Westfield Local Heroes

Westfield Local Heroes is a community recognition and grants program that celebrates individuals and their organisations in Australia and New Zealand whose work makes a positive impact on their local community or environment.

Community members nominate their heroes, and nominees and the organisations they represent then complete the nomination. Following this, we select three finalists for each Westfield destination to go through to the community vote.

To make the finalist selections, each Westfield destination establishes a selection panel with team members from across our business. We also invite local council employees or representatives to join the selection panels to expand the depth of community insight applied during this process. Every hero nomination is read and rated against set criteria by multiple assessors on the panel. Following this, the selection panel meet to discuss the nominations before selecting the three finalists for each Westfield destination. We also undertake validation checks during the selection process.

Communities are then invited to vote for their preferred hero and the hero with the highest number of community votes for each of our 42 destinations is awarded a $20,000 grant for the organisation or group they represent, and each finalist receives a $5,000 grant for their organisation or group.

Our Westfield Local Heroes program has created an alumni of 865 community organisations, investing a total of almost $8.6 million since the program’s inception in 2018. The contribution represents the ongoing support to connect and enrich the local communities in which Westfield destinations operate.

Westfield Local Heroes Australia

Westfield Local Heroes New Zealand