The eagerly anticipated Lucas Community Hub has officially opened, catering for young families and community groups alike.
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Situated in Ballarat’s expanding west, the $4 million facility houses a YMCA Ballarat kindergarten, maternal health rooms and multi-purpose meeting spaces.
The first intake at the new kindergarten starts tomorrow, with 36 children in four year old kinder and 12 pupils in the three year old class. In the future, it will have the capacity to cater for 200 children in total.
With immunisations and children’s age and stage checks able to be completed at the hub, City of Ballarat’s acting manager of maternal and child health Belinda Joyce said she hoped the health of residents in the area would improve.
“They can come to the one place,” she said.
“They might be dropping one child off at kindergarten and also bringing a baby or younger child into the maternal health service, or having an immunisation themselves.
“We’re just hoping people will book in and get their immunisations done close to home, and that in turn should increase our immunisation rate.
“Just having access in your own neighbourhood or close by can help.
“We certainly want out in the big rooms that people can book all ages using them, it’s not really an early years hub like some of the others are.”
New high-tech meeting rooms and a commercial kitchen will be available for use by community groups.
About 99 per cent of families with a new baby in Ballarat are involved in the maternal and child health program during the child’s first year of life.
City of Ballarat director of community development Neville Ivey said when it came to Lucas, the creation of the hub was a case of “build it and they will come” for residents.
“Using the example of Cardigan, there is a community centre out there that was operated by the community.
“But there wasn’t a draw card or something to prick the interest of the residents to actually use it.
“Yes there’s some infrastructure out there, but the difference is and the learning outcome from that is that you need to have something that gives the residents a reason to visit.”
An outreach library service visits the centre every Tuesday morning.
Mr Ivey said considerations were being made as to whether library services would remain at the Lucas Community Hub long-term.
