Hobsons Bay City Council 26TH November 2013

Ordinary Council Meeting Agenda

Appendix 2

Service Report – Community Wellbeing

COMMUNITY WELLBEING APPENDIX

FAMILY YOUTH & CHILDREN’S SERVICES

EARLY YEARS

PRESCHOOL FIELD OFFICER PROGRAM

Referral numbers for the Pre School Field Officer program have reduced this month due to the school holidays and the tapering off of referrals as the end of the year approaches.

The Pre School Field Officers conducted a Kindergarten Inclusion Support information session which was very well attended. Representatives from Department of Education and Early Childhood (DEECD), Early Childhood Intervention Services (ECIS) and kindergarten teachers were also present on the night.

KINDERGARTEN

To celebrate the end of an era, the Williamstown Childcare Co-operative will be hosting a commemorative event on Saturday, 7th December 2013 from 12 noon until 3.00 pm. Families both past and present as well as local dignitaries will be invited to acknowledge the centre’s place in the community and what it has meant for so many local families over the years.

The allocation process for four year old kindergarten for 2014 stands at 1,040 enrolled (including second years). There are currently 85 vacancies and no residents currently on the waiting list. A small number of non-residents are waiting for kindergartens on the Point Cook border.

PLAYGROUP Smalltalk recruitment is now complete for term four. There are forty eight new families currently registered and thirty six families continuing at the six playgroups.

MATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTH

IMMUNISATION

One hundred and fifteen birth notices were received during the month of October. South Kingsville Centre was the busiest for the month.

Immunisation for the month of October held 17 sessions, 397 immunisations and 30 home visits.

YOUTH SERVICES

COUNSELLING

A total of 52 individual counselling sessions were held during October in addition to 53 secondary consultations being undertaken with parents, school staff and other agencies.

The main issues presenting in young people were; family issues (28 per cent) anger management issues (20 per cent), mental health issues including depression, anxiety, eating disorders and psychosis (13 per cent), and suicide/Non Suicide self injury(six per cent).

YOUTH SERVICES GENERAL

The youth services team had a total 464 contacts with young people during the month of October (excluding the youth counselling contacts).

Youth Services staff attended a seminar run by Women’s Health Victoria which focussed on the ways technology, such as smart phones, the internet, GPS devices and social media are being used to perpetrate violence and harassment of women. Whilst the seminar was useful for highlighting some of the ways in which technology can be useful in enhancing women’s safety it also highlighted that laws designed to protect women are not adequately keeping up with these new mechanisms of harassment and violence against women.

Pride and Prejudice

Challenging Homophobia is a program designed to challenge homophobia and affirm sexual diversity in the classroom. It is a six week program, one session a week set to challenge thoughts on homophobia and what is considered ‘normal’. This program is currently being delivered at a local secondary college with a group of year nine students. The program is co-facilitated with the school’s student wellbeing coordinator, the school nurse and the Council’s Youth and Community Support Officer. At the end of the program an evaluation will be conducted to measure student’s initial attitudes against their attitudes post program participation.

Future Leaders Unite (FLU) and KAOS

FLU and KAOS members participated in leadership training. The training encouraged the young people to consider what leadership meant to them and how each individual interpretation of leadership influenced their commitment to the group and their expectations. The training also provided opportunity for the young people to identify some of the challenges they had experienced this year in regards to working together as a team. This information will feed into planning for 2014.

Pay It forward Preparation

FLU and KAOS have shown great enthusiasm and commitment to making the Pay It Forward Project come to life. It has been an inspiring month and the young people are looking forward to the exhibition that opened on Wednesday, 6th of November.

Disability School Holiday Program

October saw the Expand and Be Yourself members participate in two programs during the school holidays.

Be Yourself combined with the mainstream group and enjoyed the bus trip to Geelong attending Leisure Link Health Centre. The disability group benefited from interacting with many young people from the mainstream program and enjoyed the facilities with the leisure centre provided.

School Holiday Program

The spring break school holidays of 2013 took participating young people to a variety of fun filled and skill testing venues where young people were not only able to enjoy themselves but also catch up with some old friends as well as making new ones. The activity and venues the young people went to include;

Outdoor laser Skirmish;

Royal Melbourne Show;

Tree Adventures;

Indoor Rock Climbing; and

Waurn Ponds Swimming Pool.

Every excursion day was booked out prior to the school holidays.

Skate Event - 2nd October

In collaboration with the Sport and Recreation Department, Youth Services supported the first heat of a series of Skate, BMX and Scooter competitions. The first one, which was held at the Newport Skate Park, was a huge success. Youth Services will continue to support these events which are due to take place over the summer and the final one being during national Youth Week 2014.

Be The Hero

Youth Services staff in partnership with staff from the Women’s Trust have continued to assist in the delivery of ‘Be The Hero‘ training. The training aims to encourage young people to stand up against violence within the community and, in particular, to prevent violence against women. The training was delivered in a local secondary school this month with Youth services staff working with over 200 year nine students. The school has committed to making this program a continuing focus of the school and including it in every year level.

