Welcome back to Just News. In today's edition: All Staff Day is just around the corner, an important update about progress against our Reconciliation Action Plan, and a (re) introduction to our new Director of Identity and Ethos. We hope you enjoy the edition.

All Staff Day is on Thursday 1 December!

It's been almost three years since we were last able to connect in-person for All Staff Day. But now, it's finally time to come together, in Melbourne and on Zoom, on Thursday 1 December. All Staff Day is an important organisational day and a great opportunity to connect with each other, and there is an expectation that all staff attend. If you are unable to attend (either in person or by Zoom), please discuss with your manager.

Our program runs from 9:30am AEDT to 1:30pm AEDT, with lunch to follow. Here's what else you need to know:

• If you haven't already, you must register to attend (please do this ASAP!)
• If you're travelling to Melbourne for All Staff Day, please complete a request to travel form (document 8.4.13a on Gemba), have it approved by your manager, and then send it to reception@jss.org.au
• If you have any questions, our events team is at events@jss.org.au

Looking forward to seeing you there!

NEWS | Meet Claire Thomas, our new Director of Identity and Ethos

Many of you will already know Claire Thomas, our long-standing School and Community Engagement Manager in Western Sydney, who also leads our monthly morning reflections and co-facilitates The Long Walk Retreat. In Julie Edwards' all-staff email on 17 October, Claire's new role as our Director of Ethos and Identity was announced – a newly created position, developed by Julie and the Board over recent years, to ensure our unique organisational identity remains strong long into the future.

"It's about making sure we're embedding our why and how in everything we do," Claire told Just News on a recent visit to Melbourne, where she'll spend more time while remaining based in Mount Druitt for 2023.

"I'll be working closely with teams at all levels across the organisation, listening to pick up what might be useful – for example, workshops and trainings and other activities around our values, principles, way of working, and identity as an organisation, so our unique Jesuit Social Services identity continues to flourish throughout the organisation and our work."

Claire has lived and worked in Western Sydney for more than 20 years, working first as a teacher, and holding leadership roles in youth, community, school and Jesuit contexts. She starts her new role in a part-time capacity, maintaining aspects of her work in Western Sydney, before gradually transitioning to spend more time in her new position, where she'll work closely with teams across Jesuit Social Services.

UPDATE | Recent progress against our Reconciliation Action Plan

Jesuit Social Services has a vision of equality where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous people can walk side-by-side, acknowledging the past, but looking to the future. In pursuit of this commitment, we have a Reconciliation Action Plan, registered with Reconciliation Australia, which outlines 18 specific actions we've committed to on our journey toward equality. 

A key action in the ‘Relationship’ component of our Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan is to establish and maintain mutually beneficial relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stakeholders and organisations. Jesuit Social Services has been doing this for many years across our programs, our worksites and the communities we are a part of. The Advocacy & Strategic Communications team have developed an engagement strategy to document and consolidate our work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stakeholders. The engagement strategy is now available to review on Gemba.

Rainbow Training: Enhancing Cultural Safety

You would have seen you're enrolled in Rainbow Training: Enhancing Cultural Safety (this enrolment came as an email from Sentrient). One way to get the most out of the training is to watch the YouTube clip as a team, leaving time to unpack some of the reflections in the manual. You'll find the manual in your Sentrient dashboard; look at it as you watch the training video, and allow about two hours. The voice-over in the video tells you when to pause and which page to look at in the manual for further reflection.

Human Resources

Elmo is the system we now use for recruitment, which means the Authority to Recruit form is no longer used, and has been removed from Gemba. As such, Human Resources should no longer be receiving this form. The new process is to Raise a Requisition (instructions are available on Gemba). If the position you are wanting to recruit is a new position, you'll need to complete the ‘New Position Form’ (form 8.6.5g on Gemba) and then gain appropriate approvals and send to Payroll. The position ID will then be set up, and you'll be notified when you can complete the requisition.

Community sector organisations call on incoming Victorian Government to resource sector climate adaptation

Climate change is exacerbating existing social and health inequities and disproportionately impacting people experiencing marginalisation and disadvantage. Community service and health organisations play a critical role in building resilience, but without the resources to plan and adapt the sector itself is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.

In recognition of the urgent need to adapt and the crucial role of the community sector, Jesuit Social Services’ Centre for Just Places established the Resilience Community of Practice with seed funding from the Greater Melbourne Regional Climate Change Adaptation Strategy. The Community of Practice, which the Centre for Just Places  coordinates, brings together over 20 metropolitan and rural organisations and 40 active members from across community health, community services, and local government, established to support strong partnerships and cross-collaborations between organisations, and re-orient systems towards climate equity. 

The Resilience Community of Practice has put forward a state election platform, calling for strong climate action and urging the incoming Victorian Government to resource a range of measures to strengthen place-based climate adaptation and resilience. You can read the election platform here.

The Centre for Just Places was established by Jesuit Social Services in 2021 with seed funding from Gandel Foundation and the Victorian Government.

The Federal Budget arrived on the same day as Just News 147 – read our media release welcoming some investments in child care, parental leave and housing, and calling on the Government to improve outcomes for some of the country’s most marginalised people by lifting income support rates.

The Men's Project has also been busy – Executive Director Matt Tyler spoke at a webinar on masculinity and toxic influences on 12 October (see highlights here), and we issued a media release stating the importance of engaging with men and boys to help end family violence and ensure better outcomes for everyone, to coincide with the release of the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children.

Finally, if you couldn't make our Lunchtime Learning session on mindfulness, good news! We have a recording of the full session available here (until 15 November), and Andrea, the session facilitator, has a page of helpful resources. If you attended the live session and haven't already, please fill in Andrea's survey on that same page.

“This Federal Budget has been delivered at a very challenging time, with rising inflation, soaring fuel and energy prices and increased cost-of-living pressures not only being experienced in Australia but around the word. Many of the key investments in this Budget, such as cheaper child care, extended parental leave and making medication cheaper, will benefit many at a time of unprecedented challenges... Through our programs we work every day with people who have experienced homelessness, inappropriate or unsafe housing, housing instability and stress, and we see the impact it has on all aspects of their lives. We hope that this initiative makes a tangible difference."

— Julie Edwards, Federal Budget 2022 media release

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