Teressa & Tonya Visit Melba Support Services & Wesley Fire and Clay

Sunday, March 16, 2014 – 12:10 p.m. Australia time (on Prince’s Highway to Mt. Waverly)

By Teressa Jackson

Thursday afternoon, Tonya, Margie, and I visited Melba Support Services. The familiar story of parents in pursuit of services was part of Melba’s history as well. The 40-year-old organization serves adults with physical and/or intellectual disabilities and/or autism. They were the first organization in Australia accredited in Person-Centered Excellence, and are very focused on the individual wants and needs of their clientele.

Melba has a variety of programs, including group and individual day services and community living. They created a bakery that sells its goods by the name of Able Bakehouse. Selling just 18 packs of their delicious treats a week pays for the service (we got treated to them, and they were wonderful!), and 45-50 participants are involved in its operation in some way, from chopping to mixing to baking to packaging to selling.

As we’ve seen over and over, Melba is heavily reliant on volunteer support, and most of their 265 workers are part-time or casual (what we’d call PRN), with full-time workers being a small minority. Sixty volunteers are regularly involved in agency programming, and are led by a full-time volunteer coordinator. 

Our last vocational stop on Thursday was at Wesley Fire & Clay. The operation employs adults with disabilities in ceramics-related work. They formerly focused primarily on utilitarian ceramics such as tiles, but have moved on to more artistic endeavors. Participants make beautiful birdbaths, painted decorative objects, and other items. The program is seen as a path to open employment at other venues, but many participants enjoy working there long-term. Tonya and I were excited to see all the beautiful work they were doing, and couldn’t help but make a few purchases to take home with us.

Margi then took us for a special treat to visit Yarra Valley Chocolaterie. This amazing facility produces some beautiful and delicious chocolates, and we couldn’t resist making a few purchases there as well. After the hard work of decision making, we refreshed ourselves with some honeycomb ice cream on the veranda.

I arrived home at 6 p.m., but my day was far from over. I freshened up and we headed back up the mountain to John’s wine club dinner, where around sixty people feasted on a delectable five courses of food and wine pairings. The kitchen was incredibly attentive to the request for my vegetarian meal, and I enjoyed myself fully. We had great conversation, and many people went out of their way to talk to the American woman. J I did receive a bit of teasing from one attendee who had never been to America and insisted that it was impossible that I didn’t drive a pickup truck or own a “big puffer coat”. We didn’t arrive home until midnight, and I was to leave for a new home at 8:30 a.m. What a day and night!

Teressa & Tonya Visit EACH & Knoxbrooke, Inc.

Sunday, March 16, 2014 – 11:50 a.m. Geelong time (on the road to Mt. Waverly)

By Teressa Jackson

Tonya and I spent a vocational day together on Friday. We began our day at Eastern Access Community Health (EACH), a not-for-profit providing care to a variety of constituents including early intervention and kindergarten (preschool) for children; drug and alcohol, financial, gambling, and bush fire recovery counseling; employment placement for people with mental illness and intellectual disabilities, and much more.

Through mergers, EACH has grown substantially over the past several years, to a budget size of around $45 million today. Like most of the disability services we’ve visited, they are transitioning to Individual Support Packages (ISPs) focused on providing more choice for participants in directing their care.

After EACH, Russell, our morning driver, took us to Knoxbrooke, Inc., where Margi, our afternoon host, was waiting. Knoxbrooke has a variety of services, and the site we visited provides employment for 85 individuals with disabilities and 36 non-disabled staff in the setting of a nursery and gardening center. They have a large commercial operation with 200 customers and a sales team that works to connect the program with national buyers.

Individuals with disabilities who work at Knoxbrooke are paid a productivity-based wage based on an assessment done by the Commonwealth (federal government). The average productivity rate of an employee is 25%, and individuals can earn around $180 per week before they begin to put their other disability benefits in jeopardy. Most individuals with disabilities work around 18 hours per week. In addition to employment, participants receive training on horticulture. 

The weather has had a drastic impact on Knoxbrooke’s horticulture operation, but thankfully they have been able to increase sales by 32% over last year. Overall, their budget is around 30% government and 70% commercial.

Like Rauch and New Hope Services, Knoxbrooke was begun by parents of children with disabilities, and has grown from there. As a smaller size organization, operations have become increasingly difficult in recent years, and they have persevered as many agencies have merged and consolidated.

I especially enjoyed a bit of teasing I witnessed between the horticulture program director and a participant. The participant was looking forward to the impending start of the Australian Rules Football season, and the two were obviously cheering for opposing teams. It was an interaction I have witnessed at my place of employment so many times, the only difference being the sport. We truly are more similar than we are different.