CHILDREN’S SERVICES The Children’s Services team participated in the annual Children’s Week Picnic on Wednesday, 23rd October with several members of the team actively participating on the planning committee. Educators from Altona Meadows and Altona North Children’s Centres and Family Day Care resource workers worked together to provide a series of natural play experiences at the picnic.

Altona North Children’s Centre

A working bee was held on Saturday, 12th October at Altona North Children’s Centre with the money received from the Coles land Care Grant. Approximately 10 families attended and supported the team in creating a native and sensory garden in the 0-2 room and 2-5 yard. It was a successful and productive day.

Both Altona Meadows and Altona North Children’s Centres have been working through their waitlists prior to offering places to families requiring care in 2014.

Family Day Care

129 Home Visits were conducted during October.

The weekly placement process continues with the staff looking at the family day care waiting list. Staff are assessing requests for care and attempting to match vacancies with educators.

Waiting List

There are 407 children on waiting lists for Council operated Children’s Services. There are 67 children on more than one waiting list. 61 per cent of children on the waiting list are aged two and under, 20 per cent are not yet born. The areas with the most children on the waiting list are Newport (20 per cent), Altona Meadows (19 per cent) Altona North (16 per cent) and Altona (11 per cent). 16 per cent of the children on the waiting list live outside Hobsons Bay, 34 per cent of these children are in Point Cook and Sanctuary Lakes.

LEARNING COMMUNITIES

COMMUNITY CENTRES

LAVERTON COMMUNITY HUB

The Laverton Community Hub is developing a strong reputation as the community place for all events. Some great activities held this month including the Council meeting, a health forum and over 100 attended the Diwali festival. The function centre looked amazing with all the colour, dancing and games.

Tuesdays and Wednesdays are the busiest day for bookings with a mixture of regular users and casual forums/ expos, etc.

SEABROOK COMMUNITY CENTRE

A family fun day was held at the centre in early November in partnership with Seabrook kindergarten.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

COMMUNITY HEALTH AND WELLBEING

165 responses were received from Council staff for the Workplace Gender Equity survey as part of the western region action plan to prevent violence against women. The results from the survey as they pertain to Hobsons Bay City Council will be available in February 2014.

MULTICULTURAL Since the launch of the Hobsons Bay Language Line in August, the service has received 66 calls and six residents have accessed interpreters. Promotion of the new service continues; this month posters and magnets were mailed out to approximately 90 multicultural clubs and ethno specific organisations.

The Multicultural Forum’s report was finalised and distributed to the forum’s participants. It documents the speeches and the discussions that took place during the forum on 19th August. It is a wonderful collection of past initiatives and ideas on how to break down barriers between groups to promote inclusion and harmony in our community. A total of 42 actions for the Multicultural Policy 2013-14 Action Plan.

Officers are working in partnership with Life Saving Victoria to deliver a series of beach and water safety programs to newly arrived communities in Hobsons Bay. The program which commences in December is anticipated to provide programs for approximately 300 participants.

Staff are developing a Hobsons Bay Settlement Services Directory. This is an initiative of Hobsons Bay Settlement Network and will list key agencies and community groups providing services/support for newly arrived migrants, refugees and asylum seekers living in Hobsons Bay.

DIVERSITY Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Queer (GLBTIQ) awareness training was delivered to fourteen Planned Activity Group Assistants, team and program leaders who provided services to seniors on 30th October as part of an internal staff training program

COMMUNITY GRANTS

A celebration event of the 2013 projects undertaken as part of the Community Grants Program was held at the Williamstown Library Gallery Space on 16th November 2013. Several of the projects will be showcased, including the Charities Aid Australia - Timehelp project, the Aid Memorial Quilts exhibition at the Louis Joel Arts and Community Centre, the Hobsons Bay Garden Club’s Blue Lotus Garden Project and the showing of a DVD of the making of the Ageing and Queer short films. Toyota will also outline their corporate giving program which provided $20,000 in grant funds to equipment projects.

COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

Forty representatives of local agencies and volunteer groups attended the Hobsons Bay InterAgency network meeting held on 22nd October. Ellen Kleimaker, Health Promotion Worker at Women’s Health West gave a presentation on Violence Against Women. The presentation included key statistics, different forms of violence against women, myths and the support services that are available.   

A new Directory of Emergency Relief and Material Aid Services is being developed. On 15th October the Council hosted the Emergency Relief and Crisis Support Agencies Network meeting. A number of agencies and support groups attending the meeting noted the increasing number of asylum seekers in need of support.

The Council hosted a Volunteer Managers Forum on 3rd October and sponsored the Volunteer West Conference held on 25th October. The Council’s sponsorship of the conference enabled five local community groups with limited funds to attend the conference.

