Redfern Waterloo Human Services Plan Phase One Evaluation Report Released

The Redfern-Waterloo Human Services Plan Phase One was developed in conjunction with government and non-government agencies and the local community to improve service delivery in the area and was endorsed by NSW Cabinet in December 2005. 

The Human Services Plan Phase One set out to improve access to health, education, employment and other essential human services in Redfern and Waterloo. Phase one focuses on delivering better outcomes for Children and families, Young people and Aboriginal people. 

The RWA has been responsible for the implementation of the Plan working with the government and non government agencies responsible for the actions contained in the Plan. 

“Ensuring that the Plan was monitored and evaluated was part of the Redfern Waterloo Authority’s commitment to overseeing the implementation” said Mr Roy Wakelin-King CEO of the RWA. 

An independent consultant was contracted to undertake the evaluation in 2008. 

“The Report  reveals some very good progress on many of the actions and highlights the fact that the Human Services Plan Phase One has resulted in the key human services agencies working more collaboratively, sharing information and targeting specific new initiatives in the area” