Earlier this week ABC TV's 7.30 Report ran a story on Mission Australia's Pasifika - a successful juvenile justice program our organisation ran in south west Sydney until recently.

Every day across Australia around 1,000 young people are held in detention. With state governments increasingly imposing tougher bail on young offenders detention numbers are at a four year high and costs are spiralling. Pasifika shows how the problem can be solved for a fraction of the price.

To view the full 7.30 Report story, please click here.

Like many community service organisations Mission Australia can only exist with the support of volunteers like Malcolm Senior - incredibly generous people willing to give their time and efforts to make a difference in the lives of others.

Malcolm Senior – who sadly passed away last fortnight aged 87 – was a man characterised by a passion and commitment to helping people in need, attributes which saw him volunteer for Mission Australia for almost 25 years.

Malcolm will be greatly missed by the many people within Mission Australia who had the pleasure of working alongside him.

Malcolm first volunteered with the Sydney City Mission in the early 1980s. As an experienced coach driver, he volunteered his time driving bus loads of aged clients on day trips out of the city.

In 1993, Malcolm offered to provide a free courier service within Sydney's CBD for Mission Australia. He was a man completely dedicated to his work and would continually go above and beyond what was expected of him making regular trips to Mission Australia services in Mount Druitt, Green Valley, and Sefton – locations well outside the CBD.

Even after a quadruple bypass Malcolm was keen to keep volunteering and only agreed to rest up and spend more time with his beloved wife Edna after many suggestions from Mission Australia.

But even then Malcolm still found time to work for Meals-on-Wheels and Mission Australia from time to time.

Malcolm was a remarkable man who led an incredible life, helping everyone around him along the way. On behalf of the hundreds of people who Malcolm helped over the years, and on behalf of our staff, Mission Australia would like to publicly thank and honour Malcolm Senior. Our condolences are with Malcolm’s wife Edna.

For the last six years the National Drug and Alcohol Awards have been held as a final event of Drug Action week. The NDAA are held to honour the dedication and innovation within the Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) sector.

This year TCF was nominated for “Excellence in services for Young People” and out of a very completive field were named one of three finalists and invited to the Gala Dinner, held in the Grand Ballroom, Parliament House Canberra.

Triple Care Farm was named the winner of the Excellence in Services for Young People award.

There were around 300 guests from throughout Australia at the Gala Dinner hosted by The Hon. Nicola Roxon Minister for Health and Ageing. There were also representatives from the AER Foundation, Australian Government: Department of Health and Ageing, Australian Government: Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, ACT Health and The Pharmacy Guild of Australia.

The National Drug and Alcohol Awards is a collaborative effort of the Ted Noffs Foundation, the Alcohol and Other Drugs Council of Australia, the Australian Drug Foundation and the Australian National Council on Drugs.

This award is a fantastic acknowledgment of the work Triple Care Farm does to support young Australian’s to make real and lasting change in their lives.

Acceptance Speech
“Thank you so much. It is a wonderful thing to accept this on behalf of the team at Mission Australia’s Triple Care Farm.

A growing number of young people are faced with and overcoming our communities most difficult challenges: addiction, mental illness, homelessness, unemployment, violence, trauma and disconnection. At an age where most Australians are forging an identity and building their future, these young people are struggling to survive.

Mission Australia’s Triple Care Farm has always sought to be a safe place for young people to make change, guiding them on a pathway through a successful youth.

A place where who you are is more important than where you’re from or what you’ve done. A place where it’s okay to be afraid of the dark but there is no reason to be. Where having a voice is valued, and there is space to make a change.

Thank you to Mission Australia for their continued strengthening of the program to met young people where they are at.

To our corporate and community partners, particularly Sir David Martin Foundation, thank you for your heartfelt generosity and connectedness with the work.

To our government partners thank you for recommitting to resourcing the program.

Thank you to the amazing team of staff and volunteers at Triple Care Farm for their genuine compassion, their tirelessness even when they are tired, their patience with the process, and their eagerness to acknowledge achievement.

