History

Neighbourhood Houses and Learning Centres were first established in Victoria, in the early 1970s. The movement grew from the grass roots out of local community need. Particularly the isolation of women in the community, with a vision to bring people together and enhance the opportunities of people and communities. Another initial emphasis was to provide an informal, non-threatening and nurturing environment that supported individualised learning.
During the 1970s, the sector developed with the first network of houses (CHAOS) established in 1978. A peak body, the association of Neighbourhood learning Centres (later known as the Association of Neighbourhood houses and learning Centres) was formed in 1979.
Initially most houses and Centres were staffed by volunteers with only small amounts of federal, state and local government funding provided. In 1986, the neighbourhood House Scheme, later named the neighbourhood house Coordination Program (NHCP), was established by the Victorian state government to provide secure, recurrent funding for the coordination of activities in neighbourhood houses. In the early 1990s many houses also became eligible for adult community and further education (ACFE) funding. Many Local Governments also provide funding to Neighbourhood houses and Learning Centres.
Significant volunteer involvement in hoses and centres as well as community-based management and a focus on community development were initial features and have remained strong themes throughout the growth of the movement and its evolution to an essential community sector.
The sector has swithstood the challenges of sustaining local communities in a climate of dramatic change over the past few decades. Today there are over 350 Neighbourhood houses and learning centres throughout Australia. The number continues to increase in response to the ever-changing needs of diverse communities.

What is a neighbourhood house?

“Neighbourhood Houses” is a generic term for a variety of community owned and managed organisations that share a set of defining features. The sector organisation are called by a variety if terms reflecting the varied historical beginnings of each organisation. These names include amongst others:- Community House, Living and Learning Centre, Neighbourhood centre, learning Centre.
The common thread is that they are all not-for-profit organisations where available funds are combined with a strong community volunteer input to ensure maximum benefit to each diverse community. Each House or Centre is a legal entity in its own right, or auspiced by one, and has a formal (and in some cases, financial) membership base. The community is defined primarily, but not exclusively, by the geographical neighbour hood in which houses are located.
Neighbourhood Houses and Learning Centres are community owned generalist services, which are unequalled in their ability ti provide a continuity of service to people through their changing life stages. The activities and programs provide have developed in relation to the needs of the neighbourhood, other community local infrastructures and resource constraints.

The Neighbourhood sector in Australia includes over a thousand organisations. Its continued success is assured as individuals and communities discover the potential to connect and bring together divergent parts of each community.