We see community organizations as major service providers and economic drivers rather than as recipients or distributors of charity, and coordinators of volunteers. Today they constitute what's referred to as 'the social economy'.
Interpretation
Community organizations play a vital role in the economy and society, beyond merely providing charity.
In this quote, Julia Gillard emphasizes the importance of community organizations in shaping both the social fabric and the economy. Rather than being viewed simply as beneficiaries of charity or as mechanisms for coordinating volunteer efforts, these organizations are seen as essential contributors that provide vital services and drive economic growth, thus forming a significant part of what is known as the 'social economy'.
In practice
During a community meeting about local services, I shared this quote to highlight the value of our organizations.
As our economy faces up to potential labour shortages due to our ageing population and as it moves to a new level of sophistication to compete with the rest of the world, we're going to need every Australian on board pulling their weight, rejoining the workforce, gaining new skills. Writing off individuals and communities suffering from poverty just creates a dead weight for our economy to drag along.
If G20 leaders are serious about sustainable growth and job creation and want to stem migration flows and promote long-term stability, education is an essential investment.
As more girls get basic schooling, larger numbers will move up the educational ladder - some to pursue science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. That's important because workplaces around the world, especially in many developing and emerging-market countries, are becoming more automated, favouring workers with technical skills.
In fragile and conflict-affected states, education can insulate children from chaos and insecurity and better prepare them to bring about future stability.
If you believe, as I do, that merit is equally distributed between the sexes, then any result that isn't around half and half should be troubling.
Educating the world's poorest girls can only be done with the firm commitment of many stakeholders - both domestic and international - to plan, fund, and build strong, sustainable, and equitable education systems.
We figured out as a community of gay people, we have to take care of our own.
A community that sees so clearly its own disadvantage or its own hardships also has a harder time seeing its potential: its ability to work together to change the community and change their lives.
But the people of the disaster area fundamentally needed to understand that the rest of Australia had noticed their misery and their stoicism and their intense sense of community and determination to arise from the sodden wreckage of their homes, and that Australians would dig deep to help. I helped to describe the community ethos which quickly triumphed over incipient despair. It is this mobilisation of the unifying spirit that thrills us all, even as we mourn.
Where there is no human connection, there is no compassion. Without compassion, then community, commitment, loving-kindness, human understanding, and peace all shrivel. Individuals become isolated, the isolated turn cruel, and the tragic hovers in the forms of domestic and civil violence. Art and literature are antidotes to that.
We need a spirit of community, a sense that we are all in this together. If we have no sense of community, the American dream will wither.
We're all in this together. That's how we campaigned, and that's who we are. This happened because of you. Thank you.
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