Finally I’d like to dedicate this award to the courageous young people who are willing to change and the resilience of the communities who support them. Thank you”

More Information about the Award from the National Drug and Alcohol Website
www.drugawards.org.au

2009 Awards
Now in its sixth year, the National Drug and Alcohol Awards (NDAA) honour the dedication and innovation within the Alcohol and Other Drug (AOD) sector. Award finalists and winners were announced at the Gala Dinner at the culmination of Drug Action Week, Friday 26 June 2009 in the Great Hall of Parliament House in Canberra.

The hosting of the National Drug and Alcohol Awards is a collaborative effort of the Ted Noffs Foundation (TNF), the Alcohol and other Drugs Council of Australia (ADCA), the Australian Drug Foundation (ADF), the Australian National Council on Drugs (ANCD).

The NDAA was sponsored by the AER Foundation, Australian Government: Department of Health and Ageing, Australian Government: Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations, ACT Health and The Pharmacy Guild Of Australia.

Excellence in services for young people (from the NDAA website)
This award recognises that young people are important and any service/organisation that targets young people is eligible to apply. It is not just limited to alcohol and drug-specific services, but includes any service/organisation that has an impact on the alcohol and drug use of young people.

Judging criteria — that the service:
• is based on good practice and/or research evidence
• recognises participation as vital, and involves young people in as many phases of the project as possible (ie developmental, intervention delivery, evaluation)
• values monitoring and evaluation, and has as been found to have a positive impact on the lives of the young people involved.

A new era in employment services for Adelaide begins today with the launch of the new youth-focused Mission Australia Employment Solutions centre in Elizabeth.

The South Australian Minister of Employment, Training and Further Education, Michael O'Brien, will launch the office this morning.

Mission Australia’s Executive Leader of Employment Services, Leisa Hart, will attend the launch, along with about 60 local employers and a group of young job seekers.

Ms Hart says the Elizabeth site is one of 93 Mission Australia has been contracted to provide across the country under the Federal Government’s new Job Services Australia (JSA) scheme, which came into effect earlier this week.

However, Ms Hart said the Elizabeth service was one of three the organisation would provide across the country with a specific focus on young unemployed people.

“In awarding its JSA contracts, the Federal Government identified particular regions where youth unemployment is particularly high and young people were vulnerable,” Ms Hart says.

“Young people in Elizabeth and the greater Playford area historically have had difficulty in finding a job, and the global financial crisis has not helped their efforts.”

Statistics from the Northern Adelaide Employment Service Area – which includes the region covered by the new Mission Australia site at Elizabeth – indicate the unemployment rate in the area is 9.1 per cent (March 2009), compared with 7.3 per cent in the area covering central Adelaide and 6.3 per cent across South Australia. It is the third highest unemployment rate in employment service areas around the country.

However, Ms Hart says that according to the most recent available employment figures for the City of Playford – which were released as part of the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ 2006 Census – youth unemployment across Elizabeth and surrounding suburbs was between 25 and 33 per cent.

“If youth unemployment rates were above 30 per cent in some of these areas while Australia was experiencing the economic boom three years ago, it’s likely they are much higher in these tough times,” Ms Hart says.

“Mission Australia’s employment services are about helping employers determine who and what they need, and to link them with the many Australians looking for long-term jobs.

“But at our youth at risk sites – including Elizabeth – we’ll be doing much more to give young job seekers the skills, training and confidence required to ensure they are ready to seek, find and keep jobs.”

Ms Hart says Mission Australia has a network of people and services who work with young people at risk in the Elizabeth area to help them overcome barriers to employment such as inadequate family and accommodation support, drug and alcohol problems, and insufficient formal education qualifications.

“Mission Australia will work with these services to ensure Elizabeth’s young job seekers are prepared for interviews and confident in their ability to win and sustain the jobs they seek.”

Recently the Daily Telegraph recorded a video of the new Missionbeat Bicycle service in action on the inner streets of Sydney - come and take a look at the guys in action, providing assistance to homeless people in need:

Please click here to be redirected to the video.

Hearing from Mission Australia’s staff about what’s happening in their services can be incredibly inspiring.

Here are two recent breakthroughs reported from Mission Australia’s front line:

An incredible turnaround for Kate

Kate* came to Mission Australia Wagga’s Youth Connections program with complex issues including self harm and very low self esteem. After receiving Mission Australia’s help with her personal issues as well as her accommodation for the past six months, Kate has now secured a one bedroom Department of Housing unit in central Wagga.

