Our History...
Rainbow Coast Neighbourhood Centre (RCNC) is a not-for-profit hub for family services, offering a wide range of support services for families & carers of children 0-5 years & individuals.
The Rainbow Coast Neighbourhood Centre was established in 1988 as a family support service, and was initially situated on the corner of Middleton Rd and Vine Street.
In 1998 we relocated to Family House at 219 North Road to co-locate with the Department of Community Services.
Between approximately 1998 and 2006 the Infant and Child Health Team conducted a clinic once a week at Family House.
Additional funding from the Commonwealth which commenced in 2005 has seen the development of two Migrant Resource Centres (Katanning and Albany) both of whom successfully provide settlement services to humanitarian entrants, migrants and dependents of skilled migrants living in the Lower Great Southern.
In 2006 as a result of a successful funding application, (the RCNC Executive Officer was a co-writer of the application), Rainbow Coast Neighbourhood Centre and the Great Southern Division of General Practise formed a consortium named the Communities for Children Lower Great Southern (C4CLGS). The funding was for $3.6 million to be spent over the next four years. The purpose: to address the needs of young children and families in the Lower Great Southern community to give children the best possible start in life.
To enable RCNC to qualify for the available funding to deliver appropriate programs RCNC withdrew from the consortium in May 2007.
In 2007 the Department of Community Services underwent a restructure and became The Department for Communities (DfC) and the Department for Child Protection. DfC remained located at Family House along with Best Beginnings (a division of the Department for Child Protection).
Rainbow Coast Neighbourhood Centre took over management of the Parenting Information and Resource Centre in 2008 which we continue today as our Parenting Library.
Best Beginnings (a Department of Child Protection program) remained at Family House until 2011.
During 2013 CfC became the Department for Local Government and Communities (DLGC) and ownership of Family House was transferred from the Department of Child Protection to DLGC. During 2013 RCNC entered into a MOU with the Department of Local Government and Communities to secure our location within Family House.
In 2013 we have been able to provide an outreach migrant service once a fortnight in Mt Barker.
In 2014 Kids Central joined the Family House team and continue to provide resilience building and mental health support to school aged children and their parents today.
Over the past few years we have worked more and more in partnership with other agencies including Great Southern Institute of Technology, Amity Health and agencies whose clients have limited abilities. This has enabled us to open the Community Garden & Resource Centre on Sanford Road.
Our aim is to empower and assist individuals and families who are isolated or socially disadvantaged to develop the knowledge, skills and confidence to achieve goals and manage their own lives.
We continue to ensure that all people feel welcome to come to all our activities.
As you can see there are never enough hours in the day but it is fantastic that we have such a busy exciting service that is enriching the community and you are all part of it!!!!!