operate through hands-on vocational training programs that provide direct support through employment opportunities for personal growth. In the mesosystem, LNC cultivates an extensive network through its strong partnerships between social enterprises and community centres – including Warwick Farm Neighbourhood Centre and Liverpool Youth Connections, At the exosystem level, LNC enhances community member opportunities through partnerships with TAFE NSW and local government bodies, which provide enhanced education and job access (Leonard, 2011). Finally, at the macrosystem, LNC challenges the social norms together with systemic barriers that marginalise communities. This unique multi-layered approach addresses systemic issues at multiple levels which aims to lead to sustainable social transformation.
Through its social enterprises, LNC delivers additional community programs and utilises other approaches to create stronger social connections. The Grandparents program at LNC creates a safe and inclusive environment for seniors to develop connections and receive personalised resources. Through social meetings and health-focused events, they develop self-confidence and benefit from peer support and intergenerational communication. This initiative helps to combat isolation and manage ageing difficulties, which improves quality of life and enables them to stay engaged in community activities. The program demonstrates LNC’s dedication to ensuring that older adults’ wisdom and strength continue to enrich the community. Also, the scholarship model developed by LNC supplements the incomes of the women who work in the enterprises. In this model, 15 hours of employment per week generates five hours’ funding from a philanthropist or a Foundation. This triples social investment and contributes to the continuation of the social enterprises. Through all of its programs and approaches, LNC enables vulnerable community members to achieve essential skills and access invaluable employment and education opportunities that build up their confidence and success.
Evidence in practice
The empowerment approach requires collaboration, which builds self-value and mutual respect and includes shared decision-making, freedom to choose, and personal responsibility (Rodwell, 1996). Women’s empowerment, in particular, produces a chain reaction that fortifies single persons, collective groups and social structures through self-esteem development and expanded decision-making skills and influence across different domains (Sen et al., 2023). When applied to community development, empowerment theory functions as a vital framework that promotes growth at individual, organisational, and communal levels (Christens, 2012).
Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory (Bronfenbrenner, 1979) explores human development through the lens of interconnected environmental systems, emphasising how individual growth is shaped by these dynamic interactions (Crawford, 2020). Such an integrated framework functions as core support for implementing extensive, lasting social transformation.
References
Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The Ecology of Human Development: Experiments by Nature and Design. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Christens, B.D. (2012). ‘Toward relational empowerment’, American journal of community psychology, 50, 114-128.
Crawford, M. (2020). ‘Ecological Systems Theory: Exploring the Development of the Theoretical Framework as Conceived by Bronfenbrenner’, Journal of Public Health Issues and Practices, 4(1). Available from https://doi.org/10.33790/jphip1100170.
Leonard, J. (2011). ‘Using Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Theory to Understand Community Partnerships’, Urban Education, 46(5), 987-1010. Available from https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085911400337
Liverpool Neighbourhood Connections. (2024). Annual Report 2024. Available from https://www.liverpoolnc.org.au/
Malta, M. (2023). The Concept of Strategy in Community Empowerment: A Literature Review. Influence, 5(3), 24–34. Available from https://doi.org/10.54783/influencejournal.v5i3.179.
Pareja-Cano, B., Valor, C. & Benito, A. (2020). ‘How Social Enterprises Nurture Empowerment: A Grounded Theoretical Model of Social Change’, Journal of Social Entrepreneurship, 14. 29–49. Available from https://doi.org/10.1080/19420676.2020.1821753.
Rodwell, C. (1996). ‘An analysis of the concept of empowerment’, Journal of Advanced Nursing, 23(2). 305–313. Available from https://doi.org/10.1111/J.1365-2648.1996.TB02672.X.
Sen, S.K., Karmakar, P. & Adhikari, S. (2023). ‘Empowerment and Women’s Empowerment – A Theoretical Basis’, International Journal for Multidisciplinary Research, 5(3), 1–6. Available from https://doi.org/10.36948/ijfmr.2023.v05i03.4111.
Zimmerman, M.A. (2000), ‘Empowerment theory: Psychological, organizational, and community levels of analysis’, in Rappaport, J. and Seidman, E. (eds.) Handbook of Community Psychology. Boston: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, 43–63.
