Seeds of recovery
CRITICAL FUNDING NEEDED: The PLACE listening tour scheduled a stop at the Financial Wellbeing Hub to hear of progress and results growing from the SEED program in Seymour.
A local program was chosen to highlight their women’s economic security and financial wellbeing program at the hub in Seymour last Thursday.
Seymour’s Sustaining Economic Empowerment and Dignity (SEED) project was thrilled to be selected by The Partnerships for Local Action and Community Empowerment (PLACE) to meet with some of their Community Investment Committee (CIC) and graduates of the SEEDS Change Maker Program, Justine Delzotto and Jo Evans.
The PLACE listening tour focused on collecting data and evidence to understand the demographic and structural barriers which prevent women in Seymour joining the workforce.
The SEED Program is a Brotherhood of St. Laurence initiative, and the Seymour CIC is a network of 11 member organisations with expertise in family services, health and wellbeing, financial counselling, disability, education, and housing.
The SEED Project has introduced free workshops for women in Seymour to strengthen their financial and emotional wellbeing, and this includes a workshop to help women navigate Services Australia self-service portal, and another initiative is the women’s wardrobe.
SEED CIC member and GOTAFE Youth Engagement Officer with future students and partnerships team Madison Whiteman said free access to formal workwear is improving employment outcomes, and now the initiative is permanently set up at the Mitchell Shire Council Flood Recovery Hub.
SEED Stakeholder Engagement Coordinator Lee Day said the CIC mobilises local resources, strengthens pathways, and fosters collaboration among service providers to improve women’s economic security.
BSL Project Manager Penny Bohm said the community needed consistent services and they needed them close to home.
“Seymour is very community focused; we saw it through the floods, we saw it through COVID-19. Given opportunities to be a part of it, the women will jump on board. The women we have worked with over the last two years have flourished, they are just different people.
“And it’s not just us, it’s all the supporting organisations [CIC’s] that work with us. We are recommending women to services that we trust,” she said.
PLACE representatives also heard from SEED CIC network, Our Place.
Partnership Manager, Liz Tegenza said ongoing funding is crucial for lasting outcomes.
“It helps to have 10 year funding cycles. We started in 2019, and its only now we feel it’s taking off. People trust us. While the government looks at per capita results, the cost to the community is lessened when you look at place-based early intervention.” she said.
The Women’s Financial Wellbeing hub is located at 47A Anglesey Street, Seymour.
This article was originally published in the North Central Review and can be accessed here.