The City of Brimbank is another city in Melbourne’s western region that has adopted a learning community/learning city approach.  An evaluation of its first community learning strategy (2010-2013) identified that Brimbank City Council and its strategic partners have been successful in developing a culture of learning in the municipality and this has built a solid foundation for future development. Many ideas in its first strategy were adopted from other surrounding city regions (such as the City of Hume and the City of Melton).  The second strategy (Brimbank Community Learning Strategy 2014-2017) builds on this focusing on two out of four strategic challenges linked to Brimbank’s Community Plan, that is education and lifelong learning and employment. Underpinning these challenges are goals for four life stages:

• Early years
• School years
• Young People
• Adults (including Seniors)

For further information about the goals read the Community Learning Strategy 2014-2017. 

An example of the strategy  in action is illustrated in the latest Brimbank City Council Celebrating Learning Newsletter. Here you can read about international exchanges, strengthening a human rights framework, professional work experience for young people, promoting Iranian and Middle Eastern playgroups, promoting literacy in early childhood, bi-cultural facilitators, parent engagement program… and the list goes on.

To me, this is yet another example of how learning city practitioners are  delivering on the ground – where it matters.

For more information about the work of Brimbank Libraries and, in particular, the Community Learning Strategy 2014-2017 contact  Christine McAllister, Manager Libraries and Learning  (Email:[email protected] )

NOTE: Brimbank is located between 11 and 23 km west and north-west of the Melbourne GPO. It is the second largest municipality in metropolitan Melbourne in population and the largest in the Western Region, with over 190,000 residents and more than 160 languages spoken.