Executive Director of Business Support, Phil Hodgson, recently wrote to all staff regarding excessive annual leave balances. The Executive team recognises that many staff have had to postpone or cancel leave due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.

In order to help staff get their leave balances to comply with our annual leave policy, General Managers are being sent a summary of all their staff that are over four weeks and will be discussing a plan to reduce the balance with applicable staff members. Read Phil's full email here.

CAPSA National Week of Prayer and Action 

Each year, Catholic Alliance for People Seeking Asylum holds a National Week of Prayer and Action (NWPA) to engage the Australian Catholic community across schools, organisations and parishes, to take action and stand in solidarity with people seeking asylum. This year the NWPA will begin on 26th September 2021 the day of World Migrant and Refugee Sunday, and run through to 1st October 2021.

Over the years we have seen the Australian Catholic community rally together in support of people seeking asylum. School students have held outdoor assemblies and actions, whilst local parishes have partaken in ‘circles of silence’ and prayer vigils to show their support. This year, we are calling on the CAPSA community to take Action for Afghanistan during NWPA 2021.  

As a part of this year’s NWPA, CAPSA is hosting a Webinar: A Call to Prayer and Action for Afghanistan, happening next Tuesday 28th September at 7:00pm. We look forward to welcoming key expert speakers including community leaders from Afghanistan in Australia who will speak to the current situation in Afghanistan and what action the diaspora community is calling for, as well as Fr Frank Brennan SJ AO who will highlight the importance of acting together for social justice as a Catholic community. This webinar will be an opportunity for the CAPSA community to come together online to take further action as a part of our Action for Afghanistan campaign. Additional speakers will be announced in the lead up to this event. 

There are a number of ways you can take #ActionForAfghanistan and stand in solidarity with the Afghan community during this year’s National Week of Prayer and Action!

The TOP 3 ways you can take action during the National Week of Prayer and Action 2021:

1. Send an email to your local MP urging them to take #ActionForAfghanistan - https://capsaau.good.do/afghanistan/afghanistan/ 
2. Attend the upcoming CAPSA Webinar: ‘A Call to Prayer and Action for Afghanistan’ - register HERE, and see the Facebook Event Page HERE.
3. Sign the Action for Afghanistan petition HERE

Visit www.capsa.org.au/nwpa21 to find out how you can take action this NWPA and share this page with your friends, family and networks.

5th National Justice Symposium site now live

Jesuit Social Services and the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency recently co-hosted the 5th National Justice Symposium, which brought together stakeholders from across the country to explore the ingredients for change from the grassroots to the system level.

We have created a website to host the live session recordings and speaker information. It can be found here: https://www.njs21.jss.org.au/.

We also produced an 8-minute highlight reel, which you can view above. The video provides a snapshot of the key messages we heard and the significant emotional highs of the day too. The video will support our advocacy to key decision-makers around the country, and support our Worth a Second Chance Raise The Age campaign.

LPDU creating LGBTIQ+ training

LPDU are a small team and are developing online training with the assistance of staff who volunteered to be involved. If you are not already involved, LPDU would still love your assistance. 

Do you have a story you would like to share that demonstrates LGBTIQ+ inclusive practice? Or something that you have been involved in or witnessed that made you feel like you were in an inclusive workplace? On the other hand, do you have any examples where you have experienced or witnessed negativity or discrimination, that you would feel comfortable sharing for the purposes of learning?

We are looking for staff experiences to share in a recorded session focusing on ‘Creating a safe organisation the for LGBTIQ+ community’. You may want to write something so it can be presented anonymously or if you are happy to be in front of the camera we could record you.

Please contact Aimee Chiller if you would like to discuss (aimee.chiller@jss.org.au, or 0428 439 069).

Vaccination centre helping Western Sydney navigate COVID-19

Western Sydney, where Jesuit Social Services has provided a range of programs and services since 2008, is one of the critical locations at the centre of New South Wales’ COVID-19 outbreak.

Our research into locational disadvantage, conducted over more than 20 years, demonstrates that locations in Western Sydney, including Mount Druitt, are among the most disadvantaged locations in NSW.

Preventing the spread of the virus and promoting health and safety among Western Sydney residents is critically important in supporting the community to navigate the current crisis.

That is why Jesuit Social Services, in partnership with Emerton’s Holy Family Parish, has taken a leadership role in establishing a vaccination centre in Western Sydney.

Financial Literacy Empowerment Program wins support

Jesuit Community College was thrilled to recently be awarded 12 months’ support from the ANZ Community Foundation to deliver its’ vital ‘Life Skills: Financial Literacy Empowerment Program’.

A series of practical and informative workshops will be rolled out for those who are most at-risk and face barriers to education and employment.

“Many in this cohort are women. They are over-represented in low paid and insecure work. They live in a constant downward spiral of overwhelming debt” said Danielle Sherry who will be overseeing the program.

Life Skills: Financial Literacy Empowerment Program builds on the success of the College’s ‘Money for Life’ program.

“The support from the ANZ Community Foundation enables us to take the program a step further- to also deliver a tailored training and mentoring program supporting others to co-deliver workshops to their communities. These ‘Change Makers’ will develop much needed skills, earn an income and gain hands-on work experience. You never know, it might the first step towards a whole new career path” she said.

For more information, contact Danielle.Sherry@jss.org.au or phone 03 9415 8700.

Tao, a facilitator with our Men’s Project, spoke to ABC about his work with young men. “Banter is one of those things where the social teasing … the dialogue that sort of could be misogynistic or sexist by nature … that behaviour is also ingrained into social dynamics,” he says. Read the article here or listen to the ABC Radio segment here.

The Men’s Project and Mornington Peninsula Shire Council will present a webinar to explore the pressures boys and men face living up to stereotypical and outdated rules of manhood. The webinar, tomorrow night, will draw on the Men’s Project’s Man Box research into the attitudes and behaviours of young Australian men. Read more here.

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