Kenn Payne, Manager Gurehlgam Corporation
Nav Navratil, Manager Clarence River Domestic and Family Violence Service The Alliance provides a good base for a regional understanding of the needs of our communities. Our organisations are strategically placed and reflect the needs of our local communities. As a whole the Alliance creates a stronger voice. My organisation, Clarence River Domestic and Family Violence Service, has a long standing working relationship as an Alliance partner. We provide crisis accommodation, court support, and counselling and outreach support services. We also act as a referral service when we need to refer our clients to other agencies and we advocate and lobby for survivors of domestic and family violence. There is still so much to be done around safety for women and children in our community. Domestic violence is not just physical violence it includes emotional and financial abuse. In addition to the lack of affordable housing, women in our region also face barriers around communication and public transport infrastructure. Housing affordability is really a key issue for the Alliance – we have to map out the issues and find a way forward. We don’t have the political or structural control around housing but we can make representations to government bodies so the grassroots’ issues are heard. I think the strength of the Alliance is that we are all independent and we are all focussed on getting the best outcomes for our clients. We will keep working through these issues and supporting each other to make the changes needed to bring about change.
We really need the expertise of people who work in women’s refuges and Aboriginal run organisations to bring the immediate sense of purpose to the Alliance. There is a lot of expertise from both women’s services and Aboriginal organisations in the Alliance and that is what makes it so important and unique. The Gurehlgam Community Centre in Grafton, is home to 15 different services across issues such as homelessness, court support and tenancy support, mental health and drug and alcohol. We also provide a lot of cultural engagement and strengthening cultural understanding in the wider community. One of the biggest issues for our area is the lack of housing. If we had adequate and affordable housing for the people we support a lot of the other issues would melt away or at least be easier to handle. You can’t get on with your life and sorting out challenges if you don’t have a place to live. There is a lot of goodwill out there in the community and among our organisations to try and address the social and economic disadvantage so many people experience. We really need to find solutions and be creative about how we come together to address things like housing. We definitely need more investment from government but we can’t wait for a magic wand – we have to take action as a community.
Annual Report 2019-20 | 25
Made with FlippingBook Ebook Creator