FAQs

Connect in Canning is a campaign that aims to encourage active community members to reach out and connect with the people around them, particularly to offer support, information or social connection.

The City of Canning partners with Befriend, Inc, and a Befriend community builder helps support the Community Connectors and assists them to pursue their goals in the community.  

Great question! Connect in Canning has three main objectives:

Objective 1:     

Build our community’s resilience through support for neighbourhood networks and community led initiatives that keep people connected, informed and responsive to emerging needs.

Objective 2: 

To work collaboratively with the community services sector in developing local solutions to address the needs of Canning residents and keep our community informed of the services, supports and resources that are available to them.

Objective 3: 

To promote, support and facilitate 'kindness in Canning' story sharing and other initiatives that enable residents to band together, support each other and inspire them to connect.

Did you ever meet a person who seems to know everyone? That's a community connector. At Connect in Canning we want to help everyone connect with the community in their own way, however big or small.

Community Connectors are regular community members just like you, who want to connect with their immediate neighbours, suburb or community in the City of Canning.

Connectors aim to support and empower the community by giving their time, gifts and experiences to their existing networks, and by making new connections. Through their efforts, their communities develop stronger relationships, feel a greater sense of belonging and are better informed of events, activities and services in their areas.

So many different things!

Community connectors do what they feel will help the community connect with each other, with services that can help them and with the City of Canning. The power behind the Connect in Canning initiative comes from Connectors pursuing what they know will best suit their community, whatever that may be. There is no one way to be a Community Connector - diversity is a strength. 

You’re welcome to share your ideas with the Canning Community Builder, or ask for suggestions, but ultimately the power, decision making and journey of discovery are all yours - we just ask you to share it with us, and offer to help where we can.

Some ideas include:

• Meeting and building connections with your immediate neighbours, or those further afield.

• Donations of gifts, skills, knowledge or resources to people in your community. 

• Charitable work that aims to connect people to services, or help them meet a need.

• Events intended to include the community, or a particular neighbourhood.

• Work that aims to link people across diversity, with an inclusive approach. 

• Work in collaboration with an NGO or service that supports connection in the Canning community.

Community Connectors are invited to be listed on the Connect in Canning website as points of contact for neighbours. This could help you gain allies and collaborators, and also help folks reach out to you if they need to. You don’t have to be listed on the website, but if you decide that’s what you want we’d like to have you fill in some paperwork, including an agreement, and supply a written profile, and an image. The Community Builder will give you the paperwork for you to complete and return. All communication will go through the City of Canning - you don’t need to list your personal details, just your name and suburb.

We're so glad you asked!

Befriend is a Perth not for profit that aims to create an inclusive connected society. It does this by helping community members with knowledge, tools and resources to host small, regular events in their neighbourhood. You can find out more about Befriend here.

A community builder is someone how focuses on supporting the community in a particular area. The Canning Community Builder provides Canning folks with resources, information and practical support along the way. They are your first point of call as a Community Connector, and they help pass information both from and to the City of Canning. They want to hear your stories, concerns and successes! Most of all they are cheering you on, whether you can hear them or not.