What we do
Client Services
Community Information Service
Our amazing front desk volunteers who are the face of
WCC continue to assist community members with their
enquiries by making direct referrals to local organisations
or giving general information about services in the local
community, helping people find their way around the
local area with public transport timetables, booking clients
in for appointments at WCC and supporting staff with
administration and client support.
This year, our front desk team assisted with over 5,500
enquiries from the community. Thank you to all our
community information volunteers for your dedication and
hard work throughout the year.
Whittlesea Volunteer Resource Service
This year the WVRS supported more than 45 organisations
with volunteer recruitment and management. We now
have over 50 organisations registered with the Volunteer
Resource Service. A highlight for the service this year
was working with local schools to develop a number of
valuable volunteer roles including classroom support,
grounds maintenance, book keeping and mural painting.
More than 290 people at the start of their volunteer
journey attended our information sessions across the
year to learn about their rights and responsibilities and
hear from various local organisations about volunteer
opportunities available to them.
More than 3,029 community members were supported
with volunteering enquiries, including direct referrals
to agencies for volunteer roles, training in first aid, food
safety and computer classes.
us to further assist disadvantaged individuals
and families with access to essential medical
equipment, education expenses and whitegoods.
Tax Help
This year 11 volunteers speaking 9 different
community languages assisted over 370 people
with information and support to complete their tax
returns. Thank you to our dedicated volunteers.
Housing Brokerage and Support
Project
By providing a small no interest loan, we were able to
assist 13 more clients enter the private rental market
through our Housing Brokerage and Support Program
this year. To date 6 clients have paid off their loan
in full with another 2 also close to completing their
repayments. All clients of the project to date are still in
their rental properties.
Highlights for other clients of the project have been:
Improved English (no longer needing an
interpreter or assistance to complete basic forms)
Emergency Relief
Improved self advocacy skills
In 2013-14, with the help of our volunteer ER assessors,
Linking clients into other programs for additional
support where needed
we distributed $139,375 in ER funds through 1,711
assessments. Sadly we had to turn away over 3,000
community members who presented for ER assistance
due to a shortfall in resources. WCC continues to maintain
the Whittlesea ER calendar which provides community
members with a list of local Emergency Relief providers.
$13,809 was accessed through applications made to a
number of discretionary funds including the Queens
Fund, Walter and Eliza Hall Trust and the Ian and Nell
Clarke Encouragement Fund. These funds enabled
10
We received a grant from the Besen Foundation to
evaluate the Housing Brokerage and Support Project
which is being carried out by Dr Sharon Parkinson
from RMIT. We are confident that findings from the
report will assist us in our efforts to increase resources
so we can expand the project in order to continue
building partnerships with local real estate agents and
assist a greater number of community members to
secure sustainable housing options.