Social enterprises and community wellbeing in regional Australia

Abstract

This article reflects on a research project that has mapped the ways in which social enterprises in regional Australian cities produce wellbeing for their employees. The majority of enterprises in this study offer supported work opportunities to people with a disability while also running commercially viable enterprises delivering goods and services to regional communities. These enterprises demonstrate the challenges and the potential for organisations in regional settings to contribute in meaningful ways, not only to the wellbeing of the workers they support, but to the wellbeing of the broader community. This article considers how social enterprises are understood to be contributing to regional communities and situates them as key actors in a community economy that contributes to wider community wellbeing as distinct from individual wellbeing.