Discover what's happening around Jesuit Social Services. No images? Click here Hi, and welcome to another edition of Just News – a big one this week. We're sharing an important update about progress made toward our Reconciliation Action Plan, good news from our Western Sydney vaccination clinic, some impressive activities from The Men's Project, and a beautiful story about the Willmot Community Garden, in our monthly ecological justice section. Grab a cuppa, and we hope you enjoy the edition. We've now migrated more than 200 inboxes to Office 365! If you're not yet one of those 200 people, it's time to book your appointment. To book, check your email – you'll have one from jss.email.migration@itconnexion.com, with the subject line 'From the IT HelpDesk – JSS Email Migration to Office 365'. Follow the link in the email, pick a time, and the IT support team will be in touch. And don't forget, as we're moving through this migration we have a temporary change to the way we book out meeting rooms, cars, and resources. Find the instructions here. In other news, our Rainbow Tick Staff Advisory Group sent an excellent update last week about our organisation's progress towards achieving Rainbow Tick status to be safe, inclusive and affirming for the LGBTIQA+ community. Find it in your inbox. And we're making good progress towards our website redevelopment. In early February, we had a workshop with August, who identified our website needs. This month, they hosted a roadmap workshop, where they walked through the scope and functionality of the new website with the website redevelopment team. We also recently held the first meeting of our website redevelopment steering group, which meets fortnightly to guide the successful implementation of the new website. As we mentioned in Just News 130, there will be opportunities for staff to hear more about the project and provide feedback over coming months. If you have questions about the new website, please contact Andrew Gillett at andrew.gillett@jss.org.au. Finally, for staff who work in central office, the car park has been resealed and is ready to use – whether that's to park your car, or just for taking photos. ![]() ![]() UPDATE — Reconciliation in actionJesuit Social Services has a Reconciliation Action Plan, registered with Reconciliation Australia, which outlines 18 specific actions we've committed to on our journey toward equality between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Our work in this space goes broader and deeper than just these commitments. Each quarter, we plan to highlight some of work taking place across the organisation as part of our reconciliation journey. Below, we share highlights from the first quarter of 2022. Parent Infant Family Australia's COVID-19 pivotFor a number of years our Western Sydney Program has provided therapeutic support to Aboriginal women with infant children living at Emu Plains Correctional Centre. Skilled therapists have delivered group sessions and facilitated art projects to help women address parenting challenges. But COVID-19 restrictions prevented staff from entering the prison precinct – so our staff modified their work to engage with mothers and infants in the local community, through our relationship with Baabayn Aboriginal Corporation, which is co-located with us at the Holy Family site in Emerton. Baabayn have a Mums and Bubs program and we have been able to support their work as we refocus our Parent Infant Family Australia prison program. Program development and collaborative learning with DjirraWe have had a longstanding relationship with Djirra (formerly the Aboriginal Family Violence Legal Service) who have provided our Yarning About Cultural Safety training for many years. This relationship was further formalised more than three years ago, and we have had several staff sub-contracted part-time to Djirra to support the organisation to establish casework and counselling services. Now these services are up and running, the sub-contracting has ended and Djirra has requested we run our internal Leadership Training series of workshops for a group of their staff. This ongoing partnership has provided significant learning for our LPDU about how we embed culturally safe ways of working into our own practice. ![]() STORY — Relationships key to success at Western Sydney vaccination clinicSince late 2021 our Western Sydney team in partnership with NSW Health has delivered more than 1,800 COVID-19 vaccine doses in one of Sydney's most disadvantaged communities. It's now delivering boosters in a culturally safe and caring way – building trust to ease vaccination anxieties. “Our partners and community members knew that if someone was booked into our clinic we would be there to provide support," said Jesuit Social Services' Western Sydney Manager Monique Perusco. "If people weren’t ready on the day, that was okay. We would keep in touch until they felt confident. As more people had positive vaccine experiences, they became powerful advocates, bringing aunties and uncles and brothers and sisters.” ![]() ![]() UPDATE — The Men's ProjectThe Men's Project has had a busy couple of months of events, research, and workshops, including:
