CEO Update | September 2012
The past six months have been a busy and exciting period for Open Family Australia. The merge of Open Family Australia with Whitelion continues to yield positive outcomes for both organisations, in both program and back of house areas.
In July we relocated our head office to West Melbourne where back office staff of Open Family Australia and Whitelion have now come together under one roof. Our aim in bringing together our marketing, administration and human resource functions is to achieve efficiencies in both resources and costs, helping to strengthen the sustainability of both organisations.
The Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS) recently released a report on the current levels of demand facing Australian nonprofits, with 46% of youth services reporting that they are struggling to meet demand. We can certainly attest to this having experienced increased demand for outreach support across all of the regions in which we operate.
As part of Open Family Australia’s ongoing commitment to supporting at-risk young people, we are expanding existing programs, piloting new initiatives and working in collaboration with Whitelion’s program staff on areas where both organisations are best placed to work together to expand our service delivery to young people.
We are in the process of expanding the hours and geographical reach of our mobile youth outreach bus, The Chatterbox, and are currently in talks with services in Melbourne’s Southern suburbs about establishing a mobile outreach presence in the region. We have increased our presence in the Werribee area with the introduction of an employment program to link work-ready young people into roles within organisations that support Open Family Australia.
With the continuing support of Goodman Fielder we will be launching our Nutrition, Outreach, Support and Health (NOSH) bus in Melbourne’s Western suburbs to provide healthy food options as well as hygiene and nutrition information to young people. The NOSH service has been operating in Sydney for almost three years and we are excited to introduce the service in Melbourne.
In Melbourne’s Southern suburbs, we are piloting a mentoring program with Pacific Islander Youth with the support of the Office of Multicultural Affairs and Citizenship. This program addresses needs specific to the Pacific Islander community that have arisen due to restrictions on members’ residency status. You can read more about this program in the enclosed newsletter.
All of these initiatives are underpinned by our model of assertive outreach, which focuses on the needs of each individual young person we support to ensure that we provide the most appropriate care. For as long as it takes – sometimes months, sometimes years – we will support young people to reconnect with their community and work towards a brighter future.
We owe our thanks to you, and all of our generous supporters, for enabling Open Family Australia to reach out to vulnerable young people and continue towards our 35th year in operation. Thank you for taking the time to read about our programs and for continuing to support our work with homeless and at-risk young people.
Mark Watt
Chief Executive Officer
Werribee Races | 2012
On Saturday 31st March 2012, Werribee Racing Club held the inaugural Open Family Australia Charity Race Day.
Jockey Casey Bruce hosted more than 120 diners to a fun day of food, fashion and races, before ducking out to race in, and win, the Primus Australia - 62 Handicap on Brungle Cry. The day saw close competition for Fashions on the Field, a Plasma TV raffled off with thanks to The Good Guys Hoppers Crossing, fierce bidding on auction items including an electric scooter, and punters kept on their toes with Ian Rawlings' Punters Club. Over $20,000 was raised on the day to support our programs in the Wyndham area.
Thank you to all our supporters who attended on the day, our wonderful event volunteers and a special thanks to our race sponsors City West Water, Primus Australia, Programmed Facilities Management and Werribee Automotive Group.
We look forward to partnering again with Werribee Racing Club for our Open Family Australia Charity Race Day 2013 and hope you can join us.
Redfern Community Clean-up Project
As part of The 21 Challenge, one of our Outreach Workers, Liz, set herself the Challenge of cleaning up a community property in Redfern. The property, owned by local Koori elders, had once been a youth drop-in centre that provided a range of services for young people including access to food, showers, accommodation and a place to hang out.
Some years ago the organisation managing the property and its programs relocated and the building has remained vacant for many years. Since that time it has deteriorated into a state of disrepair and the owners, being elderly and in poor health, have not had the time or financial resources to repair it.
As her Challenge, Liz recruited friends, family and some of the young people she works with to clean up the property during the month of June. The project took 21 hours over three weekends and the team cleared an impressive three and a half tonnes of rubbish from the site. The owners of the property were thrilled with the results.
Who Wants To Be A Rockstar | 2012
Open Family Australia were once again the recipients of FICAP's 'Who Wants to be a Rockstar' fundraising event.
FICAP - Financial Industry Community Aid Program - is the brainchild of a group of professionals working in the financial industry in Sydney who wanted to build a community of likeminded people supporting local social issues. Since 2006, the committee of FICAP organise their annual 'Rockstar' event to raise money for two charities undertaking work around Sydney.
This year's event was held on March 21st at the Metro Theatre in Sydney and was attended by a record number of guests. Ten of Sydney's finance industryís wannabe rockstars battled it out for the top title raising $130,000 along the way.
Open Family Australia have been one of FICAP's chosen charities for the past two years with the group raising over $100,000 for our outreach programs during this time. Our sincere thanks go to the FICAP committee for their hard work, dedication and support of Open Family Australia.
For more information on FICAP visit www.ficap.com.au
Our ongoing partnership with Goodman Fielder
Open Family Australia and Goodman Fielder are entering into their 4th year of partnership with the NOSH (Nutrition, Outreach, Health & Support) program. The program, established in 2009 in Sydneyís western suburbs, has provided healthy food options, outreach support and health advice to young people who access our Chatterbox and NOSH services. As part of the program growth, Open Family Australia and Goodman Fielder are introducing the program into Victoria over the coming months.
On Friday August 3rd the CEO of Goodman Fielder, Chris Delaney, hosted a BBQ lunch at head office in North Ryde, Sydney. More than 140 employees attended, together with our CEO Mark Watt and our Sydney team. At the lunch, Mark Watt was presented with a cheque for $10,000 - a generous donation made by Goodman Fielder over and above their annual NOSH/Chatterbox program funding.
Staff of Goodman Fielder raised the additional funding through:
- Participation of more than 200 Goodman Fielder staff and families in Sydney's City2Surf on Sunday 12th August;
- Staff participation in The 21 Challenge; and
- Sydney BBQ lunch for staff selling hamburgers and drinks for $3.
