Hi WAGEC Community,
I’m writing to you from the lands of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation and pay my respects to Elders past and present and acknowledge that this was, is and always will be Aboriginal Land.
The first week of August is Homelessness Week 2022. Every night WAGEC accommodates over 200 women and children who are homeless. We do this through the operation of three crisis accommodation facilities and 40 transitional properties across the inner city and inner west of Sydney. Along with addressing the impacts of domestic and family violence, our job is to support families as they move out of crisis and into safe and secure housing. This means we experience first-hand the gaps in our system and the lack of affordable housing available to women and families. We also see the ripple effect, and re-traumatization, a lack of housing has on the lives of women and families. This homelessness week, we’re calling on the community to pledge support with our belief that “housing is a human right.” Click here to see some of our staff standing in solidary this week.
In other news, expressions of interest are now open for WAGEC's new program Lead, funded through the Australian Government. Lead is a free three-month program aimed at building leadership skills, knowledge in the prevention of violence and safe workplaces that are accessible for and supportive of women who have experienced domestic, family and sexual violence. Lead is part of WAGEC’s ACCESS Program. ACCESS seeks to bring about systemic change by addressing structural barriers that exist in workplaces and in society. Click hereto register your interest or keep reading to learn about how you can get involved.
WAGEC is in its last week of running Bystander and Ally training with the Inner West Council and City of Canada Bay Council. A big thank you to everyone who has joined the training and is helping to create safer and more empowered communities. If you or someone you know is interested in learning more about how they can get involved with prevention of violence training, please do not hesitate to reach out.
Throughout this year WAGEC has been focused on supporting our dedicated workforce and improving our client services through the development of our CARE model. We have implemented initiatives such as self-care planning tolls and a self-care allowance for staff, individual training and professional development budget for all staff and external clinical supervision for all clients services staff. During August we have also been running bespoke in-house training for staff supporting our response to women and children experiencing violence and accessing our services. Strengthening and supporting those who work on the frontline, and maintaining our systems and service delivery model is fundamental to ensuring that our quality care and client experience is at the centre of all we do.
WAGEC has also been busily working behind the scenes towards some exciting new programs that will be rolled out in the next few months. We have and will be continuing staff recruitment drives across a range of different roles and areas of our work. If you have ever wanted to work at WAGEC or share our job opportunities through your network please keep an eye out on our website.
To finish, I extend my deepest thanks to all of the WAGEC community who continue to support us through financial donations, the donations collective, volunteering, pro-bono support and online through our advocacy campaigns. This past financial year was our most successful ever in fundraising, which is a testament to how much our community has continued to grow and their generosity toward WAGEC. These vital funds help women and children to build safe futures and enable WAGEC's work toward ending gender-based violence in a generation. In the words of Audre Lorde “Without community, there is no liberation.”
Thank you for joining the movement to end gender-based violence, together we can create the change in the world we want to see.
Kind regards,
Helen