Royal Children's Hospital & Eastern Volunteers

Sunday, March 16, 2014 – 9:15 a.m. Queenscliff time

By Teressa Jackson

It has been another whirlwind of a week, and so I am behind on blogging again. Monday was Labour Day, and we had the hard work (ha!) of visiting the historic homestead of Mont de Lancey in Wandin, learning about the early settlers and strolling the garden; tasting wines at Chandon, a division of Moet; and settling into an extensive late lunch (although they all seem a bit late here to me) at the amazing home of Mike's hosts Warwick and Paulette. After that, we were all in a food coma and useless for the rest of the day. 

On Tuesday, we were back to the grind. We set off back for the city first thing in the morning to visit the Royal Children’s Hospital. They have some amazing facilities! Although their medical services are funded by the government-run healthcare system, all the “extras” are not. They have a “Good Friday” appeal each year that raises substantial funds, and in total they raise around $40 million in charitable support each year.

Royal Children’s has placed a big emphasis on ensuring its facilities are not institutional in feel or approach. They have a bean bag movie theater complete with medical hookups if a child needs them while away from their room, that shows the latest kids’ films twice a day. A meerkat exhibit (yes, with real meerkats) keeps kids in the outpatient area engaged and, let’s face it, distracted. There is a two-story saltwater aquarium and large sculpture (for climbing) in the central main lobby. A craft and entertainment area is available for activities, and while in that area we saw two doctors dressed in silly attire headed out to provide some fun. It was an amazing place.

Next we headed to the banks of the Yarra River where we enjoyed a barbecue lunch and celebrated Kelsie's 25th birthday, despite a bit of rain. After lunch, we had a few extra moments, so we strolled through a bit of the botanic gardens for those of us who hadn’t had a chance to enjoy them. Then we were off again!

 

Our next stop was at the offices of Eastern Volunteers, where we learned about their services to help the community and local not-for-profits by engaging volunteers in a variety of capacities. Much like Metro United Way at home, and Karingal in Geelong, they provide ways for volunteers to learn about the needs of not-for-profits and connect with them. Additionally, they have an infrastructure through which they organize volunteers to provide transportation for people with disabilities and others in need. The Rotary Club of Ringwood has provided a van to assist with this service.

View more photos from the day and stay up-to-date with all our latest at our Facebook page:www.facebook.com/gse2014.

A "Happy Home" at Karingal

Sunday, March 9, 2014 – 1:15 p.m. Victoria time (in a train to Wandin)

By Teressa Jackson

Last Thursday, my host Warren was kind enough to drive me over an hour west to the city of Geelong for the day, where I visited Karingal, whose name means “happy home”. Much like where I work, Karingal was founded in 1952 by parents of children with disabilities. They have experienced incredible growth in the past fifteen years, going from a $3.5 million annual budget to a budget of around $80 million through mergers and growth in programming. Their service area is now “interstate” (multi-state).

I first met with Robyn, who gave me an overview of the agency’s many service lines. Like many of the disability service organizations we have visited, and very unlike most similar organizations in the U.S., Karingal’s employment placement program runs a surplus that they use to further their other services for people with all types of disabilities, the elderly, and other populations, some of which include:

• Kommercial – Hospitality, land care, packaging, and catering services conducted in a variety of on-site “social enterprise model” setups
• Youth services – Targeted to kids at risk who drop out of school
• Individual supports – Respite, personal care, work-based support, note taking assistance
• Aged care – Includes a service for individuals in distress where they are required to “buzz in” each day to ensure their safety
• Participate – A day program providing accredited training, adventure-based learning focused on pre-employment skills, volunteer work, literacy training, and other supports
• Karingallery – Run by an artist and showing art by people with disabilities and other community artists
• Transcend – Mental health respite, outreach, personal helpers, and mentors
• Accommodation – Shared living housing, primarily for individuals with intellectual disabilities (4 to 8 individuals per home, 24-hour support – staff are allowed to sleep in all homes except one)
• “My Own Place” – A program that helps people find a place for more independent accommodations
• ARC Support – For people with acquired brain injury including community education, family support networks, and a drop-in center (board funded) 

Like the organization where I work, Karingal is ISO 9001:2008 certified, and is also accredited by Disability Services Victoria. Like many other not-for-profits I’ve visited, they first and foremost look for staff with skills in the program area and then provide disability support training.

Next, Tracy gave me an overview of BacLinks, which provides links between business and the community. Much in the way that our local Metro United Way does, this service arm connects businesses and other groups with community not-for-profits in need of volunteer support. The program runs at a significant deficit and Karingal sees it as their “gift to the community.” The model was devised in working with federally-funded consultants. Businesses pay a membership fee that provides them with support and access to four business breakfasts each year. They also pay a fee for projects supported by BacLinks. These fees allow the agency to provide support in the form of risk assessment, project agreements including roles and responsibilities, assessment of need for insurance, event registration, photos, evaluation, and more.

