Town Teams are positive and proactive community groups that work collaboratively with their local government to improve a place or area.
Town Teams are positive and proactive community groups that work collaboratively with their local government to improve a place or area.
The Town Team approach is inclusive. It is open to businesses, landowners, residents and anyone else who wants to improve their place.
There are currently 131 Town Teams! You can find a list of all the registered Town Teams across Australia, plus in New Zealand and the United Kingdom, at the bottom of this page.
What a Town Team is and is not
How is the Town Team approach different?
The Town Team approach is a bit different because:
- It’s about improving a place, not representing a particular interest (e.g. businesses, ratepayers or residents)
- The focus is on action, not advocacy
- It’s guided by the Town Team Charter, but otherwise it is very open and flexible for ‘how to make it happen’ in each place
- It’s less formal
- It is a very decentralised movement. Town Team Movement is an ‘underarching’ organisation that helps to inspire, support, connect and promote the individual teams. It doesn’t tell the teams what to do, but provides advice if requested
How a Town Team can form
A Town Team might be:
- A brand new group
- An existing community group that aligns with the Town Team Charter
- Or a collection of community groups working to improve a place (for example – a Town Team might form as an umbrella group of community groups in a country town).
It’s free to join the movement and there are no membership fees. The only requirement to be a Town Team is to align with and live the Town Team Charter.
The charter is a shared story of what Town Teams are and how they should behave. It helps explain our movement’s collective values and expectations.
It’s a summary of the ‘Town Team Way’.
Read this fantastic article to find about how the Narembeen Town Team got started in WA’s Wheatbelt.
What are the benefits of the Town Team approach?
What are the benefits of registering as a Town Team?
Change is possible, but it is difficult for people and groups to act to improve their communities, particularly outside established organisations. We make it easier, and certainly a lot more fun! These are just some of the benefits of registering as a Town Team.
- You’ll join a movement of positive doers. Be part of something bigger!
- You will meet other positive and like-minded people
- Learn from others and also pass on your ideas, knowledge and passion
- Town Team Movement helps to inspire, support, connect and promote registered Town Teams for free. It’s not often that an organisation will help you with no strings attached!
- Town Teams can receive discounted or free access to the online placemaking courses on Placemaking.Education
- You get free access the Town Team Hub, which has all the best information to help set up, manage and grow a Town Team
- Town Teams are eligible for funding through our partners, such as the RAC Connecting Communities Fund (in Western Australia)
- Make a difference!
How to start or register as a Town Team
It’s very easy! Here is how you can start or register a Town Team.
- Read the Town Team Charter
- Discuss the Town Team Charter with your group. Does your group align with the 6 principles of the charter? If so, please join the movement!
- If your group agrees to align with and live the Charter, please either complete and submit the form below or send an email to [email protected] and confirm that the team will align with the charter, your team’s name (which doesn’t have to include the words “town team”), where you are located and provide relevant contact details and website, social media details etc.
- We’ll then check that and if all is good, register your Town Team
That’s it! There is no paperwork and no membership or affiliation fees. If a group commits and acts in accordance with the charter, then Town Team Movement is happy to assist wherever we can.
Register a Town Team Form
What do Town Teams do?
What do Town Teams do? What’s it like to be part of a Town Team?
You can see the live feed of what Town Teams are doing to improve their local area at https://www.townteammovement.com/actions/.
The Book of Doing showcases 81 community-led actions to help create better connected communities and thriving places.
Click on the link below to read the book online. Remember – someone just like you contributed to making these things happen. You can do it too!
Download a PDF version of the Book of Doing below.
This article also explains more about what Town Teams do to help improve their local community.
Getting Organised
Some Town teams are formally structured, with a Chair or President, Treasurer etc. Other teams are informally structured. Either way, we encourage all members of a team to think of themself as a doer and a contributor in some way. Here is one way to discover how you might be able to contribute.
The Town Team Approach Explained
Be part of the Movement!
The movement is growing rapidly! There are currently 131 Town Teams spread across Western Australia, Tasmania, Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney, Queensland, Christchurch, New Zealand and Wiltshire, United Kingdom.
The impact of our movement will grow as more teams are created or existing community groups join, and each group completes multiple actions to improve their place.
Here is a list of the current teams:
Town Team Locations Map
Town Team Hub
We’ve created a Town Team Hub, which has all the best information to help set up, manage and grow a Town Team.
The Town Team Hub is free for registered Town Teams to access, but other organisations, including local governments, can access the Resource Hub for $200 + GST per annum for unlimited access. Here are some examples of the How To Guides.
- How a Town Team Might Form
- How To Set Up a Town Team
- How To Build Momentum with Quick Wins
- How To Generate Revenue for Your Town Team
- How To Prioritise Actions
The Town Team Hub is available on desktop as well as an App. Search for the Mighty Networks App in your App Store and then ‘Town Team Hub’.
To register to access the Town Team Hub, please go to https://town-team-hub.mn.co/.
Here is a list with clickable links access everything we have available at the moment.
Please email [email protected] to enquire about accessing the Hub if you are not an existing or aspiring Town Team.