At 437 Hunter, we are committed to promoting and strengthening communities. This is critical to challenging and changing people’s circumstances, for everybody, but especially Hunter people who experience disadvantage and social isolation. To do that, we’ve created our own community at 437 Hunter of dedicated organisations and groups we call ‘In-House Partners’.
Change is also important for in-house partners. Most are small and emerging not-for-profits. The struggle for funding and sustainability is real. Too often, it detracts from their main purpose – changing people’s lives. At 437 Hunter, we assist in-house partners to develop in operational and governance areas, including human resources, finance, strategic planning and decision making, seeking funding, and marketing and communications.
We are implementing a model of practice that promotes a community approach to social issues and changing people’s lives. The model emphasises reciprocity in relationships and practice. In-house partners are expected to collaborate strategically in line with the intention of the model of practice. They might also establish smaller-scale collaborations with each other when they have common areas of interest and service or program focus.
Our model is a combination of co-location, integration, and collaboration that might usually be standalone. In-house partners are co-located through operating under the one roof at 437 Hunter. Each has dedicated space for their operational activities. They also access shared spaces for integrated practice with other in-house partners that may include collaboration for practice and system change, as well as shared learning. Collaboration extends beyond in-house partner projects to ventures with community partners around the Hunter that have shared interests and expertise in common areas of focus, especially social connection, housing, education, employment, and health.
Our early collaborations are about further developing the model of practice. This includes what it means for in-house partners and the people they work with at 437 Hunter and in the community. Our first-ever strategic plan (2025-26) is heavily focused on relational work for in-house partners to connect and get to know each other and establishing our identity in the local community. In addition to the daily informal interactions between in-house partners, we’ve had some social events, different levels are creating gardens, and we have a fortnightly In-House Partner Meeting to catch up on what everyone is doing, check on our strategic planning, and start to work towards more collaboration.
We have a Learning Exchange at 437 Hunter, which is a centrepiece of our model of practice. It provides both learning and relationship-building opportunities for in-house partners. It is comprised of Professional and Organisational Development Workshops – developed and run by in-house partners for in-house partners – ‘Chat Abouts…’ – informal one-hour conversations about social and practice issues, concepts, and ideas – and a Speaker Series – guest speakers from the community on topics of interest to in-house partners. The significant Student Placement Program at 437 Hunter also promotes learning and, importantly, it educates and develops future workers and practitioners to include community as key to changing people’s lives.
Workshop topics so far include communications planning, messaging and PR, positive workplace cultures, supporting performance, Mental Health First Aid, and SafeTalk. We’re about to start a series of finance and governance workshops, and in-house partners are developing workshops they will facilitate. ‘Chat About…’ session topics have included volunteers, peer workers, working with men, ableism, grant writing, and social enterprises.
We are preparing for more significant collaborations that change systems and raise the voices of people who experience disadvantage. Critical in our work is an emphasis on creating and trying out innovative ideas to resolve common ongoing social issues. Most in-house partners have small and targeted projects. Many of those are attached to research projects. This supports an innovation hub at 437 Hunter where experiences, lessons, and outcomes from early projects may lead to scaling and replication across other social groups and regions. This includes the 437 Hunter model of practice and its potential applicability across sectors and regions.
