About
The Rural Business & Community Story
Our organisation began as the Sunraysia Rural Counselling Service, providing support to farmers facing financial hardship. The Sunraysia region has a proud heritage of food growing. But changing conditions have challenged the survival of many industries. For decades, locals call on our support to navigate difficulties and transitions.
Over time we’ve seen how high impact issues like the environment, technology and the pandemic have affected individuals, industries and towns. We realised that we could do more than to help people survive. We want rural towns and communities to thrive.
A few years back, we accessed government funding and began to expand services, to do more collaborative work on the ground to co-design economic and community development programs – workshops for business, online training, revitalisation projects and aerial mapping for strategic planning, for example.
In 2021 we changed our name and organisational structure to reflect what’s become a broader scope and vision. Rural Business & Community Ltd is a company on a mission to co-write a new narrative with rural towns across north-west Victoria and southern NSW. The next chapter is all about rural renewal.
Our Vision is thriving rural towns and communities
We leverage the countless possibilities for rural communities.
By bringing resources, research and frameworks to the table, Rural Business & Community collaborates with local people to ignite existing potential, to spark ideas and fire up the future. We facilitate aspirations that are desirable and doable.
Our organisation is underpinned by four pillars. Governance is overseen by a credentialed Board. The work is managed and implemented by an experienced team.
Four pillars for Rural Renewal
- High quality and measurable standards.
- Engaged, robust and respectful relationships.
- Clear and transparent communication.
- Possibility, integrity and accountability.
Our programs seek to include best practice
"Acknowledging recent climate impacts and a continuing legacy of COVID-19 and its effects across our rural communities, our aspirations are to look for new ways to continue providing support and co-leadership in our communities of interest and pursue the very best ideas and outcomes communities can muster in consideration of the new order of ‘things’. "