Surry Hills Neighbourhood Centre

Annual Report 2014-2015

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Contents

Contents ................................................................................................................................................ 2

SHNC Strategic Plan ............................................................................................................................ 3

Our Services ......................................................................................................................................... 3

The Chair ............................................................................................................................................... 4

The Treasurer ...................................................................................................................................... 4

The Secretary ....................................................................................................................................... 5

Our Staff ................................................................................................................................................ 7

Centre Manager’s Report................................................................................................................. 10

Centre Report .................................................................................................................................... 12

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SHNC Strategic Plan

Our Purpose

We are here to build a strong and inclusive community in Surry Hills.

Our Values

We value diversity, respect difference, recognise the whole person and encourage inclusiveness. We accept change, try new things and are adventurous and creative.

Our Priorities

Our work in 2015-2017 will be centred around four priorities:

1. Strengthening community participation and connectedness among all members of the Surry Hills community.

2. Delivering programs and services that meet the diverse needs of our community. 3. Providing high quality children’s services. 4. Developing the capacity of SHNC.

Our Services

Creative and educational activities

Children’s services: Long Day Care and Out of School Hours Care

Information and referral

Advocacy and support

Surry Hills Market

Surry Hills Festival

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The Chair

2014-15 has been a busy and productive year and one that the governance committee has enjoyed. Our role is to be supportive of the staff, to give professional guidance and, hopefully, add in a constructive way to the running of the Centre. Our role is to reflect on how we could be more effective and to evaluate, with the staff, how we can be more supportive. This year has been a very successful one and I would like to thank the very talented governance team who generously give their time and support. It is a voluntary position and one that everyone takes very seriously. You all add such great value to the organisation as a whole. To the staff and the volunteers of the Centre...WELL DONE! Look what you have all achieved for the community. A busy vibrant, welcoming and multicultural hub in the heart of the city! Congratulations!! The highlights for me this year have been the outstanding result from the evaluation of the Child Care Centre we operate and, of course, the film nights that created a different sense of community and provided further education for all of us. My connection with the Eat Well Live Well was another great highlight of 2015. I watched men who had not felt confident cooking embrace learning and become Master Chefs! Most importantly, I saw friendships develop which highlighted how important it is to continue to create community where all can find a place to belong. The festival - fabulous again! The markets and the community cafe are always a buzz. A thank you to the local businesses who support us each year and to the City of Sydney for their ongoing commitment to creating community. Enjoy the summer months and roll on 2016!

Julie Sneddon, Chair

The Treasurer

After the financial year ending in June 2015, the Surry Hills Neighbourhood Centre remains in a very strong position, having recorded another good surplus of $93,384. We are continually mindful of a possible radical change in Government funding structures, which could impact about a third of our revenue. This uncertainty compels us to be very conservative financially, and to preserve a high level of reserves. Our members’ funds now total $886,094, so we have the considerable capacity to weather financial turbulence. Additionally, we have no debt. We have never borrowed money and don’t intend to.

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Our gross revenue was $1,517,117, arising chiefly from fees received ($952,384), including our recovery of Government subsidies enjoyed by qualifying families from the Family Assistance Office. Government grants (excluding the FAO) total $474,450, including the rental subsidy from the City of Sydney for our premises in the Surry Hills Library and Community Centre building. Our expenses totalled $1,423,733 of which $977,542, went to payments, provisions or training for our staff and management. We spent $57,281 on contractors and cleaners. It’s not common for Neighbourhood Centres to offer childcare, but the SHNC is proud to be able to offer our community high quality services in the form of Long Day Care for pre-schoolers and After School Care and Vacation Care for older children. Collectively these added a surplus of $141,591 to our accounts, a great contribution to our financial security. On fund-raising, the long-standing Surry Hills Markets showed a surplus of $12,919. This is much less than the previous year, with many months rain-affected. Casual stall-holders don’t pay for markets they don’t attend, and wet weather keeps them away. Renting out our meeting and function rooms netted us $11,225. The annual Surry Hills Festival is our signature event of the year. We have long given up viewing this event as a fund-raiser – in total it costs us more to run than we earn. Festival Production actually made a profit of $17,724, but when you take into account the involvement of our own staff, it finishes in the red. However, the Festival is so good for community building, so good for many Crown Street businesses, and so fundamental to our being that we continue to promote it. It’s quite difficult to isolate the exact amount we invest in projects serving the community, aside from childcare, but my estimate is that they gross approximately $374,000, minus, of course, the grants and other assistance we receive to sustain them.

It’s pleasing to say that I have been reporting good financial results for years now. This is thanks to the dedication and the financial discipline of excellent staff and volunteers, including the Governance Committee itself. We are well positioned for the future and able to withstand potential funding aberrations. My gratitude goes to our book-keeping team, John Ferguson and Anna Kim.

Mike Salon, Treasurer

The Secretary

There were eleven monthly meetings of the Governance Committee held on the third Tuesday of each month at the centre. No meeting was held in December 2014.