Thanks to The Men's Project for sharing this exciting update. We welcome news from every team – please hit the button below to let Just News know what your team has been up to lately. ![]() ![]() Welcome back to our regular Ecological Justice update, which appears here in every second edition of Just News. In this edition, we dive into our recently released discussion paper on the effects of climate change on people in prison, and share the story of how a Western Sydney volunteer led the transformation of the Willmot Community Hub garden. Prisons as a last resort in a just zero-carbon transitionHave you seen Jesuit Social Services’ recently released ‘Prisons, climate, and a just transition’ discussion paper? The paper argues in a climate-changed world, Australia must reduce its reliance on prisons. In this Q&A blog, our Policy and Advocacy Manager John Ryks explains what a ‘just transition’ means, and how people in prison are some of the first and worst affected by climate change. Willmot garden transformation more than just a tidier lawnIn this blog, read how a Western Sydney volunteer led the transformation of Jesuit Social Services’ Willmot Community Hub garden from a formerly dried out, rough and bare lawn, to a lush space where people could gather and kids could play – a place to connect with community and nature. In case you missed itIn Just News 131 we shared this blog in response to the latest report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which identified Australia as suffering greater impacts from climate change than any other advanced economy. We argue that the call for climate adaptation must leave no one behind. Questions?If you have questions about our ecological justice work contact Ecological Justice Project Officer, Jack Piper, on 0429 268 904 or at jack.piper@jss.org.au. ![]() National Disability Insurance SchemeWe’ve marked six months of work as a specialist NDIS provider! Our Specialist Support Coordination program started in October 2021 with one staff member, Cherish Clark, and now supports 16 participants – including many young people with disabilities who are involved in the justice system – and is preparing to grow. NDIS Business Manager Xavier Balkin told Just News the program enables NDIS participants to meet their goals, increase independence, and reduce barriers to accessing support. "The NDIS can offer a lot of opportunities for people with disabilities in Australia, but it can also be hard to navigate. The Specialist Support Coordination program supports participants to build capacity, connect to services and engage in their communities. As an organisation that specialises in supporting people with complex needs, we feel we have a lot to offer participants in the NDIS." PrecedaDon’t worry if you missed our Preceda training last week – there are two helpful resources for using our payroll system available on Gemba. Searching for the word ‘Preceda’ will show you:
Business Support Services GuideDon’t know who/where to go to for certain information in Business Support? The Business Support Services Guide is a great place to start. It includes what emails to use for different requests and what team within Business Support Services can help you with queries. Log into Gemba and find it by searching ‘Business Support’. ![]() Thursday saw publication of the final report of the Inquiry into Victoria's Criminal Justice System – the result of a wide-ranging inquiry that explored serious issues in Victoria’s criminal justice system. Our media release welcomed the report's focus on place-based responses to effective reduce crime and strengthen communities. Also on Thursday, or CEO Julie Edwards hosted a webinar on school and the justice system for our Worth A Second Chance campaign. The online event was attended by nearly 150 people and included staff members John Andrew and Kane Apelu on our expert panel – you can watch the recording of the full webinar here. And last Tuesday was World Water Day – if you missed it, we published a thoughtful reflection by Andy Hamilton SJ on the impact of water, in both over-abundance and scarcity, on disadvantaged people, and our collective responsibility to respect and share this vital resource. ![]() "The recommendations in the report make it clear that there is a better way forward – by focusing on what works in reducing crime in the first place, strengthening diversion pathways to ensure prison is only ever used as a last resort and providing holistic and effective support to prevent people from having contact with the system in the first place.”— Julie Edwards, Jesuit Social Services CEO ![]() ![]() If you've got an update or story to tell, or want to share your feedback, we're happy to hear from you. Use the buttons below to share your thoughts. |