On Thursday 14 August Ready Communities Co-Founders, Kerry Grace and Dr. Chad Renando launched the first Ready Communities White Paper and Impact Report, A Case for Regional Readiness.
In regional Australia, change is constant. Communities navigate shifting industries, population dynamics, natural disasters, and opportunities for growth. But true, lasting impact doesn’t come from quick fixes or one-off programs, it comes from readiness.
The report reflects on the first year of the Ready Communities program, documents lessons from the Ready Macleay pilot in Kempsey NSW, and lays the groundwork for future initiatives in Grafton NSW and nationally from 2026 onwards.
Why Readiness Matters
Readiness is more than resilience or wellbeing. It is a community’s capacity and willingness to engage with change in proactive, collaborative, and informed ways. The report defines readiness through five enabling conditions that form the Ready Communities Readiness Index:
- Clarity & Understanding
- Connection & Connectivity
- Capability & Capacity
- Collaboration for Purpose
- Advocacy & Promotion
These conditions create “the space between” the often invisible social infrastructure of trust, coordination, and leadership that allows communities to respond to challenges and seize opportunities.
Lessons from Ready Macleay
The first full year of implementation in Kempsey showed what happens when readiness is prioritised. In just ten months, Ready Macleay:
- Generated $348,000 in local economic impact
- Activated $80,000 in latent resources such as funding, volunteer time and previously undiscovered partnerships
- Delivered over 1,000 community engagement hours
- Breathed new life into empty retail spaces in the CBD
- Strengthened partnerships between not-for-profits and local businesses
- Mapped $68 million in funding opportunities across the region
Perhaps most importantly, Ready Macleay sparked connections, over 24,000 unique engagements showing how readiness fuels collaboration and collective action.
A Call for Collaboration
The White Paper doesn’t present a one-size-fits-all solution. Instead, it calls on governments, funders, and communities to invest in the enabling conditions of readiness: the space between the visible infrastructure and programs where real systemic change begins.
For funders and policymakers, it’s a case to shift focus from short-term fixes to long-term investment in conditions that make change possible. For local leaders, it’s a framework and language to articulate what their communities need to thrive.
What’s Next
In 2025, Ready Communities expands to Grafton alongside the third annual Social Impact in the Regions conference. The lessons from Macleay across housing, youth pathways, creative industries, agriculture, and CBD activation and importantly the underpinning work of activating community engagement and leadership are being carried forward to inform new work.
The White Paper is not the final word but part of an ongoing conversation. Each year it will capture learning, share impact, and track progress toward stronger, more prepared regional communities.
Follow our work in regional readiness:
The Ready Communities White Paper and Impact Report is an invitation: to learn, contribute, and collaborate in advancing regional readiness.
- * DOWNLOAD the full report.
* Be part of the conversation at Social Impact in the Regions 2025 in Grafton (3-5 September 2025).
Because when regional communities are ready, they don’t just survive change, they shape it.
