Whittlesea Community Connections
2013 - 14
Donor Snapshot
Pam Usher, Women in Work Social Enterprise Donor
Five years ago business woman and philanthropist Pam
Usher approached the Australian Communities Fund in
search of opportunities to give back to the community.
While there were many worthy projects, a handful appealed
to Pam, and after meeting with Whittlesea Community
Connections she committed to providing seed funding to
establish WCC’s Women in Work project (WiW).
WiW supports women from refugee and migrant
backgrounds to complete accredited childcare
qualifications, as well as the opportunity to gain
employment through the WiW mobile childcare service.
For Pam, the positive outcomes of the project are not
limited to the childcare sector. ‘The women gain a sense
of fulfilment, confidence, language skills and broad
employment benefits… And the social outcomes for the
women are obvious.’
Despite initially signing on for 12 months of funding,
Pam’s relationship with the project is now entering
its fifth year. Pam credits this to witnessing the real
difference the project makes in the lives of women in
Whittlesea. ‘The project works with women who have
limited opportunities because of language barriers or
other disadvantages. By supporting them everyone gains
because the women give back to the community in their
own time.’
Unlike many donors, Pam takes a hands on approach to
supporting the project, regularly meeting with the project
coordinator, WCC CEO and the women themselves. This
has helped Pam see benefits beyond what she originally
thought the project would create.
“
I’ve learnt so much about the
need for people to have others
to interact with, and to support
people to achieve this. Society
needs to be able to socialise
on a genuine level, and the
opportunity to communicate
with others is so important…
The project has given women )ѡ