Hello, and welcome to another edition of Just News. In this edition, we're learning the story behind the Father Brosnan statue you might have seen on Dawson Street in Brunswick, reading an update from our recent diversity strategy session, and together taking action to #RaiseTheAge and keep troubled young people out of prison. As Father Brosnan himself said, people leaving prison need housing, work — and friends.

A warm welcome back to our CEO Julie Edwards, who returned to work last week after three months overseas with family. Read her welcome-back email, where she shares an important perspective on the government's Religious Discrimination Bill, with more to come in her CEO Communication this week.

And a reminder from Just News 128 that your health and safety during COVID-19 is paramount. Sally Parnell asked us to maximise working from home, get a third vaccine dose as soon as required by government regulations, and to wear a mask if you must be in the office. And we have a new, nationally consistent form for people who have COVID-19 symptoms or contact with a positive case — log into Gemba and find it, along with other important documents, at this link.

Father Brosnan statue restored by local Bruswick volunteer

When Brunswick local Timm saw the statue of Father Brosnan outside our Brosnan Centre had been graffitied while staff were working from home, the metalworker reached out and offered to "give the old fella a bath". 

Locals and visitors might be familiar with the Father Brosnan statue, but how many know the story behind the former Pentridge Prison chaplain — and how the Brosnan Centre came to be? In our latest blog post, read about Timm's work restoring the statue to its rightful glory, and the continuing legacy of Father Brosnan's work today. 

“It’s heartening to see Brunswick locals like Timm continue to remember and honour Father Brosnan. Father Brosnan’s advocacy for young people who’ve had contact with the justice system and his determination to break the cycle of disadvantage is still central to our day-to-day work at Jesuit Social Services.” — Daniel Clements, Justice Programs General Manager. 

Jobs Advocates back out in market

In Melbourne's multicultural Preston, around 40 per cent of families speak a language other than English at home. It's one small part of why our multi-lingual Jobs Victoria Advocates team — which collectively speaks eight languages, including Farsi, French and Spanish — attracts so much positive attention at its Preston Market outreach stalls. 

Advocate Teyra Jasso says the team's language skills help job-seekers open up and articulate more specific employment questions, which the Advocates can then answer. 

“Even if you speak English, you don’t feel the same confidence. All the questions that you can imagine, you reduce them to just one or two, because those are the most important ones. So, being able to provide our service in another language is really useful.”

We're thrilled to see the Advocates safely and carefully back doing outreach stalls in shopping centres and markets around Melbourne this week after a brief COVID-related pause. If you see them, say hello, or hola, or سلام!

#MeAt13: kids belong in schools, not prisons

As thousands of children across Australia returned to school this month, hundreds of others remain locked up in prison, because successive governments have failed to raise the age of criminal responsibility.

Jesuit Social Services has long called for governments to #RaiseTheAge from 10 to at least 14, to keep very young children out of prison and in communities, where they belong. Our advocacy on this important issue began almost 10 years ago, and continues today through our Worth A Second Chance campaign.

Last week, hundreds of people took part in a national social media action, sharing photos of themselves at aged 13. This demonstrated to our leaders just how young 13-year-old children are, and just how many Australian support compassionate youth justice systems that give kids in trouble the support they need. 

Worth A Second Chance engages the public on the topic of youth justice, and provides opportunities for us to take action to demand a fairer system. Add your voice to the call to #RaiseTheAge by sending a simple email to your member of parliament. 

Welcome back to our Business Support Services update. Today, we're hearing about our diversity strategy workshop, volunteer training opportunities and internally advertised roles, and hearing tips for using Preceda and completing timesheets.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion

On Thursday 3 February, independent consultant Kellie Lyons presented on the research and thinking behind developing a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) Strategy, to further our DE&I journey. There was an excellent turn-out, with 50 people attending the Zoom meeting. The session included interactive components where participants could answer anonymously on questions posed by Kellie. Thank you to all who participated.

If you weren't able to attend but would like to see Kellie's presentation, or if you would like to be part of the DE&I Consultation Group (with your manager's approval), please email alexandra.fraser@jss.org.au.

Human Resources

We are currently recruiting for Equal Employment Opportunity Contact Officers and Cultural Safety Contact Officers. This expression of interest email from 31 January contains more information about each role. To apply for either role, please email human.resources@jss.org.au with an application letter outlining the position you're applying for, your responses to the Key Selection Criteria, and the names and contact numbers of two referees. For more information, please contact Kirsten Hill on 0417 456 737.

Volunteers

Branka has organised two online group training sessions for volunteers who have not completed the Australian Childhood Foundation Safeguarding Children Training Course. This course is mandatory for all staff and volunteers: it is a key part of our commitment to child safety. If you haven’t completed it, please ensure you do so as soon as possible. Options for completing the course via these online group sessions include: 

• Thursday 24 February from 1pm-3pm; or
• Monday 28 February from 10am-12pm

Please respond with your preferred date to jssvolunteer@jss.org.au by 20 February.

Payroll

Our new Payroll Manager, May, would like to remind you of subject lines for specific emails:

1. For people who send their timesheets to Payroll – the email subject is TIMESHEET for FN dd/mm/yyyy 
2. For Payroll to process Pandemic Leave, the email chain must have to have your General Manager's approval – the email subject is PANDEMIC LEAVE

Preceda access

Here are a few password tips that might assist you when using Preceda:

• Password: Minimum 8, maximum 10 characters; Must begin with an alpha character and contain a minimum of one numeric character; Special characters are allowed, such as #, &, etc.
• If the password doesn’t work two times, you can reset the password by clicking on the Forgotten Password? link on the login screen before it locks you out on the third attempt.
• If you are locked out of the system, please email Payroll@jss.org.au with the subject: URGENT: Preceda Account Reset Required and your account will be unlocked.

Sally Parnell has had a letter published in the NT News articulating our concerns about conditions for young people inside the Territory's youth detention facilities.

And last week we published a media release drawing attention to the disproportionate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on our community's most vulnerable. We added our voice to the social sector's calls for an equitable pandemic response that include higher Jobseeker payments, paid pandemic leave, a pause on mutual obligations, and free rapid antigen tests to keep our community safe.

"There are three things needed by people upon their release from prison: A place to live that is decent. A job they can handle. And friendship, and the hardest to provide is friendship."

— Father Brosnan, former Pentridge Prison chaplain 

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