This partnership includes a transitional employment project for periods of 13- 26 weeks. Job seekers will be employed in various roles including being part of a trolley collection team in the Footscray area with the intention of a percentage moving into the store with ongoing employment with IGA on completion. All participants will obtain valuable work skills and training that will prepare them for ongoing future employment.

Congratulations to the IGA Team, it has been a pleasure to work with everyone during the pre-opening phase and we look forward to continuing our partnership long into the future.

Make sure you get down to the store on Saturday 24th March to join in the Grand Opening Celebrations;  including food tastings, give aways, sausage sizzle and some huge savings. The store is located on the corner of Paisley & Albert Streets, Footscray in the old Forges building.

Wesley Employment Services joined in the celebrations when Yooralla and Hobson’s Bay Council officially launched the UCAN Café on 16 December. UCAN is a unique community café at the Altona North Library; it provides employment opportunities for people with a disability based on their passion, choice and achievements.

 UCAN Café is supported by Yooralla and has been steered by a committee of interested parties to ensure best practice. The Steering Committee includes parents of young people with disability, professional community members and business owners, staff from Hobson’s Bay City Council and Yooralla. 

Wesley Employment Services are proud to say that UCAN Café has come on board as a Wesley Career Partner and that we are working closely with the UCAN team to train up Daniela and Bryce the Wesley Job Seekers who have been employed at the café. We are also looking forward to helping UCAN grow and develop in our local communities.

Every year Wesley joins with our local communities to celebrate International Day of People with Disabilities.

The Maribyrnong Inclusive Recognition Awards (MIRA) were held on 1^st December at the Footscray Art Centre where the Maribyrnong Mayor  presented Pablo Gimenez and Margaret Newman from the Wesley Trolley Service with a  "Highly Commended" award in the  "Inclusive Business" category for 2011. Congratulations to the whole team at Wesley Trolley Collection Service - Footscray  who are known by everyone who sets foot into Footscray Plaza.

The aim of the NDCO and DES Strategic Alliance is to enable young people with disability, who meet eligibility criteria, to engage in a program that assists in the transition process from school to a Disability Employment Service and on to eventual employment.

The alliance provided students with an opportunity to participate in information sessions that included a comprehensive overview of Disability Employment Services and the support that they can provide to young people with disability.

The three information sessions:

• · Outlined DES services and supports
• · Articulated eligibility criteria for the initiative
• · Provided additional information in relation to training options
• · Discussed post placement support

The sessions were held at Hume Global Learning Centre on 29 November, NMIT Preston Campus Library on Thursday 1 December and the Richmond Town Hall on Wednesday 7 December.

The feed back from young people, their families and professionals who attended was very positive with most of their questions answered by the DES providers.

Wesley Broadmeadows joined forces with ELC 3047 for the ‘30 in 47 Youth Jobs Front’, an initiative that brings together networks and  resources across the 3047 postcode to help address youth unemployment.

Voluntary members of ELC 3047 called on HUME businesses to take part in the campaign to find jobs for 30 young people in Broadmeadows in the 47 days between October 24 and December 6.

The ‘30 in 47 Youth Jobs Front’ is a great way to encourage local employers to support young people from their community with employment opportunities. It also raises awareness about the agencies and community groups that provide support for young people in the area.

ELC 3047 is made up of members from local Employment Service Providers, Centrelink and Hume City Council, and is driven by a commitment to exchange the information and resources necessary to improve local employment and learning infrastructure.

As a unique body, ELC 3047 members put industry competition aside to strengthen employment opportunities across the 3047 region. They provide job seeking workshops and ‘vocational taster’ workshops with a spirit ofcollaboration across agencies which  results in  a strengthened agency network.

The Darebin & Hume Whittlesea ‘Real Industry Job Interviews’ (RIJI) were held on 27 & 28

October. It is a curriculum program designed

to give senior students the experience of preparing and participating in a ‘real’ interview situation.

These programs are strongly supported by the local business community and employment providers. It draws on valuable recruitment skills and expertise of managers who participate because they are enthusiastic about helping young people prepare for the world of work.

Prior to the event, Wesley team members worked with students at Charles Latrobe, Parade and Santa Maria Colleges to prepare for the interviews. The students found an entry level job vacancy to apply for, produced an application letter for the position and prepared a resume. Wesley worked with the students from the 3 schools in a number of ways including giving feed back on their applications, providing information on employer expectations, good interview techniques and frequently asked interview questions. In some cases they also did interview practice.

On the day of the event students were interviewed based on their chosen Job Description and the resume they prepared in a real life interview experience. A standard set of interview questions were used and the interviewers provided.

The Statewide Vision Resource Centre’s inaugural Careers Day was held at the Heatherwood Special School on 3 October. Wesley Employment Services was just one of the Disability Employment Services that made themselves available to meet with the young people and their families to discuss future options for them.

Guest speakers at the event included:

David Southwick - Victorian Parliamentary Secretary for Education

Graeme Innes AM (Keynote Speaker). Australia's Disability Discrimination Commissioner and Race Discrimination Commissioner for the Australia Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission

Erin Shale - Anything is Possible.  Career Educator: Balwyn High School

Bernadette Giglotti - Career Educator and Parent Perspective.

