Global Days of Service corporate volunteering at SAcommunity

Photo: Jess Tyndall, Head Librarian, Health, Torrens University Australia and Catherine McIntyre, Community Information Coordinator, Connecting Up Inc.

The SAcommunity team welcomed Jess Tyndall Head Librarian in Health from Torrens University to Connecting Up Inc., today as part of the Laureate International Universities Global Days of Service initiative - "Here for Good"
 
SAcommunity SWOT and Innovation
The team provided an overview of the SAcommunity service and it's crucial role in providing free online Community Information for South Australia and we had the opportunity to discuss some of the key challenges and opportunities to be found in the service.

Jess Tyndall exchanged her ideas, covering subjects including the directory website and hosting the most common and prominant searches on the front pages, search processes and cross-referencing records for efficacy, promotional channels including through community newspapers, alternative funding sources such as crowd-funding along with thoughts on the volunteer and student placement program. 

Community Information and Community Connections 
Together we explored the value of community information for referrals and research for universities and students, as well as for councils, libraries, services and for the public: 

Jess Tyndall introduced us to the Torrens University Centre of Positive Ageing and Wellbeing (CPAW) and PHIDU the Public Health Information Development Unit (PHIDU), an interesting tool for us as we focus on social inclusion and community connections and the importance for people of engaging in social and physical activities for improved health outcomes.

This corporate volunteering opportunity also allowed us to discover our organisations shared several commonalities including GovHack, SAcommunity data and mentorship is provided for this event and the competition was hosted by Torrens University this year. 

SAcommunity Revision and Future
Jess Tyndall plans to scope the literature around community information directories and share the results with us. Following this review we are looking forward to identifying future ideas and directions within the community directory space. 
 
We would like to thank Jess Tyndall for visiting our organisation and donating her valuable time and suggestions to us as part of the Here for Good initiative and we would like to thank Torrens University for enabling this opportunity and allowing us this time to discuss strategies that can be beneficial for not just for our organisation but in assisting our service in having a wider impact across the state.