About Alisha Abate

About Alisha

Alisha brings more than 10 years of experience across local government, community development, social policy, the arts and place-based work. Her experience spans housing and homelessness, community wellbeing, gender equity, inclusive engagement, social infrastructure and organisational planning.

She works across teams and sectors to connect research and community knowledge with practical decisions, implementation and review. An intersectional lens considers gender diversity, culture, language, disability access and lived experience.

Her social planning and engagement approach connects community development and social policy with built-environment and spatial practice: how people use places, access services and participate in decisions. Soft Infrastructure brings these perspectives together for local government, public agencies, community organisations and place-based projects across Melbourne and Victoria.

The project accounts distinguish work undertaken through Council employment from independent practice, and explain the contribution that informs the consulting offer today.

Leadership and practical delivery

Alisha’s leadership experience includes leading Darebin Intercultural Centre programming and operations, coordinating Council-wide health and wellbeing planning, leading housing and homelessness work, and coordinating the Australasian Intercultural Cities Network.

Her responsibilities have included programme budgets, staff and contractor coordination, partner relationships, risk assessments, funding proposals, governance and reporting. She connects shared priorities with clear responsibilities and the practical systems needed to carry work forward.

Her approach combines participative decision-making, coaching and shared learning with careful follow-through. Council employment, network roles and independent commissions are identified in the project accounts.

How we can work together

Support can be scoped as a defined assignment, a facilitated session or additional capacity at a key stage. The approach begins with your context, the people involved and the decision or change required.