The Governance Committee members’ attendance at each of those meetings is shown below:

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Christy McCarthy, Secretary

Position Member Name Attendance

Chair Julie Sneddon 10

Deputy Chair Sara Lubowitz 7

Secretary Christy McCarthy 10

Treasurer Mike Salon 8

Member David Pocklington 11

Member Norman Booker 10

Member Greg Masters 7

Member Deb Sorensen 7

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Our Staff

Without whom, this Centre would not function

Accountant: John Ferguson Book Keeper: Anna Kim

Long Day Care Team

Spring Chum Moi Lai Coordinator/Nominated Supervisor/Educational Leader (since 12/5/95) Bachelor of Arts (Education & Linguistics), 5 years Diploma of Children’s Services, 3½ years First Aid Certificate

Lina Amin

Certified Supervisor/ Qualified Early Childhood Teacher (since 25/8/97) Postgrad Diploma in Preschool Education Bachelor of Home Science

Sanjana Prakash

Certified Supervisor/Educator (since 10/4/12) Diploma of Children’s Services First Aid Certificate

Joyenti Chowdhury

Educator (since 4/3/02) Diploma of Children’s Services First Aid Certificate

Gillian Elliott, SHNC Manager

Prue Rheuben. Assistant Manager

Victoria Baghos, Administration Officer

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Jaya Halder Rajbongshi Educator (since 27/8/14) Certificate III in Children’s Services Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care (traineeship) First Aid Certificate

Mahajabin Beg Educator (since 18/8/14) Certificate III in Children’s Services Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care (traineeship) First Aid Certificate

Selina Yu Wang Support Worker (since 7/5/12) Certificate III in Children’s Services First Aid Certificate

Out of School Hours Care Team

Cassandra Tilbrook – Coordinator Certificate IV in Childrens Services (OSHC) Certiface IV Project Management Advance Diploma Community Sector Management Identifying Children at Risk Child Safe Training

Tallulah Dods- Educational Leader Certificate III in Childrens Services Identifying Children at Risk Child Safe Training

Aphrica Conolly – Child Educator

Child Safe Training Identifying Children at Risk Training Certificate III in Hospitality Provide an emergency first aid response in an education and care setting

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Andrew Kalaizis – Child Educator Bachelor of Health and Movement Australian College of Physical Education Masters in Teaching (Swinburne 2016) Identifying Children at Risk Child Safe Training (25 Nov 15)

Bernadette Jamayah – Child Educator Certificate III Children’s Services Guiding Children's Behaviour Identifying Children at Risk Child Safe Training

Celia Bradshaw – Child Educator Bachelor of International and Global Studies Identifying Children at Risk Child Safe Training

India Childs – Child Educator Certificate in Child and Youth Counselling (ongoing) Diploma in Music Business Recognising Children at Risk Documenting and Programming in Outside School Hours Care

Volunteers

We are deeply indebted to the numerous volunteers who give freely of their skill, talents and experience to lead many and varied groups and activities.

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Centre Manager’s Report

Surry Hills Neighbourhood Centre is a thriving hub filled with diverse community members from Surry Hills and surrounding suburbs coming together to participate in a wide range of creative and educational activities. Our children’s services provide excellent care and education to the children and families in the area through our Long Day Care and Out of School Hours Care programs. The Centre’s work is guided by the 2015-2017 Strategic plan that identifies four (4) priority areas. Priority 1. Strengthening community participation and connectedness among all members of the Surry Hills Community. SHNC developed and conducted a wide range of cultural, artistic and creative activities to meet Priority 1, including: - Surry Hills Festival 2014, themed as ‘An event of Stories, Love and Tales’, was a huge success, engaging all members of this diverse and vibrant city village. The festival encompassed local businesses, artists and musicians, family and children’s entertainment with ‘traditional’ games, such as the 3 legged race and sack race, and many activities and attractions. We achieved unprecedented sponsorship by developing a comprehensive sponsor proposal package and identifying business partners with an interest in engaging directly with the local community. We extend our gratitude to City of Sydney, Gunning Real Estate and United Resource Management as major sponsors of the festival. - The Mills of Surry Hills, a project run in partnership with Housing NSW, allowed us to engage with the community across the social and economic divide. The local housing tenants and the wider community came together to create giant windmills that decorated the Surry Hills Festival grounds. The mills herald and celebrate the industrial history of the suburb. - Surry Hills Film Nights, run for the third year in a row, continue to attract new guests and to contribute to the profile of SHNC as an information hub. The success of this project is largely due to the hard work and dedication of Sara Lubowitz, the creator and the ‘fire’ of the project. - One Billion Rising event that supports global effort to end violence against women. Priority 2 Delivering programs and services that meet the needs of our community Our key partners are Family and Community Services (FACS) who fund and support SHNC through the Community Builders Program. This vital funding facilitates and underpins our work, enabling SHNC to deliver key services to the community. In particular, it helps to meet the needs of the most vulnerable members of our community through provision of educational and creative classes, aimed at empowerment, social cohesion, improvement of health and wellbeing. The City of Sydney provide us with excellent accommodation through the Accommodation Grants Program and support our service delivery through the Community and Cultural Grants

