by Mission on June 24, 2010
Melbourne Citymission is proud to support Maribyrnong Refugee Week 2010.
What
Lots of:
- Food Sampling
- Music
- Entertainment
- Fun
- Dancing
- Food demonstration
- Learnings
When
Friday 25 June 2010
12pm to 3pm
Where
Footscray Baptist church Hall
60 Paisley Street, Footscray
More info
For more information please call
Nicole Kopel on 9334 6657
Maribyrnong refugee Week
by Mission on June 8, 2010
The role of Artists-in-Residence in Aged Care
As part of the ‘Active Ageing’ strategy at Eltham, in mid-2009 Melbourne Citymission formed a partnership with Nillumbik Shire Council to implement an Artist-In-Residence demonstration project at Eltham Retirement Centre. This aimed to complement the clinical program with arts therapies.
Over the past year, two artists have worked each week with residents of the Independent Living Units and the residential care facilities on a textiles-based creative arts experience. In this experience, residents have explored their memories and expressed their creativity in whatever form they felt comfortable with. Some created their art works from everyday objects in their lives, some painted, some wrote their stories.
Most importantly, the residents embraced this project with such enthusiasm that it has been a runaway success; way beyond the expectations of the staff.
Residents found new relationships. They re-discovered or first-realised their creative talents. And they felt really valued and engaged. At project-end, they want more!
An exhibition of the works will be on display at the Eltham Library Community Gallery from 3 – 27 June 2010.
Texture of memories that reflects the excitement they generated in the ‘Texture of Memories’ project.
by Mission on June 3, 2010
‘For us in Melbourne Citymission’s Justice Services, it’s just one way we can support women before they are released from prison, so coming back into the community is just that little bit easier.’
Last week, Melbourne Citymission held an expo at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre for 60 women to think about what they’d like to do, in terms of career paths and training opportunities, after they are released from prison.
At the expo, these 60 women were able to engage with employers and training providers, as well as human resource staff, who were on hand to provide guidance and advice on interview and communication skills.
For us in Melbourne Citymission’s Justice Services, it’s just one way we can support women before they are released from prison, so coming back into the community is just that little bit easier. It’s also a way we can get the women to start thinking about their future.
The day itself comprised of a number of sessions. Bronwyn from the Laughter Club facilitated the opening session and Georgia from Melbourne Citymission’s SWEP program facilitated a strengths based activity, focusing on the importance of strengths in taking responsibility for actions and moving forward.
The final session was with Fitted 4 Work. This agency provides clothing to women for job interviews and employment. Fitted 4 Work also talked about the importance of presentation in building confidence to attend interviews.
The women who are part of the Catering Course at Dame Phyllis Frost put on the morning tea and lunch. Both were fantastic and delicious, and a great opportunity for the women to cater for a large group — something they do not get to do often.
We were also able to provide a Vietnamese translation, through one of our Women 4 Work consultants. This was pretty important as about 12 of the women do not speak English or had English as their second language, and without this translation they could not attend.
Melbourne Citymission’s Justice Services would like to thank our guests from Maribyrnong City council, Group Training Victoria, Job Services Australia, and some senior Melbourne Citymission managers for coming along and supporting what turned out to be a very successful day.
We would also like to thank the staff at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, who worked extremely hard to get this day together.
Most importantly, we want to thank the women who participated — it would not be possible without them!
Find out more about Melbourne Citymission’s Justice Programs
