Redfern-Waterloo
UPDATE OCTOBER 2005 Redfern-Waterloo Authority
REFORMING
HUMAN SERVICES • 10 PRIORITY AREAS • INSIDE YOUTH PRECINCTS
Providing better human services in Redfern and Waterloo
Draft Redfern-Waterloo Human Services Plan
The Draft Redfern-Waterloo Human Services Plan
will be on public exhibition until close of business on Friday 11 November 2005.
Feedback from the community is encouraged and can
be submitted in writing, by email or via the feedback form on the
Redfern-Waterloo Authority (RWA) website. Contact details are listed below.
A copy of the complete draft Plan and implementation
schedule can be downloaded
from the RWA website, obtained by phoning RWA
or sending a request by email.
Draft
Human Services Plan Public Information Forum
A Public Information Forum about the Plan will be held on
Saturday 29 October
1.30 – 3.30 pm
Redfern Town Hall
73 Pitt Street, Redfern
Tell us
what you think …
Redfern-Waterloo Authority
Level 11,Tower 2, 1 Lawson
Square,
Redfern NSW 2016
PO Box 3332, Redfern 2016
Email (general):redfernwaterloo@rwa.nsw.gov.au
Email (Draft Human Services Plan): humanservices@rwa.nsw.gov.au
Website: www.redfernwaterloo.com.au
Telephone: 9202 9100
Facsimile: 9202 9111
Reforming human services in Redfern and Waterloo
During 2004 the New South Wales Government
undertook to improve the quality of human services provided in Redfern and Waterloo. The Redfern Waterloo
Authority (RWA) was given responsibility for developing a Human Services Plan
for the area.
Beginning in April this year extensive
consultation was undertaken with local service organisations and members of the
community. This included four community workshops and 16 meetings with service
provider cluster groups.
Current situation
There are more than 100 government and non-government human services organisations
delivering more than 190 services to the Redfern-Waterloo community. $40
million is spent annually by the NSW Government on service delivery into
Redfern-Waterloo of which one quarter is for the provision of services through
non-government organisations.
Some services in the area are poorly coordinated, with service delivery
hindered by administrative inefficiencies, poor governance and red tape.
The Plan
This Human Services Plan forms part of a wider Redfern-Waterloo Plan. The
Redfern-Waterloo Plan will set out a staged, comprehensive framework for
revitalising Redfern and Waterloo
through urban renewal, employment and enterprise and reforms to the delivery of
human services in the area.
The Human Services Plan has been developed by the RWA using the ideas
and suggestions of the community. The Plan is broken up into ten priority areas
that capture the spirit and concerns of issues raised during consultations in
April and May. Actions for implementation have been identified for each
priority area.
Given the large number of service providers and the wide range of
issues, the Human Services Plan is being developed in two phases.
Phase One covers services primarily provided to children and families,
Aboriginal people and young people.
The planning for Phase Two will commence by the end of the year and
involve the development of further improvements to services for the aged,
homeless people, people with disabilities and migrant communities.
Priorities and actions
The Plan will have a positive impact on families and children in Redfern
and Waterloo
owing to the RWA’s sustained effort, innovation and a concentration on early
identification and prevention services.
Children and young people will be the greatest beneficiaries of Phase
One of the Human Services Plan. It will have a strong focus on education and
employment, in particular on school retention rates, academic performance and
transition between pre-school and school and school to work. Additionally
services to children and families will be targeted for improvement through
better coordination and cooperation, more streamlined administration and more
rigorous governance.
The resultant impacts to the rest of the community will be felt through
a greater sense of safety and well being.
Priority
1 – Improving the health and well-being of children
Key actions
• Improve access to sustained antenatal and postnatal
home visiting to vulnerable families;
• Place family resource workers in childcare centres
to help families with 0 to 5 year old children; and
• 100 additional childcare places for children living
in low income households.
