Welcome to another edition of Just News, and welcome back to the office for our staff in Victoria – many of whom are gradually returning to offices after nearly two years working mostly from home. We hope you didn't leave anything in the fridge. Read on for a heartwarming story about a Navigator program participant, Steven, an incisive climate action blog from our Centre for Just Places, and tips from our Business Support Services team on how to avoid getting locked out of Preceda in their now-fortnightly update.  

For those staff members newly back in offices who need to book meeting rooms (or cars or resources), Trent emailed us a temporary change to our booking system as we navigate our Office 365 email migration. 

We've successfully migrated more than 100 inboxes, and yours might be next! Don't forget to book your appointment to switch over if you haven't yet. 

And finally, with our CEO Julie Edwards back from extended leave, she's transitioning our ad hoc morning reflections into a regular, monthly event. From April, we'll have the opportunity to meet via Zoom every first Wednesday of the month, from 8 – 8:30am, for a thoughtful, guided reflection. These sessions are entirely optional, but all are welcome.

STORY — Hands-on help gets Steven back in school

Steven has had a tough life. He's had conflict at home, and has been diagnosed with a learning disability. School wasn't a fun place for him, and when we met Steven, he'd only attended three days of school in the entire previous year.

But our Navigator program was there to help. Steven's Navigator case worker listened, built trust, and gave practical support. Now Steven's at school every week, usually four days a week, and has new confidence to apply for work experience and seize new opportunities. See how this happened in this short participant story.

BLOG — The call for climate adaptation must leave no one behind

Disadvantaged and marginalised people are some of the first and worst affected by climate change. In our new blog, read about the impact of sweltering heatwaves and polluted air on the most disadvantaged members of our society – and our call for decisive action to resource a zero-carbon future, where no one is left behind. 

The Centre for Just Places is our centre for place-based research and action which seeks to build local capacity to ensure all Australian communities have opportunities to flourish. Local people know best how to counter the challenges they face, and resourcing local, place-based solutions is the way forward.

UPDATE — Worth A Second Chance's webinar series returns on 24 March

Two out of three young people in the justice system had been expelled or suspended before their arrest. Yet we know school provides the support and structure young people need to get their lives back on track. School is a pathway to a second chance – but how do we get kids on it?

We explore these questions and unearth solutions in our new, free webinar, School Not Prison: education as a pathway out of the justice system, presented by our youth justice advocacy campaign, Worth A Second Chance, on Thursday 24 March.

We'll hear from expert panelists – including former Children's Court President Paul Grant, justice reform expert Laura Chipp, our housing programs manager Kane Apelu, and Ignatius Learning Centre principal John Andrew – and participate in a lively Q+A untangling challenges and justice solutions. The webinar is free and open to all – we hope you can make it.

Survey to measure our carbon footprint

If you haven’t already done so, please complete our anonymous survey about how you commute to and from work in a typical, non-COVID-affected week. The survey takes just 3-5 minutes, and will help us measure Jesuit Social Services’ carbon footprint – the first step towards us becoming a carbon-neutral organisation. Find the survey here, and learn more about this project in Just News 129.

The survey is administered by an organisation called Pangolin Associates. If you have any questions or issues with the survey, please email Ecological Justice Support Officer Jack Piper, or Contracts Officer Vicky Backhouse. 

Preceda training session via Zoom

Is Thursday, 17 March, from 10am – 11am AEDT.

Preceda is Jesuit Social Services’ payroll and employee self-service platform. This drop-in session is aimed at helping you navigate this system, including an opportunity to troubleshoot any issues you may be experiencing. Session content will be guided by the needs of those attending the training, and may include how to:

• Access your payslip
• Project leave into the future
• Update personal details
• For line managers, how to understand workflow approvals and manage team information.

To register for the training: gain approval from your supervisor, email JSS Staff Training and cc your supervisor. The Learning & Practice Development Unit will then register you for the session and send you a confirmation email and calendar invitation.

Accessing Preceda

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

TO LOG IN

• Username: 00xxxx, where ‘xxxx’ is your four-digit payroll number.
• Password: minimum eight, maximum 10 characters, must begin with an alpha character and contain at least one number, special characters (#, &, !, etc) are allowed.
• Client: jesuit

PASSWORD TROUBLE

• If the password doesn’t work twice, you can reset by clicking ‘forgotten password?’, before it locks you out on the third attempt.
• If you’re locked out of the system, please email Payroll with the subject: URGENT: Preceda Account Reset Required, and your account will be unlocked.

We're keeping the heat on the worrying issues in the Northern Territory's youth justice system – our CEO Julie Edwards had a full-page opinion piece in the Sunday Territorian arguing it's not too late to recommit to a strong and effective justice system, based on restorative principles, that keep people out of prison and help them turn their lives around.

And we've responded to a new climate change report from the United Nations, highlighting in our media release that local communities across Australia are bearing the brunt of climate change and immediate action is needed to tackle disadvantage and mitigate the devastating effects of a changing climate on our society's most vulnerable. 

"Through our decades of work with people and communities, we see that the impacts of climate change disproportionately impact the most disadvantaged people and communities, which exacerbates existing inequality and marginalisation."

 — 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.