ReActivate Latrobe Valley facilitates projects that help to build a healthier, more connected and sustainable community and establish our region as a dynamic, creative, prosperous place to live, work and visit. ReActivate Latrobe Valley started in 2011 when the RMIT Office of Urban Transformations Research (OUTR) commenced an innovative project in the Latrobe Valley region. The research-led initiative was designed to look at best-practice strategies for supporting the area to transition away from a reliance on coal. It called upon some of the brightest minds across the globe and implemented their ideas hand-in-hand with the local community. For six years, OUTR invested in the Latrobe Valley under the leadership of Rosalea Monacella and Craig Douglas. During this time, the team delivered a range of successful projects, including the award-winning GetSunflowered installations, Spring and Winter Night Festivals, the 50 Miles Farmer’s Markets and a series of support structures for local creatives. ReActivate Latrobe Valley also partnered with the Traralgon Neighbourhood House to retrofit the Victorian Rail Institute building in Traralgon, forming The VRI. This community learning and doing space has developed into a critical – and much loved - piece of local infrastructure. In 2017, the highly successful research project was handed back to the community to continue. In honour of the work of OUTR, the community developed a fully independent, not-for-profit organisation in the name of ReActivate Latrobe Valley. Today this community-led team continues the work that was started by OUTR, maintaining the initiatives that worked well in the region, and adding their own projects too. ReActivate Latrobe Valley believes that our community can create positive change from the ground up – and that’s exactly what we do. Here’s to building a healthier, more connected and sustainable community together.