Employers Perspective:

ANZ Bank: Rob Crestani

Coles: Tina Zelinik

Blind Employees:

Panel discussion from employed low vision and blind tax payers

Photo shows: Phillip Murphy, BEST Community Development and Parliamentary Secretary for School,

Education and Workplace Relations, Jacinta Collins with 

 Pablo Gimenz, Wesley Social Enterprises and Sally Quin, Green Collect.

The Parliamentary Secretary for School, Education and Workplace Relations Jacinta Collins recently visited Wesley Mission Victoria’s newly established Social Enterprises Hub, at 660 Elizabeth Street Melbourne, to announce a $300,000 funding boost that will help Victoria’s most disadvantaged job seekers find and retain long term employment.

The Catering for All Abilities Project under the Innovation Fund will allow The Last Cuppa, a social enterprise of Wesley in partnership with BEST Community Development, to provide opportunities for up to 60 unemployed people with a disability and/or mental illness living in the co-located Yarra Community Housing complex at 660 Elizabeth Street, and in the broader Yarra Employment Service Area. Wesley and Green Collect share the Social Enterprises Hub.

This complex is the first development of its kind in Melbourne designed to meet the housing and support needs of people who have experienced long-term homelessness. The complex combines affordable and safe housing with long-term tailored support services. Residents of 660, many of whom have a disability including mental illness are a key target group for the Innovation Fund (IF) and the Australian Social Inclusion agenda.

Catering For All Abilities will offer work experience, paid work opportunities and training for people with a disability and/or mental illness, with a particular focus on engaging:

> People living in the 660 Elizabeth St housing complex (and surrounding areas) who have a disability

> Homeless people with mental health problems or disability

> Those assessed as highly disadvantaged and as requiring specialist support and mentoring

> People in receipt of DSP who are disengaged from mainstream support offered through Employment Service. Providers (ESPs) and/or who have a desire to work in the hospitality, administration or retail industries but require training and work experience to be able to compete for open employment positions

Partnerships

>  BEST Community Development is a well-established Job Services Australia and RTO provider in the Western Victorian region with extensive experience in delivering programs that enhance the lives of people with disabilities and promote social inclusion. Its main role will be to provide training to participants.

> BESTCDG is owned by BEST Community Development and Careers Development Group UK (CDG). It will bring to this project its proven strategies for engaging employers, best practice approaches in helping the highly disadvantaged in the UK, and e-learning solutions for job seekers.

On the 1st of June, Ascotvale Special School held it's first Adult Options Expo at the school. It was put together to provide the best and most current information for families and students, so they can make the best informed decisions on post school placements.  During the afternoon and evening there were 150 people who walked through the doors from various Special Schools, Secondary Colleges,  Tafes and Government Departments.  Wesley Employment was just one of the many providers and services who exhibited and it was great that we were able to reach so many families and share such valuable information. Ascotvale Special School are looking at making it an annual event, so keep an eye out for it next year.

On 2nd May, Catherine Stevens from the NDCO WMR got together a number of key stakeholders/organisations in West to showcase the different services and supports available to people with a disability and from CALD communities within the region. Wesley Employment Services was invited to kick off the day with the first presentation on the services and supports we offer to people with a disability and/or from CALD communities.

It was a great opportunity to showcase the work that we do and to find out about other organisations within the region that we may be able to partner with to assist our job seekers. A number of contacts were made on the day and we have already started working together. Thank you to Catherine and the NDCO for bringing us all together.

Wesley Employments Services has recently become a member of the LEAP partnerships in Northcote, Coburg,

and Footscray.

The objective of the LEAP project is to improve service delivery for job seekers with a mental illness.

The activities set up to achieve this objective are the development of six LEAP partnerships which brings together mental health providers and disability employment services; along with the provision of the HOPE program to 334 plus job seekers with a mental illness.

The objective of the HOPE program is to enable participants to better manage their health, in preparation for attaining and maintaining employment. 

HOPE is a ten-session group-based activity that will help job seekers to gain a better understanding of employment.

“I am much more optimistic and realistic about my working future.” - HOPE participant

“Opened my eyes to manage stress levels and being aware of my mental, physical and emotional state which I never thought of before. Now I put it into practise.” - HOPE participant

“I think there has been a real shift in collaboration between agencies”- Partner Representative

“LEAP is giving another option of possible connections for clients who may fall between the cracks” - Partner Representative

“They got me a part time job. They were really thorough and motivated. When I found a job in the paper and said I wanted to go for it, they really backed me all the way with it. They made me ring up and apply for the job for starters. They encouraged me. They have a full support system there. My Employment Consultant was really good. You felt you could talk to them about anything and be really open. My friends couldn't believe that I got a job so quickly.”

“They are very good. They listen to everything. They take their time with you. You're not rushed at all and you can talk to them. They're very helpful. They're very supportive and genuinely caring.”

“Well I've just found that the people there are really great. They're so easy to deal with and speak to and they're always happy to help you out or answer any questions or provide you with information. They just genuinely seem to care about the people that they are working with and also seem to care that we get into jobs that suit us not just anything and everything.”