Karingal’s Foundation director gave me a lift to one of their other sites in the community. She was in much the same situation I was three years ago. Hired just six months ago, she is facing a capital campaign to raise $2 million of a $6 million goal to build a new building at the site I was visiting, which will be a community center geared toward inclusion of people with disabilities in community life. It will include a coffee shop (I told you they like their coffee here!), conference space, art rooms, and much more.

The director at the community center, Lee, took me to a lovely lunch and then we visited several of Karingal’s other sites and programs. Karingallery was a beautiful space with some wonderful works that were very professionally presented. They have a show five times a year and this is always in mind as a goal. Additionally, they rent gallery space to other artists in the community to help bring people in to the space and generate funds. Most people come to the art program a half day to two days per week. Most of their sites were centrally located to facilitate integration of participants into the community. I really enjoyed meeting their staff and participants, and going at what felt like a slower pace than the hustle and bustle of Melbourne. 

View more photos from the day and stay up-to-date with all our latest at our Facebook page:www.facebook.com/gse2014.

Arts Access Victoria

Sunday, March 9, 2014 – 11:15 a.m. Geelong time

By Teressa Jackson

My first vocational visit last week was with Arts Access Victoria. Immediately upon arriving, I hopped in the car with Veronica, their CEO, and we were off to visit one of their 25 studio sites around the region serving around 600 participants.  

On the way, Veronica gave me the rundown on Arts Access’ programming, philosophy, and approach. Primarily operating on government funds (they also get some philanthropic grants), they are positioning themselves as Australia’s largest arts and disability organization, with a budget of around $2 million yearly funded on a 6-year cycle. They do not talk about their artists’ work as recreational or therapeutic, but instead as a way of political and social expression. They recognize art is political and that their programs are, by connection, also political. They have a strong relationship with all sides of government and are very engaged with the world of policy, using art to talk about inclusion, exclusion, equality, and other issues – basic human rights issues that are hard to argue against. Arts Access’ innovative and creative approach has helped them secure funding needed to further their work. Their overhead on projects, used to fund other unfunded progrmming, is 15 to 20%.

Arts Access works across all art forms, and with individuals who have any type of disability. They do not have artistic directors and avoid hierarchical structure, which they feel would restrain creativity, and put a priority on working with good quality art materials. They exhibit their artists’ work with a multi-layered exhibition strategy from a “practice” type space, to a community partner gallery space, to a commercial gallery. A number of their artists are sought-after and collected. Each individual artist discusses their creative plan with staff three times per year.

The first program we visited was an open studio where participants can make art with the general community. When establishing these studios, the organization works very hard to connect with local artists and engage them in the programming. Part of the programming is a focus on building community relationships. Twelve to fifteen people attend programming weekly, and there is a waiting list for participation. People were actively engaged on making some incredible works of art, and were very excited to share about their vision for their work, how they feel the program has benefited them, and were very proud of a performance they had participated in on Sunday.

We then visited a privately owned supported residential service accommodation program serving individuals who are homeless and struggle with substance abuse and/or mental illness. Programs like the one we visited have helped staff at the programs see participants in a new light. Through the partnership, Arts Access staff visit the home and supply materials, support, and programming for creative sessions.

In addition to programming sites, Arts Access works to place their artists in arts-related employment, provides support and advocacy for inclusion in the arts, and provides programming by which individuals can visit various art-related sites in the community.  

It has been interesting to learn during several of my vocational visits that the majority of government funding seems to be local, not federal or even state. Arts Access takes advantage of their relationship with local government to partner for programming and gallery space in addition to dollars. They feel strongly that when outcomes are demonstrated, the money will follow.

The organization has a Board Member who is with the Skin& Cancer Foundation and they have formed a partnership in creating “Skin Gallery”, a gallery space located in a venue where people are being treated for cancer. Around 40,000 people each year are through the space while in treatment, and a space which felt sterile became engaging while serving as an affordable, manageable pathway for artist exhibitions.

I was very intrigued with Arts Access’ staffing structure and approach to human resources. While they have 70 staff across the organization, none of them work full-time, including their CEO, who works five days a week from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in order to balance personal needs at home. Twenty of their 70 staff members have disabilities. Australia’s not-for-profit sector offers incentives for employees of human services organizations. Employees do not pay tax on the first $16,000 of their earnings, so take-home pay is much higher.

Veronica has implemented a flexible schedule for employees, and they are not required to report to the office each day for work. Timesheets were eradicated, and employees are paid for the hours allocated to them and expected to get the work done. Staff is paid to do professional certification training, they receive 4 weeks vacation, 8 sick days, 4 carers leave days, and maternity leave is a generous three months. Minimum pay for their staff is $24 per hour. The premium is placed on working smarter, not harder, and it shows – they have overachieved on every indicator of their government contract each year.

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