Award win recognises Collective Leisure as a ‘business for good’

Parks and Leisure Australia’s NSW/ACT branch has presented Collective Leisure and its Chief Executive David Burns with its Community-based Initiative of the Year award for 2023.

Presented during the recent Parks and Leisure NSW/ACT regional conference the award, acknowledging excellence in the industry as part of PLA’s national Awards of Excellence program, recognised Collective Leisure as a ‘business for good’.

Collective Leisure is a systems aware social enterprise with a mission to reduce health inequity within our communities. This is summarised in their purpose statement of ‘enabling well-being without boundaries’.

Unlike traditional for-profit businesses solely focused on maximising profits for shareholders, social enterprises prioritise generating positive social or environmental impact alongside financial sustainability. They strive to create social value, tackle pressing issues, and bring about positive change in society.

Welcoming the award, Collective Leisure Chief Executive, David Burns, explained “we’re passionate about social enterprise and supporting underserved communities to improve their well-being. We would like to thank the PLA NSW/ACT for the recognition of our work with community.”

Collective Leisure was founded in September 2019 and has been steadily growing its impact in NSW with a focus on Western Sydney.

They are leading two solution ecosystems:

WSYD Moving - A whole of system initiative to reduce physical inactivity in Western Sydney.

Path to Potential - As a work integration social enterprise (WISE), they provide training and employment for people from refugee backgrounds in the sport, leisure and physical activity sector.

To support the system change required they co-create initiatives for hard to reach and underserved communities, enabling them to be well-beings and fulfil their greatest potential.

This includes but is not limited to programs for people with disability, seniors, refugees and migrants, low socio-economic groups and people with mental illness.

Parks and Leisure Australia’s annual awards recognise the outstanding initiatives and innovative efforts of 'the people behind the places', which promote good use of recreational time for a number of social, environmental and economic benefits to the community.

The national awards will be presented during the 2023 PLA National Conference, being held in partnership with World Urban Parks, in Adelaide from 22nd to 26th October 2023

For more information on Collective Leisure go to www.collectiveleisure.com.au

Image: David Burns with the PLA NSW/ACT award.