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Fitzroy and Collingwood

Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, with a tram, a cyclist and a car moving down it, and the high-rise housing estate in the background

About Fitzroy
and Collingwood

Less than three kilometres north of central Melbourne, Fitzroy and Collingwood are known for their café culture, arts, live music venues and alternative fashion shops. Their cultural diversity is also well known, and they contain a number of high-rise public housing estates. Over the past 20 years, both have experienced a high level of gentrification, and this has brought much opportunity to the area.

Our activities in Fitzroy and Collingwood

Neighbourhood Renewal, a Victorian Government initiative to build stronger communities and deal with disadvantage, has achieved significant changes in Fitzroy and Collingwood. The program commenced on the Fitzroy (Atherton Gardens) and Collingwood public housing estates in 2002 and is planned to continue until 2010.

The Brotherhood’s Neighbourhood Renewal Employment and Learning Coordinator works to create appropriate opportunities for local residents to develop skills and become job ready.

In addition, the Brotherhood provides child and family services, youth programs, aged care services, support for refugees, community development, and training and employment opportunities in and around the Fitzroy and Collingwood housing estates.

We offer:

support to children and families through our Napier Street Child and Family Resource Centre and home-based Family Day Care program
support to refugees through our Ecumenical Migration Centre
housing and care options for older people
education and support regarding money matters for those on low incomes
employment and training programs for long-term unemployed and disadvantaged job seekers at our Centre for Work and Learning.

Our social enterprises in Fitzroy and Collingwood include the Community Contact Service and the Community Cleaning Enterprise. The Community Contact Service provides training and a job while building a stronger community and physical environment on the estates. Both enterprises are vehicles for offering supported, paid work and training to long-term unemployed people and those with barriers to employment. Trainees get a work history to put on their résumés, and a very real prospect of future work.

Plans for the future

The Brotherhood is working with the City of Yarra and Broadmeadows UnitingCare to develop a children and families hub at the Fitzroy (Atherton Gardens) housing estate. We are particularly excited about this project as we believe there is a strong link between families and children using early childhood services and better educational and employment prospects.