Two Central Coast Council projects have been recognised at the NSW Local Government Professionals Australia Awards held in Sydney last week.
The Awards recognise the excellent contributions and outstanding achievements and innovations being implemented to advance and improve the local government sector in NSW.
Council’s Fire-Ed Up: Bushfire Resilience Program won the Community Development category (population over 150,000), while the Marketing and Tourism team’s Rewilding Destination Marketing: Central Coast Council’s Eco Destination Journey project won the Special Project Initiative category (population over 150,000).
Fire-Ed Up was developed by Council in collaboration with Central Coast Academy of STEM Excellence (CCASE) and Rumbalara Environmental Education Centre (EEC) – to build resilience in young people by increasing their bushfire knowledge.
The hands-on program for Stage 3 (Years 5 and 6) prepares students, their families and the community for the risk of bushfires, integrating with the existing school curriculum.
It has been delivered to 1300 students across 12 schools so far, with 71.4 per cent of participants reported they felt less worried about bushfires after taking part.
Rewilding Destination Marketing recognises the journey taken by Council’s Marketing and Tourism team to become the second destination in NSW to achieve international recognition as a sustainable destination through Ecotourism Australia’s ECO Destination Certification program 12 months ago – one of only seven ECO destinations in Australia.
The in-house team plays a key role in driving the region’s visitor economy, tourism industry capability and positive reputation.
Central Coast Council Director Community and Recreation Services, Melanie Smith, said it was an honour to be recognised among so many councils across the state.
“We were up against more than 20 councils across several categories, so it is a great achievement to walk away with multiple awards,” she said.
“These awards recognise our outstanding performance while delivering positive, valuable outcomes for the Central Coast community.”
Council Administrator Rik Hart said both bushfire education and tourism were crucial for the Central Coast community.
“The Central Coast’s tourism economy brings in millions of dollars every year, boosting local businesses as well as providing employment,” he said.
“The work our Marketing and Tourism team does, working in collaboration with key stakeholders, absolutely deserves the acknowledgement it has received with the award.
“Also, with over 128,500 hectares of bushland, how we educate the community on bushfire preparedness is key for our region.
“The ongoing work we do alongside emergency agencies to raise awareness and share resources that will help prepare us all for severe weather events is particularly important, so it’s also fantastic to see the Community Education team walk away with a win for its bushfire education efforts.”
Several Central Coast Council projects were also finalists at the Excellence Awards, including: Library@yourtime – Finalist – Community Development (population over 150,000); Implementation of industry leading, fit-for-purpose cemetery system, PlotBox – Finalist – Special Project Initiative (population over 150,000); Virtual Reality (VR) Live My Experience Immersive Educational Project – Finalist – Special Project Initiative (population over 150,000; Virtual Call Centre Implementation – Finalist – Innovative Leadership (population over 150,000); and Cheers! Recognition and Appreciation – Finalist – People, Workplace, Wellbeing.
Explore more ECO Destination information at LoveCentralCoast.com
Find out more about the Fire-Ed Up program on the Rumbalara Environmental Education website.
Source:
Central Coast Council