About Living Smart >> The Partnership

The program is a joint initiative between Founders: The Meeting Place Community Centre, City of Fremantle, Murdoch University and Southern Metropolitan Regional Council.

From its birth in 2002 up to 2011 the program has been coordinated by the Living Smart Steering Committee, which includes representatives from each founder organisation, to meet a range of needs and expectations.

In 2011 the Founders agreed at the request of the Living Smart community to become an independent, incorporated, non-profit organization.

So how did it all start? Back in May 2002, The Meeting Place Community Centre saw there was a need for a sustainability education program in Fremantle with considerable interest expressed by local residents. They approached the City of Fremantle to look at the best way it could achieved, specifically tailored for the port city.

At the same time, environmental science researchers at Murdoch University came to the City of Fremantle, looking at developing a household program that would test different techniques for changing environmental behaviour – an area that has been the subject of research for many years.

The Meeting Place Community Centre, Murdoch University and the City of Fremantle jointly agreed on a holistic course covering all facets of sustainable living.

But instigating actual changes in behaviour was imperative – so goal-setting techniques researched at Murdoch University were incorporated as a key element, to be taught as a life skill. And this is what makes Living Smart so unique as an environmental education program.

In November 2002, the Southern Metropolitan Regional Council joined the Living Smart Steering Committee to support extension of the program to new centres and groups in the surrounding region. For SMRC, Living Smart would in part meet their regional goal of residential greenhouse abatement.

Partnerships have been and will continue to be a crucial component of Living Smart. The program itself is the product of one and our success speaks of its value. Similarly the delivery of Living Smart in new communities will be most effective if delivered through a partnership.

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