Priority
2 – Lifting local school numeracy and literacy levels to at least the State
average
Key actions
• Develop transition to school program guidelines for
all childcare services to improve school readiness for pre-school children;
• Improve literacy among disadvantaged children by
establishing a Tutorial Centre in partnership with the Exodus Foundation; and
• Support specialised literacy programs such Reading
Recovery and Early Literacy that assist students who are behind in reading
skills.
Priority
3 – Lifting local school attendance and retention rates to at least the
State average
Key actions
• Redfern Police and local schools will work together
to ensure students are not absent from school without permission;
• Introduce family conferencing in schools to engage
parents, students and teachers in preventing truancy;
• Implement student leadership programs in local
schools; and
• Increase family participation in school activities.
Priority
4 – Improving support for vulnerable people
Key actions
• Improve access to counselling for families and children
experiencing hardship;
• Improve support for children with disabilities by
identifying problems at an early stage;
• Establish an Early Intervention Team to assist at
risk families access support services; and
• Improve assistance to individuals and families in
need by reducing red tape and improving cooperation between Government agencies
and non-government service providers.
Priority
5 – Reducing the incidence of family violence
Key actions
• Establish a Taskforce to investigate options for
developing a Family Violence Service in Redfern-Waterloo;
• Implement immediately the Blackout Violence program,
anti-violence programs based in schools targeting young men and boys;
• Improve access to crisis accommodation for families
affected by domestic and family violence; and
• Provide urgent after-hours assistance and accommodation
to children and young people experiencing family violence.
Priority
6 – Increasing the participation and involvement of young people in the
community
Key actions
• Integrate and co-locate youth services into three
youth precincts;
• Ensure that youth services are open when young
people need them and deliver a range of services that assist young people
access training, employment and other development opportunities; and
• Improve access to general health and mental health
services for young people.
Priority
7 – Increasing the numbers of young people accessing employment and training
opportunities
Key actions
• Establish a Training Centre at North
Eveleigh focussing initially on the construction, hospitality and
transport industries;
• Provide all years 9, 10, 11 and 12 attending local schools
with:
– school-to-work plans;
– access to work experience in the local area;
– assistance in obtaining clothing for attending job interviews.
• Provide locally based pre-vocational education and
training courses;
• Increase part-time school based apprenticeships and
traineeships linked to local employment; and
• Provide education and training assistance for young
mothers disconnected from the labour force.
Priority
8 – Reducing drug and alcohol misuse
Key actions
In addition to ongoing Police operations to reduce drug availability in
the Redfern Waterloo area the RWA will:
• Reinstate the Redfern-Waterloo Drug Action Taskforce
to implement community based drug awareness education and prevention
initiatives; and
• Develop a Drug and Alcohol Health Promotion campaign
as another tool in preventing drug use and misuse in the area.
Priority
9 – Reducing offending and recidivism
Key actions
• Increase the use of Youth Justice Conferencing for
victims of crime and offenders;
• Provide support to people returning to the community
from adult or juvenile correctional facilities to prevent re-offending;
• Provide post release accommodation for women; and
• Implement the Redfern-Waterloo Community Safety
Plan developed in partnership with the City of Sydney.
Priority
10 – Building community capacity
Key actions
• Develop a cultural training package, which includes
issues relevant to Aboriginal and other cultural groups, for NSW Government and
non-government services providers;
• Develop a common web portal for non-government
organisations;
• Implement a communication strategy that supports
community ownership and improves access to local services; and
• Develop a cultural heritage program including:
– commissioning of a history project that involves an oral history of
the Redfern and Waterloo
area;
– ensuring the participation of long term residents;
– incorporating the story of the area pre-settlement.
YOUTH
PRECINCTS
The first step in implementing the Human Services Plan will be to
establish ‘one-stop-shops’ for youth services based on three precincts by mid
2006.
The precincts will be:
1. Redfern East
2. Waterloo
3. Redfern West
The Alexandria
Park School
will also act as another hub for service delivery to young people and families.
Programs for young people to be provided from the precincts include:
• Employment & training
• Counselling
• Cultural
• Sporting
• Health
• Mentoring
• Leadership
REMEMBER
THE FEEDBACK DEADLINE IS FRIDAY 11 NOVEMBER