Holmesglen TAFE, Southmore Primary School, Youth Connect, and Marriott Support Services

Wednesday, March 5, 2014 – 10 p.m. Melbourne time

By Teressa Jackson

Tuesday, we joined representatives from the Rotary Club of Bentleigh Morrabbin Central for more touring around. First we visited Holmesglen TAFE Moorabbin Campus. Holmesglen TAFE seems quite similar to IvyTech, our two-year community college in Indiana. They offer culinary, nursing, and science related programs, and have some beautiful facilities and their staff kindly answered all our questions about higher education in Australia: there are two-year vocational and technical type programs like Holmesglen TAFE, three-year bachelor’s programs, you can do an additional year for what they call an “honors” diploma (more research), master’s degrees are generally for a specific profession (think MBA), and most graduate programs would lead to a Ph.D.

After Holmesglen TAFE, we visited Southmore Primary School. Their principal explained that the school receives a lump budget from the government, which they can use virtually any way they want so long as they maintain the required teacher to student ratios. They have been very creative in their approaches and student involvement.

Grade six students have a permanent project they undertake each year to leave their mark on the school. This year’s students were developing a Korean garden, which was very much in keeping with the school’s focus on gardening, cooking, and healthy, unprocessed food. Their model is based on the vision of a chef named Stephanie Alexander. Not only does this benefit the health of their students, it also saves the school money – students grow, cook, freeze, and preserve the food they grow on site. Food is grown organically; pests are dealt with using garlic oil spray.

At Youth Connect, we learned about programs for youth ages 13 to 25. Their vision is to provide a community where youth have pathways leading them through secondary education, further learning, and employment. They help youth understand the changes they will need to make to navigate their careers and the flexibility it will take. Like many of the not-for-profits we have visited, about 86% of Youth Connect’s budget is from governmental sources.

Last, we paid a visit to Marriott Support Services, a not-for-profit that provides programs for adults with intellectual disabilities. Their services include day programs, open employment at community employers, and supported employment at Marriott Industries. Their Open Employment program (what we would call Supported Employment at my workplace) is able to use a productivity based wage in job placement, where a level of productivity is assessed for each task involved with a job, and a wage is based on the participant’s ability to meet these levels. They can receive staff support on the job for up to 26 weeks. Employers also receive a direct government payment for hiring employees with disabilities. The productivity-based wage does not end but is reassessed every two years and a new wage is determined in consultation with Marriott and the individual’s employer. It cannot decrease from the initial rate, however.

Marriott Industries is working to transition to a social enterprise in the next two to five years, where they will employ many more highly skilled people along with people with disabilities. They currently employ 70 individuals with disabilities and around 8 non-disabled staff. Their client base includes people with mental illness as well as people with intellectual disabilities; the breakdown is approximately 60% people with intellectual disabilities, 30% dual diagnosis, and 10% people with mental illness. They have a horticulture program where they employ 45 disabled and 28 non-disabled workers. Unlike the United States, they do not receive preference in the award of government contracts for Marriott Industries, and actually run a 10 to 15% loss for the division.

We quickly changed and headed out to our second presentation at a cluster meeting after our already full day. Thankfully, the company and conversation kept us going. It was a fun and full day.