OUR COMMUNITY DREAMED, OWNED AND OPERATED SOCIAL INCLUSION CENTRE

Our Vision - We focus on what is strong, not what is wrong.

“Mental health is defined as a state of well-being in which every individual realises his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community.”

Ref: WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATIONS definition of mental health 2014

• To be producers of our own solutions. 
• To be community directed and operated.
• To reduce social isolation in the local community by building a sense of belonging, participation and community spirit.

Who we are

Burnie Community House has been established in Shorewell Park, Burnie for over 30 years and has a commitment to building individual and community capacity.

Hilltop Central is a social inclusion hub and learning centre that is community owned, operated and invested in a paddock to plate food model. Established in 2014 with start-funding from federal funding that improved outcomes for people facing significant social disadvantage. We have been operating without core funding from 2016 and exist on income streams for our enterprises and other funding opportunities working towards long term sustainability. We are now entering our fifth learning year and have established an innovative social enterprise with four integrated income streams.

What We Do

The project offers a community food and training hub that creates a sustainable model improving the health and wellbeing of local residents and community by:

• Increasing access to good quality fresh produce from Burnie Community House.
• Providing opportunities and pathways to training and employment for volunteers and job seekers in the community through our social enterprise arms and learning centre.
• Offering on the job work experiences and accredited training in retail, hospitality, kitchen operations, production horticulture, agri foods and business in partnership with TasTafe, Burnie.
• Providing opportunities that are designed to increase community participation, improve wellbeing and self-worth, and develop transferable work skills.

Our Social Enterprise

We own & operate Hilltop Veranda Café, Hilltop Seeds, Hilltop Canteen Services at Burnie, Havenview, Ridgely & Somerset Primary Schools, Hilltop Catering, Hilltop COOP and Hilltop Market Garden.

Our Hope

To continue to grow our independent, financially viable community driven model from Burnie Community House and Hilltop market garden farm at Freer Farm.

We have established the strong foundations of a sustainable social enterprise and continue to build this around our social inclusion centre.

Our hope is that our place based, asset focused and citizen centric community project will be acknowledged and actively supported by the broader community, business, councils and governments.

Want to know more please contact Tracy or Shandel from Hilltop at Burnie Community House on 03 6433 3219 or email manager@burniech.com.au