Impact100 Sydney Mentoring Program

Hansard ID: HANSARD-1323879322-97412

Hansard session: Fifty-Sixth Parliament, First Session (56-1)

Impact100 Sydney Mentoring Program

Mr JAMIE PARKER (Balmain) (17:56:09):

This evening I inform the House about a wonderful new mentoring program in my electorate for young women. A new philanthropic organisation called Impact100 Sydney recently awarded its first $100,000 grant to Leichhardt Women's Community Health Centre and SOS Women's Services to operate a mentoring program for disadvantaged young women who are residents of Lillian's in Erskineville and The Girls' Refuge in Leichhardt. The manager of the Leichhardt Women's Health Centre, Roxanne McMurray, works tirelessly for women and girls. I am pleased to inform the House that they were awarded the grant out of 52 applicants.

The Impact100 model aims to attract 100 donations of $1,000 to provide a grant to an organisation that can have a real and measurable impact. It is great to see Sydney businesses and other members contributing in this way. The mentoring program will assist 40 girls aged between 16 and 21 to go through life-changing career mentoring. The girls in these refuges are not at home because of issues such as domestic violence, sexual abuse, neglect, parental drug addiction, or family breakdown or they have been rescued from forced child marriage. These girls are among the most vulnerable members of our community and ensuring their safety and creating pathways out of homelessness, poverty and abuse are critical because they are so young. Some are so young that they arrive at the refuges with their clothes and a teddy bear.

Both refuges have a home-like environment with strict curfews for the girls' safety and a very strong focus on girls remaining at school. Nights are spent doing homework together and staff help with completing assignments. The girls who go on to university create a highly inspirational environment for the whole house, particularly the younger girls. It provides genuine hope that they are worth something and that it is possible to overcome their difficult family backgrounds and abuse. The older girls are particularly driven to succeed and to create a more positive life than the one they came from. Due to a lack of parenting, the girls do not have the usual weekend activities that other girls take for granted, such as ballet or netball, nor do they have parents to look up to or wider networks of relatives and friends to provide strong role models. It is difficult for most people to imagine, having come from a regular home, but not having those things creates a major gap. That is what this mentoring program aims to address.

Some of the girls doing courses at TAFE are being matched with strong female mentors in the community to provide guidance, work experience and ongoing contacts for their future careers. It is hoped that the girls will be able to continue to stay in touch with their mentors and, in some cases, to continue to volunteer and gain further work experience. It will give them on-the-job experience and help their communication skills and confidence. The mentoring program is a 10-step program that matches the girls with business leaders in the Sydney community, as well as other mentors such as health and youth workers who may mentor girls interested in careers such as nursing.

PricewaterhouseCoopers has stepped up and kindly agreed to provide mentoring for the girls, including advice about curriculum vitae, interviews and presentation skills. The steps include going to a mentor's workplace and completing a substantial activity, being advised on interviews and presentation, and attending a work-related social event with their mentor. Jules Sebastian, ambassador for the Sebastian Foundation, will also do a workshop with the girls and an end-of-year lunch. I have visited what was known as Detour House and is now The Girls Refuge in Leichhardt, which is in my electorate. I attended an event recently and saw firsthand the great work done by the Sebastian Foundation. Guy Sebastian and Jules Sebastian were there doing an amazing renovation of The Girls Refuge. It is fantastic to see their ongoing support.

I am also proud to have contributed to upgrading and supporting The Girls Refuge by helping to facilitate a grant through the Community Building Partnership program. I hope this program will be successful; in fact, I am sure it will. I hope also that this model is used by other youth refuges to assist not just these young girls but other young people in the community. The support the girls receive at this time will help determine the rest of their lives and will have a flow‑on effect in the lives of others: the girls' future children, their family, their friends and the wider community. I wish all these girls well and congratulate Roxanne and all those involved in SOS Women's Services for being the first‑ever recipient of this prestigious new grant which will give these girls the opportunity of a successful future. I commend all of those involved, the businesses and individuals at Impact100 Sydney.

Mr MARK COURE (Oatley) (18:01:10

): I too place on record my congratulations to the Leichhardt Women's Community Health Centre and other organisations and particularly to Roxanne McMurray, whom I have known for more than 20 years, on the great work that she and the centre have done in mentoring women of all ages. They have done a wonderful job for many years in Leichhardt, not just in mentoring but also in providing low‑cost and affordable medical health care and in improving the lives of women in and around the inner west of Sydney. On behalf of both sides of the House, I acknowledge the great work of Roxanne, the grant that was received, and the businesses involved.