Norris Group are a local family owned and operated Civil Construction company with over 220 staff, who joined GROW in 2018. They told us: “We had always promoted local business, but we realised we needed to increase our networks and collaborate more with the broader GROW community. We saw the benefits of developing more local...
Read moreWhat does it mean to be a part of GROW? Aaron Cole from Josie’s Transport explains: “After buying Josie’s Transport in February 2018 we soon joined GROW, as we wanted to keep the fantastic name that Josie’s has in the local community, keep that identity, be part of Geelong and support local business. “We provided...
Read moreI was saying that [name] had barriers to employment: Mental illness; fairly significant challenges in terms of work; long term unemployed – these are the limitations that [the employee] had. We teamed up with another GROW signatory called Encompass Community Services – that we recruited [the employee] through, and they also provided us with support...
Read moreWell I became involved in GROW through my manager […], with my role being I suppose … around employment and training opportunities and the Department of Justice and Community Safety already working with GROW, she thought it would be [of] benefit to work with [Liz Everist, GROW backbone] and from there it has grown into...
Read moreThe idea of GROW is a natural fit for our business. … Before the change we would have stated very clearly that our business buys locally and this would have happened naturally and I would have stated that that policy view would have been well communicated to the team that was making purchasing decisions/procurement decisions...
Read moreAn external review of GROW was undertaken by Clear Horizon Consulting, reflecting on the activities and outcomes of the GROW initiative during the start-up phase. Whilst the review reflected on past achievements, the main focus was to support forward thinking and planning, to build on success and develop insightful solutions to move past the...
Read moreBeing a local government buyer for the region it was a great opportunity for us to make a difference – and to make that difference we needed to create a partnership with an organisation with more knowledge and expertise in the procurement and social enterprise space that could assist Barwon Water meeting its policy requirements...
Read moreMy involvement with GROW came about when Colac Area Health become compact signatories. There are several parts of the organisation that are connected to GROW in different ways. My involvement with GROW is due to the fact I oversee both procurement and the unskilled workforce in the food services department. Becoming a compact signatory has...
Read moreCameron Shepherd, Aus Pits, shares his most significant change story as part of the review of the Start-Up Phase of GROW, and how unique solutions to recruitment have improved staff morale, productivity and efficiencies. What is a Most Significant Change story? The Most Significant Change (MSC) technique is a form of monitoring and evaluation...
Read moreJennifer Cromarty, Committee for Geelong, shares her most significant change story as part of the review of the Start-Up Phase of GROW. What is a Most Significant Change story? The Most Significant Change (MSC) technique is a form of monitoring and evaluation that involves the collection of significant change stories across the GROW collective....
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