Employment support continues for the Frankston North Community
When the current employment service provider announced the need to withdraw from providing support on site, Our Place was able to act quickly to ensure the Frankston North community were still able to access employment support on school sites.
Employment support for adults within the Frankston North community has been identified as a high need and priority area for many years. Prior to the partnership with Our Place and the new school build, an employment support service was available to the community at one of the Frankston North primary schools. Unfortunately, due to a recent end of a contract for this service, it was no longer able to continue on site.
As part of the Our Place approach, Community Facilitators undertake extensive consultations with local community members and local service providers. Consultations with local service providers also enabled Our Place to learn about available employment support services and develop relationships with local providers.
Due to the relationships, Our Place was able to act quickly to prevent a service delivery gap from emerging. As the role of the glue, Our Place promptly set out to engage with another local employment service provider that, through their consultations, knew that this service offered eligibility friendly and fee-free employment support.
From here, Our Place arranged for this employment service provider to offer services one day each week at both Aldercourt and Mahogany Rise primary schools. From this arrangement, parents and carers from each school and the wider Frankston North community are receiving employment support. The type of support offered through this service includes but is not limited to; resume writing, job application assistance and interview preparation.
Continuing to play the role of the glue on site, Our Place help connect parents, carers and community members to this employment support via promotion of the service and by through warm referrals. Our Place also works closely with this provider and offer opportunities for the provider to meet the community through invitations to attend on site activities such as the sewing group to discuss their service with parents.
Other adult education programs are also planned to run on site in future, with a Certificate 1 in General Education already being delivered, with a rolling enrolment so community members can join the class at anytime. The employment support service on site is complimentary to on site adult learning programs as the service provides an ongoing pathway for participants after completing courses.
Adult engagement, volunteering, learning and employment is one of the five evidence-based Elements that are central to the Our Place approach. Our Place supports opportunities for families to engage in volunteering, formal and informal learning, and link them into employment pathways. The key features of this element are:
- Parents and families are provided with opportunities for participation in volunteering
- Parents and carers are supported to take up adult learning opportunities
- Parents and carers are supported through pathways to employment.