Monday 19 April 2021

Neighbourhood Houses Victoria is beginning an important journey to help make neighbourhood houses more inclusive for First Nations peoples.

'Yarning with Kath' is a series of weekly online sessions with proud Yorta Yorta woman Kathryn Coff, commencing on Thursday 29 April. Each week will focus on a different topic relating to First Nations' world view, culture, history, and key issues.

Neighbourhood Houses Victoria CEO Nicole Battle said the sessions were all about listening, engaging in important conversations, and embracing the richness and diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and culture.

"Kath has joined us at a couple of our previous online events and each time I have found her perspective so moving and thought provoking,” Nicole said.

“I am really looking forward to going on this journey with her and hope to see many houses embrace this opportunity. By expanding our knowledge and understanding, we can build a more inclusive sector that commits to neighbourhood houses being welcoming and safe spaces for First Nations people in our communities."

The sessions will take place every Thursday at 10am via Zoom and are open to all neighbourhood house managers/coordinators, staff, committee members, volunteers and network managers.

By registering, you do not have to commit to attending all sessions - it's totally up to you which topics and how many sessions you want to attend. Please note these sessions will not be recorded.

Register 

Proposed topics

Topics and dates subject to change:

• 29 April: Worldviews: Country, Community, Ancestors - who are yours and where did you come from?
• 06 May: Answering the tricky questions
• 13 May: Connection to Country and writing an Acknowledgement to Country 
• 20 May: Outside landscape, Language and Culture map
• 27 May: Understanding privilege and power
• 03 June: Teachings
• 10 June: Aboriginal people before colonization
• 17 June: Aboriginal people after colonization - generational poverty and trauma
• 24 June: Aboriginal childrearing and childhood
  (School holidays - two week break)
• 15 July: Country/seasons and food
• 22 July: Ways of living and Community
• 29 July: What is happening in education now / Changing it to a two ways learning approach - a third equal space
• 5 August: Aboriginal 8 ways of learning and knowing / Translating it to other pedagogies

About Kath

Kathryn Coff is a proud Yorta Yorta woman living on Jaara Country. She is a respected member of her local Aboriginal community in Castlemaine and currently CEO Nalderun Education Aboriginal Corporation in the Mount Alexander Shire. She also consults in the space of Indigenous Education and working in the cultural interface space. She works for La Trobe University within Education, currently completing her PhD and has published two works in this space. 

She has worked tirelessly over many years in establishing and developing programs for Community. In 2017/8, Kathryn received an Emerging Leader award from Indigenous Fellowship for Leadership. Recently Kathryn was appointed to the Board of Koondee Woonga-gat Toor-rong Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Led Philanthropic Fund.

Kathryn believes that when Aboriginal communities are supported by non-Indigenous Australians who have open hearts and minds, amazing things can happen for the whole community and the way forward is together, walking side by side.