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Program. We are grateful to City of Sydney for also providing us the Enid Cook Room which we offer to community groups that deliver support services to the wider community. Other partnerships include Housing NSW and tenants across 3 residential communities. In the past year we auspiced grants and supported the involvement of tenants and other stakeholder organisations in various community programs and activities. Work & Development Orders (WDO), a program under the auspice of the Attorney General’s Department & the State Debt Recovery Office, allows SHNC to enable people to perform volunteer work or undertake vocational programs as a way of paying off state debts. Our other successful partnerships are with Moving Out Moving On (MOMO), a service supporting women fleeing domestic violence to access safe and secure housing, the Australian Tax Office (ATO) that provides tax help for people on low income, and the Mandala Counselling. Priority 3 Providing High Quality Children’s Services Our Children’s Services cover two significant areas. Long Day Care (LDC) provides high quality care with creative and educational opportunities to children and families. Our LDC team work hard to support and develop children’s wellbeing, learning and broaden their understanding of the world they live in. The Long Day Care Professional Development Program (LDCPDP) secured last financial year ensures our team have ongoing access to training and development. SHNC’s Out of School Hours Care (OSHC) program underwent assessment and rating with Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority and received positive feedback with some opportunities to further develop our capacity. Again in this arm of our children’s service, our educators are working hard on developing their skills through training and professional development opportunities. We are extremely proud of the high quality care children receive under our care. Priority 4 Developing the capacity of SHNC SHNC team approaches every working day with a sense of purpose and determination to develop the capacity of the service. In the past year we have increased numbers of programs and services on offer at the centre. We have more English classes, more computer classes, and more opportunities to participate in exciting and dynamic learning opportunities, such as the Eat Well Live Well course that engages people in learning about health, wellbeing and fitness into their senior years. We offer Tai Chi, a Men’s Group, run the monthly Community Café and are working with the Northcott Housing Community to develop the Surry Hills Northcott Community Shed. Over the year our whole staff team have been offered and have undertaken many training and development opportunities. I am very proud to have a dynamic, hardworking a dedicated team who work to support the community. I would like to thank the SHNC Governance Committee for their leadership, their capacity to wrestle with difficult issues, their ongoing support and for being innovative and forward looking. Finally I wish to express my respect and gratitude to the SHNC staff team for working with great focus to represent the members and the community, always finding ways to improve circumstances and embrace opportunities.

Gillian Elliott, SHNC Manager

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Centre Report

This year we decided to highlight the Centre’s achievements using photos as a more inclusive and engaging format. The successes of the year reflect the hard work and dedication of our staff team and a small army of enthusiastic and talented volunteers.

Classes & Groups SHNC provides a wide range of educational and recreational classes and groups to the local community, including: English language, computer classes, tai chi, monthly bus trips, men’s group Blokes’ Business, sewing & knitting group and cooking group.

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Eat Well Live Well This year we created and launched a new program – Eat Well Live Well. This wellness program aims to help people improve their wellbeing and learn how to cook and enjoy healthy and affordable food. Guest speakers, professionals from fields of nutrition, mental and physical health, presented on their topics of expertise and engaged with the participants in Q&A sessions. The first program ran for men aged 55+. The feedback was overwhelmingly positive, and we hope to be able to tailor this program to different groups within the Surry Hills community in the future.

One Billion Rising

OBR is a global peaceful revolutionary movement inspired by the horrifying statistic that 1 in 3 women will be beaten or raped in her lifetime. Every year on 14 February millions of men and women around the globe get together, rise and dance demanding justice. SHNC and SEET Dance partnered up this year to bring the revolution to Surry Hills.

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Surry Hills Film Nights

This community engagement project brings documentaries on human rights, political and environmental issues for free to Sydney. This was the third year when we ran the project, and – as always – it was a great success!

Surry Hills Market & Community Café

Every first Saturday of the month Surry Hills Market open up in Shannon Reserve and the Community Café opens its doors. The Market is an essential fundraiser for SHNC and specialises in handmade, second-hand and recycled goods. The Café is run with the help of dedicated and talented volunteers. Only the food made fresh in our kitchen is served, with the signature dish, the Devonshire teas, coming hot from the oven!

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Surry Hills Festival 2014 On 27 September 2014 the Festival transformed the entire suburb of Surry Hills into joyous and colourful festive grounds. Together with the Festival director Victoria Johnstone this new concept was designed in an attempt to make the event more inclusive and engaging for all members of the community and our suburbs guests. Parks, streets and laneways were activated with music stages, performances, stalls, decorations, light installations and the colourful Mills of Surry Hills that community members helped to design and paint. Enormous effort went into creating and running this event, but as all who took part in it would agree, the festival brought joy, inspiration and uplifting sense of belonging to a unique and colourful neighbourhood to all its participants and guests.