Beautiful Ipswich is growing community pride and jobs

There’s a lot growing in Riverview and Collingwood Park.

It’s not just the thousands of trees and plants already in the ground through council’s Beautiful Ipswich program – it’s also the budding skills of dozens of jobseekers and growing sense of community pride.

Division 3 Councillor Kerry Silver said Beautiful Ipswich’s strategic approach targeting active transport corridors, high-use recreation areas, waterways and major thoroughfares for on-ground improvements was delivering results.

“This goes to show what can be achieved when we work together for a cleaner, greener Ipswich,” she said.

“Beautiful Ipswich, which also includes new street trees, is giving a new lease of life to these public spaces in Riverview and Collingwood Park.

“The program benefits the community, who can enjoy improved parks and streets, and it benefits our local jobseekers by giving them a chance to work and gain new skills and qualifications.”

On-the-job experience

Queensland Fitness Sport and Recreation (QFSR) Skills Alliance are the latest to join the project with Queensland Government Skilling Queenslanders for Work funding, which has combined with Beautiful Ipswich funding from council and Division 3.

Eleven trainees started an 18-week traineeship in late February which will provide them with a Certificate I in Conservation and Land Management as well as Construction White Card, ACDC (chemical licence) training and job search support.

QFSR Skills Alliance project manager Sonya Brewer said trainees were paid a wage while gaining valuable skills and on-the-job experience and a qualification.

“The target group for this project includes long-term unemployed, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, people from non-English speaking backgrounds, young people and the underemployed,” she said.

“The skills and confidence gained during the project assists the participants to secure long-term employment within the community once the traineeship has ended.”

Significant difference

Challenge Employment and Training were the first to partner with council through Beautiful Ipswich.

Over a 20-week period Challenge trainees’ proud achievements at Collingwood Park’s Jamboree Park included planting more than 2700 plants, fresh paint on everything from seats to rails, adding more than 100 cubic metres of mulch to garden beds, and installing about 140 metres of garden edging.

Challenge general manager Michael Krafft said the most rewarding accomplishment for the team was installing a 50 metre retaining wall to stop soil and debris ending up on the pathway.

“It has been great to watch the improvements the team has made to Jamboree Park over the past five months,” he said.

“We aim to look for projects like Beautiful Ipswich that can help make a significant difference to the local community while providing our trainees a real opportunity to develop the skills required for employment.”

Challenge’s next Beautiful Ipswich project is Banjo Patterson Park in Collingwood Park, with 17 new trainees who will rejuvenate the existing embankments into a new park defined by garden beds and existing trees.