Kate has now left Mission Australia’s care full of confidence, engaging in social activities, and enrolled in TAFE.

All the staff are extremely happy with Kate’s achievements and will stay in touch with her to make sure she keeps progressing.

Life changing progress for Madison

When Madison* came to Mission Australia’s Miller Pre-school she was experiencing mild to moderate developmental delays, autism and very severe behaviour problems.

Over the first term of her enrolment her behaviours escalated on a daily basis. She always required one-on-one adult support and occasionally required two adults to keep her peers and herself safe.

The Miller Pre-school team called a meeting, and along with an occupational therapist, set about identifying triggers in the environment and strategies that helped Madison and those that didn’t.

They spent hours researching diet indicators and other sensory processing activities. They met with Madison’s family to share the information they had acquired and worked along side them to develop a plan for her progress.

Through these co-ordinated efforts Madison started showing positive changes almost immediately. Ten weeks into the plan the change has been dramatic.

At times Madison still requires one-on-one adult support but regularly staff can move away from her and she will function independently.

Madison has begun to participate in group experiences and is even beginning to develop some friendships with other children. Without a doubt, the last few months have been life changing for Madison.

*Names have been changed to protect clients' identities.

Young migrants and refugees often don’t have the same opportunities as other Australians when entering the workforce due to financial, cultural and educational barriers.

Mission Australia’s ‘Getting to Work’ program in the City of Greater Dandenong aims to change that by offering these young people the opportunity to overcome their barriers and the chance to get a job with local employers.

Importantly, this unique and holistic program has been developed with the Victorian Government’s Department of Innovation, Industry and Regional Development (DIIRD), local business and local youth and employment providers in Dandenong and follows thorough consultation with local young people.

Program participants will graduate on Monday 29 June at a ceremony in Noble Park.

‘Getting to Work’ assists young people to develop the necessary skills, knowledge and experience, providing a pathway to employment and the opportunity to control a secure future. It is a three month program which includes accredited training, work experience, mentoring, traineeship placement and ongoing personal support.

Mission Australia State Director Paul Bird said it was important that Victorians understood the importance of supporting newly arrived migrants and refugees into employment.

“‘Getting to Work’ focuses on improving the life, learning and employability skills of young migrants and refugees,” said Mr Bird.

“The program is in line with the State Government’s aims of providing real employment outcomes for marginalised Victorians.

This semester’s intake is completing accredited training in the form of a Certificate II in Business Administration, First Aid and Food Safety as well as undertaking two weeks’ work experience at a local businesses.

“One of the benefits is that the program offers a qualification at its completion,” said Mr Bird. “It also can be a catalyst for transforming participants’ lives over a very short period of time..”

Mission Australia’s commitment doesn’t stop when students move on from the program into a job. Post-program support is provided for up to three months to ensure the impact of social issues is minimised and employment outcomes are met.

Mr Bird said that this support was important as in some instances young people were dealing with drug and alcohol addiction, homelessness and mental health issues – impediments they could do without when looking for work.

“Mission Australia’s commitment to the disadvantaged and disengaged of society will continue long into the future,” Mr Bird said. “Through this program we aim to ensure young people in the City of Greater Dandenong have the opportunity to reach their potential.”

Mission Australia’s ‘Getting to Work’ program is proudly supported by DIIRD and the City of Greater Dandenong, with funding by Group Property Trust (GPT), the Felton Bequest Committee, the Bennelong Foundation and the Jack Brockhoff Foundation.

Media enquiries: Phil Smith: (03) 8317 0111 or 0407 860 528.

Available for media interviews and photographs:

Mr Paul Bird – Mission Australia, State Director

'Getting to Work’ program participants:
- Fiona, a 19-year-old Sierra Leonean woman
- Semira, a 19-year-old Ethiopian woman

Event Information:

What: ‘Getting to Work’ Graduation
When: Monday 29th June 2009
Time: 5:30pm—7:30pm
Where: Paddy O’Donoghue Centre, 18 – 34 Buckley Street, Noble Park (Mel Ref: 89E4)