Three Blue Mountains neighbourhood centres have come together under a new umbrella organisation.
Belong Blue Mountains Community and Neighbourhood Services was launched at Lawson on November 8, and is the unification of Katoomba, Mid Mountains and Lower Mountains neighbourhood centres.
The individual neighbourhood centre sites will remain, and there will be no cuts to services, according to Katoomba Neighbourhood Centre manager and Belong CEO Kath Harrison.
“The formation of Belong Blue Mountains enables service provision and development of new services across the footprint of the Blue Mountains,” Ms Harrison said.
“It also brings opportunities not only for the same levels of service but the ability to grow and expand the services and improve community access across our neighbourhood centre programs and our disability, aged care and mental health support services specifically.”
Under state and federal government reforms, it is more difficult for small neighbourhood centres to attain funding, and it will eventually be directed towards areas of greatest need, which could potentially be in the neighbouring local government areas of Lithgow and Penrith.
“Whilst the rhetoric has been that no planning region will lose funding, there is a clear message that funds will, into the future, be targeted to areas of greatest need within regions. This has the potential to result in funds moving out of the Blue Mountains to the abutting LGAs,” Ms Harrison said.
“The formation of Belong Blue Mountains Community and Neighbourhood Services was seen as a mechanism to create a local community embedded organisation big enough to compete for funding to continue to deliver services by a local community organisation.”
Blue Mountains MP Trish Doyle commended the neighbourhood centres on their unifying approach.
“We here in the Blue Mountains are a best practice model what we have here with Belong,” Ms Doyle said.