On 18th November, in partnership with Women’s Health West, the Council hosted a free workshop on ‘Working with the Karen Community’. More than 40 workers including refugee nurses, social workers, aged care workers and emergency services personnel have registered to attend the workshop which will be presented by members of the Karen community.

Officers attended a large number of annual general meetings during October representing the Council in the community ; ISIS Primary Care, Gateways Social Support Options, Altona Meadows Community Centre and Walker Close Community Centre.

HOBSONS BAY MEN’S SHED

At the Men’s Shed Conference held in Ballarat on 28th and 29th October, the Hobsons Bay Men’s Shed was awarded the 2013 Australian Men’s Shed Association National Award for ‘Outstanding Contribution to the Community’. Council officers will work with the group to arrange a celebration/recognition event.

LIBRARIES

LIBRARY INITIATIVES The sustainable philosophy is underpinning many community driven library events. The fruit and veggie swap organised by Transition Towns for the first birthday celebration, is now a monthly feature on the library deck and coincides with the monthly Friends of the Libraries book sale.

The October school holiday program attracted 380 attendees with a spring veggie gardening proving to be a highlight. A partnership with Willy warhammers (a gaming group) attracted over 50 young people to their hobby craft and exhibition.

The first clothes swap (held in the Williamstown Gallery Space) attracted widespread publicity across Melbourne. Over 50 attended but the buzz in the space was reminiscent of the Myer sales.

The Gallery space is occupied by students on most days but is in frequent demand as an exhibition space such as Pay it Forward – KAOS and FLU.

The Indigenous Literacy Foundation annual book swap coincided with the Andy Griffiths event. Williamstown North Primary School arranged for 250 students to attend the “swap” supported by the Friends of the Libraries. $375 was raised for the Foundation which provides early childhood books for indigenous communities in their own languages. A further donation of $1,000 brought the 2013 total to $1,375.

Planning for the annual Food for Fines campaign is well underway. Publicity to promote the campaign and benefits has been translated into eight community languages.

LIBRARY REDEVELOPMENT STRATEGY

Design meetings have commenced with Haskell Architects for the Newport Library, Youth and Seniors project.

COMMUNITY LEARNING The Friends of Altona Libraries Illustration Competition closed mid October with a record number of entries. There were 295 entries across seven categories. The awards ceremony will be held mid November which includes a “people’s choice” voting online element for the first time.

PROGRAMS The highlight for the month was the Children’s Week Picnic despite the inclement weather. Altona Library, the Library meeting room and the Baptist Church Hall were quickly turned into activity zones. Even with the restricted format an estimated 500 children, parents and carers enjoyed a fun filled couple of hours.

Building upon a strong relationship with local bookseller, Book and Paper, and working in partnership with Cultural and Economic Development, two huge literary events were held in the Library/Town Hall precinct in early November. Well known non-fiction writer, Peter FitzSimons and world famous, local author Andy Griffiths managed to attract 95 and 230-250 respectively.

A Seniors Multicultural morning tea featured a presentation and demonstration about the Council’s Language Line and the Libraries’ extensive collection of international newspapers available through Press Display.

STATISTICS AND USAGE

Some interesting facts about our online collections:

eBooks and eAudio book loans are increasing in popularity. Currently averaging 230 and 420 loans per month the loan limit has been increased to ten to cater for the growing demand

Our new eMagazine facility, ZINIO, shows that Newsweek and Taste are the top two borrowed magazines.

The Top two Mango Language tutorials are Farsi and Spanish.

WiFi and Internet access hours on PCs continue to show strong growth. In an interesting comparison, internet access is most used at Altona North and Altona Meadows whereas WiFi is most used at Williamstown and Altona Meadows.

The Libraries are about to achieve two significant milestones with 500 facebook fans and 5,000 enewsletter subscribers.

There were over 15,000 unique visitors to the Library website in October which is a 15 percent increase from October 2012

COMMUNITY CARE

COMMUNITY AGED CARE PACKAGES

Community Care Common Standards audit has been completed and compliance achieved across all measures.

Community Care has met with a number of packaged care providers to investigate developing a pilot of the new Commonwealth packaged care model.

HOME & COMMUNITY CARE

Expressions for Interest have been sought from Direct Care employees in undertaking a combined Certificate IV in Disability and Aged Care through the Warner Institute of Business. This is higher level qualification to the mandatory Certificate III. Progressive groups of staff will be supported to undertake the combined course to further develop their skills and in turn the quality of services provided.

NATIONAL RESPITE FOR CARERS (NRCP)

Bateman House day activity program attendance increased in October. Carers are seeing the benefit in accessing a homely environment for respite.

DEVELOPMENTAL WORK

Mobile device testing is nearing completion and a project has been established with the IT department to roll out devices over the next quarter.

Robot vacuum cleaners are working in homes with 10 machines currently being rostered for duty. This is the final phase of piloting the technology.