Term 3-06
Community connections under threat.
The college has for many years, forged connections within our local community. We have over the years partnered with community groups, charities, not-for-profits, and businesses to deliver what we would describe as worth-while education services.
Much of this activity is funded from within the college budget and not from external sources. As a not-for-profit organisation we are committed to the re-investment of funds into the communities we serve.
Recent examples of this reinvestment have taken place in Woolloomooloo Waterloo, Redfern, Rozelle, Surry Hills, Newtown, Marrickville and Petersham.
In May this year I visited one of our partner organisations in Petersham, the Mary MacKillop Outreach Centre. Part of the St Vincent’s de Paul Society, the centre provides educational and developmental services to many of Sydney’s forgotten residents. The centre describes many of their clients as being divided into one of three groups. One group has a mental illness, another group has mental illness compounded by disability, and the remaining group have a mental illness compounded by challenging behaviour. By any stretch of the imagination, the provision of developmental and educational services to these groups is a test of ability, beliefs and resolve. The easier road so often taken, would be to provide entertainment dressed up as education (edutainment?). However, the centre has taken on a brave approach to develop programs with a real structure and a solid emphasis on pre-vocational skills. Last year at the college’s Adult Learner’s week celebrations, one of the centres students was awarded the Alan Duncan award as our Adult Student of the Year. (see annual report http://www.sydneycommunitycollege.com.au/s/more/reports)
Touring the centre was a fabulous experience for me. The college has partnered with the centre to deliver the Certificate 1 in Furniture Manufacturing. I visited the upholstery class and was immediately approached by one of the students who quickly produced pictures of three of his finished projects, two upholstered stools and an upholstered lidded magazine box. These were very good projects, useful objects that brought the maker great pride and self-esteem.
In another room, participants assisted by volunteers, worked on a breaking down discarded pushbikes. These were then re-assembled into a clever wheel chair designed for children in the third world, mainly the victims of land mines.
Why am I writing about this? Well, the policy the college has had for many years of developing these relationships where we can bring our registered training organisation status and our education expertise to the aid of committed organisations such as Mary MacKillop, is under stress. Why! Funding… or more precisely, the lack of it. The NSW State Government has cut funding to the college by 33% and indications are that further funding cuts are planned. We have been forced to increase our fees by over 20% just in order to maintain our current level of activity and staff. This has resulted in further increasing the gap between those who can afford to attend and those who cannot.
We have also progressively wound back our support of programs such as those at Mary MacKillop. The maddening thing about this is that at $8 million state wide, the amount of money that the NSW State Government committed was small. However, I and many others would argue, it was money that made a difference.
Garry John Traynor
Principal
garry.traynor@scc.nsw.edu.au
The views expressed in this editorial are those of the author.
