Join the LG Professionals SA Community Development Network for their first Forum of 2026: Building Belonging. Local government is at the heart of building socially connected communities where everyone feels they belong. While strategies, frameworks and plans guide this work, it’s the real stories happening across our councils that show social cohesion in action.
We will explore how councils are strengthening connection, belonging and resilience through creative projects, intercultural initiatives, volunteer partnerships, and inclusive programs. This forum is for anyone working with communities who wants practical, grounded examples of how local government can build stronger, more cohesive places.
Read more about each session below:
Creating Strong Communities
Sebastian Geers
Manager, Welcoming Cities
Welcoming Cities will open the Forum with a national lens on belonging, diversity, and social cohesion. Led by Sebastian Geers, Welcoming Cities Manager, this session introduces key frameworks and principles that help councils create communities where everyone can belong, contribute and thrive.
Creating Places Where Everyone Belongs
Vesna Haracic
Divisional Head of Community Diversity, City of Salisbury
Vesna will share insights into the City of Salisbury’s Intercultural Strategic Plan. The session will explore how our diverse community is supported through intercultural workshops, partnerships, and local initiatives that build cohesion, deepen understanding, and navigate sensitive cultural and faith-related issues.
Belonging Through Volunteering Panel
Volunteers sit at the heart of strong, connected communities — bringing people together through shared purpose, service, and everyday acts of kindness. Join Cathy O’Loughlin, Coordinator Community Development at the City of Charles Sturt, as she hosts a dynamic conversation with leaders and practitioners shaping South Australia’s volunteer landscape.
The panel will explore how volunteering is evolving, what motivates today’s volunteers, and the critical role councils play in supporting this vital community workforce. Vanita Schwarz, Manager Stakeholder Engagement at Volunteering SA & NT, will share insights into emerging volunteering trends and practical strategies for strengthening participation and impact. Drawing on stories from those doing the work, Vas Dolman, Coordinator at Repair Café Campbelltown SA, and Elena Pribil, volunteer at Cheltenham Community Centre, will bring real‑world stories and highlighting how volunteering builds connection, capability and belonging at a community level.
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Vas Dolman |
The Art of Belonging
Creativity has a remarkable power to bring people together, heal, and spark new ways of belonging. In this collection of Creative Social Cohesion presentations, hear how South Australian communities are using art, movement, and youth‑led action to strengthen connection.
Nerissa Galloway
Arts Officer, City of Onkaparinga
The Bloom exhibition is a striking demonstration of how creativity can unite communities in times of shared challenge. Born from South Australia’s devastating algal bloom event, the City of Onkaparinga invited artists and residents to express their emotional responses and environmental grief through art. The Bloom Project offered a chance to hold hope, to grieve and celebrate the resilience of our ocean-loving community as we gathered for each other and for our beloved ocean.
Sally Hardy
Arts Officer, Mount Barker District Council
EveryBody Dance shows how creativity and movement can spark inclusion and belonging for people living with disability. Delivered in partnership with Mount Barker District Council, Australian Dance Theatre, Livit Disability Support (formerly known as Community Living Australia) and Channel 44, the program brought dance, joy and self‑expression to the local disability community.
Fleur Kilpatrick
Arts Officer, Regional Council of Goyder
Ally Awards shine a spotlight on the power of youth to build safer, more connected communities. Created by queer teens in the Riverland, the project invited young people to recognise teachers who showed genuine allyship — making it clear who was safe, supportive for future queer students and celebrating the leadership the teens wanted to see in their schools.
Registrations for this Forum are open to Local Government Professionals Australia, SA members, council employees, employees of regional subsidiaries and Local Government Professionals Australia, SA invited guests.
By registering for this Forum, you will be subscribed to the LG Professionals SA mailing list. Should you wish to unsubscribe at any time, please email admin@lgprofessionalssa.org.au
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