Community houses in the CHAOS network all provide opportunities to meet other people, learn, celebrate, laugh, exercise, upskill, volunteer and make friends.
You might know your local Community House as a Neighbourhood House, Community Centre, Living and Learning centre, we operate under a few different names with each organisation working with their community to reflect local needs. Despite the different names, Houses in the CHAOS network all provide opportunities to meet other people, learn, celebrate, laugh, exercise, upskill, volunteer and make friends.
Most Community Houses are governed by volunteer committees and run by paid staff, others managed by local government or other organisations. Some provide quality, affordable childcare. Most can provide pre-accredited adult education courses and some are Registered Training Organisations that offer certificate and diploma courses. All offer opportunities to participate, learn, volunteer and get to know your community.
Activities are generally run at low or no cost to participants.
Our original vision of developing and sharing resources and mutual support still remain at the core of our existence.
Recognising the diverse nature and the autonomy of each Member Organisation of the Network, the purposes of the Network are:
Lisa, a professional in Psychology and Local Government, leads the CHAOS Network by supporting member houses, managing resources, and overseeing daily operations.
Lisa holds a comprehensive educational background and training in Psychology, Psychometrics, Facilitation, Assessment, Coaching, and Mentoring. With over nine years of experience in Local Government, she brings extensive knowledge from this sector to her role as Networker for the CHAOS Network.
Lisa’s primary focus is on strengthening member houses by offering support, resources, advice, and professional development opportunities. She also leads strong and dynamic advocacy efforts on behalf of the members to all levels of government and the state peak body, Neighbourhood Houses Victoria.
Additionally, Lisa identifies and manages funding opportunities and projects aimed at enhancing the capacity of the organisation and its members to adapt to the evolving needs of the sector.
Beyond these responsibilities, Lisa oversees the daily operations of the network and serves as the primary point of contact for the CHAOS Network.
The Outer Eastern Association of Community Centres was formed in April 1979 by a number of Community groups who had been meeting for the previous 18 months and recognised the benefits of formalising their group. The members identified a key benefit as follows: “As a group we could further assist with and develop mutual support and sharing of resources between Community Centres in the region.” The acronym CHAOS was already being used in 1979 but it is unclear if that was to reflect aspects of the group’s name or the era in which it was formed.
Over the years, membership of the group continued to expand and the Association was successful in gaining funding to employ a networker to resource the group. In 1997 the members became an Incorporated Association, formally becoming the Community Houses Association of the Outer eastern Suburbs Inc, known as CHAOS Inc.
In 2024 CHAOS is a network of 30 Neighbourhood Houses, Community Houses, Learning Centres, Community Centres and Community Cottages covering the local government areas of Yarra Ranges, Knox, Maroondah, parts of Manningham and Whitehorse. We also have one member organisation located in Murrindindi Shire.
The original vision of developing and sharing resources and mutual support still remain at the core of our existence.
The committee of governance is made up of elected staff, volunteers and committee members from CHAOS member organisations. Committee members are elected as individuals not as representatives of their organisation or another group.