Delivering during a pandemic

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ISV

ANNUAL REPORT 20202021

Delivering during a pandemic

Despite a challenging year, ISV continued its important work across various spaces. Acting EO Gretchen Young reports.

At the Emergency Handbook launch, Northcott Community Centre in Surry Hills on 9 June

Inner Sydney Voice continued to be funded by the NSW Department of Communities and Justice to empower children and families’ sector organisations by increasing social and community involvement. To achieve this, connections were established during the year with service providers and public bodies across five LGAs, and “street meets” were held with residents on social housing blocks. A number of educational workshops were also held tackling issues such as inclusive play for children with disabilities; supporting families affected by drug and alcohol abuse; and child protection. Advocacy in this space included a call for IT resources for vulnerable children and young people, and support for awareness-raising of the effects of the threat of homelessness on children and families. ISV also developed program logics — rated ‘excellent’ — in relation to this funding and will continue to provide an outcomes framework that will provide optimal results for community members.

Work progressed on the Aged-Care Sector Support and Development Project. Despite the lockdowns, the Eastern Sydney CHSP Forum continued to meet online. As did the Eastern Sydney Digital Inclusion Working Group, which was established to overcome barriers for vulnerable people in Eastern Sydney to get online. Meanwhile, a Digital Inclusion Showcase was held in November with 78 people and six presenters attending. At

the showcase, the SSDO launched the Eastern Sydney Digital Inclusion Directory, which lists local agencies that support digital inclusion for older people and people with disability. The City of Sydney and the Eastern Sydney Abuse of Older People Collaborative produced an awareness-raising video; the collaborative also held an awareness-raising webinar in April. The SSDO also participated in the Community Aged-Care Forum, which is developing a policy platform to raise the profile of community-based aged care. (More on page 10.)

ISV also continued its work in the resilience space. This included flood awareness and preparedness training. The training sessions were facilitated by ISV, NSW SES, Infrastructure NSW, and the University of Sydney. And a Resilience NSW Community Engagement Strategy workshop was held. Flood information packs were also developed and produced and distributed to social housing tenants in properties on the Hawkesbury-Nepean floodplain.

Meanwhile, the Resilience Officer attended the Australian Disaster Resilience Conference. Presentations were delivered to the Penrith Multicultural Interagency, the Hawkesbury Local Emergency Management Committee, and the Local Community Services Association Members Forum. Coordination and secretariat support was provided for the Riverstone flood early recovery efforts. (More on page 12.)

ISV — in conjunction with the Redfern and Surry Hills Community Resilience Committee — developed and produced the Emergency Preparedness Handbook for people living in social housing. The handbook is a five-step guide to becoming emergency prepared. The 20-page handbook covers storms, heatwaves, fires, floods, and power outages. A digital version of the handbook was made available for download in seven community languages — Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional, Russian, Vietnamese, Spanish, Indonesian, and Korean.

Meanwhile, a launch event — attended by the SES, Fire and Rescue NSW, NSW Police, and the Red Cross — was held at the Northcott Community Centre in Surry Hills on 9 June. Online workshops were also organised to encourage discussion on residents’ personal emergency preparedness. A working group — consisting of ISV, City of Sydney, Counterpoint Multicultural Centre, Meals on Wheels, the Red Cross, SES, and tenant representatives — was also established to facilitate the roll out of the handbook to social housing communities in the Inner Sydney region.

Throughout the year, ISV continued to attend the Waterloo Redevelopment Group (WRG) meetings. ISV also hosted and coordinated the WRG tenant sub-group, remained a part of the Groundswell NGO Group, and a vital member as co-chair of the Human Services Frontline Group as part of the wider Collaboration Group. ISV also coordinated the COVID-19 community workers’ groups, supported the Redfern/Waterloo CDAT Group, and organised workshops in partnership with TAFE and Family Drug Support Australia.

We were successful in applying for a number of small grants during this period and despite the funding environment being focused on the pandemic response, ISV will continue to provide advocacy, support and information to our valued partners and stakeholders in 2021-2022.

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ISV

ANNUAL REPORT 20202021