This article by Jacqui Waine, General Manager BX Activation & Community at Scentre Group, forms part of a special feature published in the latest edition of SCN Magazine. Premium members can view the full digital edition here
Our Westfield Living Centres create meaningful human connections that help build thriving and inclusive communities. They are considered ‘community hubs’; safe, inclusive and welcoming places that are strategically located close to 20 million people across Australia and New Zealand. All of our 42 Westfield Living Centres have a local Community Plan designed to deliver relevant and meaningful experiences and raise awareness of local opportunities and challenges.
In 2021, our Living Centres hosted more than 790 community engagement initiatives, including cultural activations, community volunteering, charity donation appeals, community pop-up stores in vacant sites and youth support initiatives.
Driving positive social impact
Our flagship community grants and recognition program, Westfield Local Heroes, has now entered its fifth-year milestone.
The program is designed to shine a spotlight on individuals and organisations who work hard to drive positive impacts for and in their local communities. Ultimately, Westfield Local Heroes helps us forge genuine, deep and meaningful relationships with the communities we serve.
Since 2018, the Westfield Local Heroes program has recognised and celebrated 489 individuals, with $4.88 million in community grants distributed to the organisations they represent. At the conclusion of the 2022 program this month, we will have contributed another $1.26 million, taking the total community grant value to $6.14 million over five years.
Our investment is split across 12 categories that reflect the needs of our communities. These include disability and access, family support and new parents, youth support and education, domestic violence and child protection, access to basic needs and services, mental health and wellbeing, health and medical services, positive ageing, cultural recognition and inclusion, emergency and community services, environment and sustainability as well as equity and diversity.
Through financial and in-kind support and recognition offered through the program, our role is to support our Westfield Local Heroes to achieve their goals. This support can range from helping our Heroes, and their organisations raise their own profiles and increase awareness of the impact of their work, grow stakeholder networks and make broader connections to supporting them with goal setting via our networks and channels.
Activation at Westfield Liverpool with Brad Grove and the Push Your Limits Project
Community at the heart of change
Our customers are at the heart of this program. They are involved in every phase – from nominating their Local Heroes (phase 1), to voting for their finalists (phase 2) and celebrating their successful Local Heroes through in-centre activations and communications (phase 3).
We have seen year-on-year growth in the number and quality of nominations put forward by members of our communities. This year, we received more than 1,600 nominations, which was an 11% increase on the 1,400 nominations we received in 2021.
We determine the long-term social impact and success of each Westfield Local Heroes program through our Theory of Change. This is an assessment that considers the extent to which the program connects and enriches communities and drives positive behaviour changes, thus strengthening relationships with community leaders and innovators.
Through our 2021 surveys of customers and Westfield Local Heroes participants, we saw consistent growth in how the program directly drives positive social impact. We found 93% of participants (+5% 2020) and 80% of customers (same as 2020) said the program does a good job of celebrating people who give back to the local community.
A further 90% of participants (+5% 2020) and 74% of customers (same as 2020) say the program connects and enriches the community, while 83% of participants (+7% 2020) and 72% of customers (-3% 2020) said the program connects people with services and programs they may not have otherwise known about.
These reflections are significant when you think about the size and scale of the communities that Westfield is part of.
Magnolia Place opening, 2020
Our Westfield Local Heroes alumni network
Critical to the success of our flagship community program are our incredible alumni.
We continue to work with and support Local Hero alumni in many ways, involving them in Community Plan initiatives at each Westfield Living Centre and engaging them in our broader Diversity, Equality & Inclusion initiatives.
In 2020, we were proud to welcome Westfield Local Hero Chris Boyle to Westfield Helensvale with Australia’s first multi-service destination, Magnolia Place, to support victims of domestic and family violence.
Located at one of the main entrances of our Living Centre, Magnolia Place provides a ‘soft’ and gentle introduction to services for people in the community experiencing family and domestic violence.
Magnolia Place is about responding to the local community’s needs. It was developed in partnership with StandbyU Foundation and received significant community support, with the premises being fit out at no expense based on local providers’ and retailers’ generous donations of time, services and goods.
StandbyU Foundation helps individuals reconnect with friends and family and builds a shield of support and safety around them using special smartwatches.
StandbyU Foundation, Act for Kids and Legal Aid all have representatives based at Magnolia Place.
As part of the program’s evolution, we will introduce a new ‘online alumni network’ to facilitate better connections and learnings among our Westfield Local Hero alumni as we continue to evolve our flagship program.
