By Justin RouillonTuesday 5 Jul 2022Health and WellbeingReading Time: 3 minutes
Main Image: Artist’s rendition of the completed Community Hub (supplied). Listen: Paul Clark speaks about The Hub and how Redcliffe Uniting turned a vision into a reality.
After five years of planning, preparation and construction, the Redcliffe Uniting Community Hub has taken shape and is now ready to provide locals with connection and support.
Even the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent challenges to the construction industry couldn’t stop the vision of delivering a one-stop-shop community service model to the Redcliffe peninsula.
Paul Clark is the minister at Redcliffe Uniting and told 96five that the vision for ‘The Hub’ came from a heartfelt desire to serve and connect with the local community.
“There’s always been a history in the church of wanting to be community engaged and active in the local area. We really took that idea to heart, and sought to live it out and put it into practice.
“In some ways ‘The Hub’ is the culmination of that vision. At Redcliffe Uniting we say we’re at the heart of the community, and in a geographical sense we are right in the centre of the peninsula, but it’s also a passion; we want to bring heart and the love of God to our community.”
The new Redcliffe Uniting Community Hub is nearing completion.
It was some years ago that the church identified a lack of services within the Redcliffe area, with many residents having to travel to Brisbane’s north or to Caboolture to access services.
“Redcliffe’s not a huge area so there are services that just aren’t available here,” said Paul. “People were saying that what the community really needed is a central spot where you can go to get the services you need, and to find community.”
“So Redcliffe was really crying out for someone to do that, and as a church we happened to be in the perfect spot, right in the centre of the peninsula.”
Paul says that the new community hub has been designed as an integrated service model, that will enable like-minded community service groups to come together in one place.
“When we first started planning the hub, we realised that the best practice was to put a number of service providers together for a number of reasons.
“One – you get a sense of synergy as when those groups get together they really bounce off each other and partner together. But the other thing is, if someone comes for a service, say counselling, they can often find additional support from other providers in the building.”
Paul Clark is jumping for joy as the five year project gets ready to welcome the public.
“The other thing that we have which is really unique, is that it’s attached to a church community with a range of groups and activities, and often people need a healthy community to support them.
“A lot of community hubs are very transactional, you come and get your service and you go, and they don’t have the community side of it.
“It’s these wrap around services that really enhance what the service providers are doing; so I’m really excited to see how that will transform people’s lives as they interact with The Hub”.
To celebrate the completion of construction and celebrate this project, Redcliffe Uniting are holding The Hub Open Day on Saturday July 30th. The Open Day will be jam packed with family friendly activities across the Hub and Church sites on Richens St, Redcliffe. 96five will even be there with the Street Machine and lots of fun and games!
The Hub Open Day will go from 9am to 2pm and you can find all the information on the Redcliffe Uniting Community Hub Facebook page.
Listen to Paul Clark speaking about the project and the Open Day in the audio player above.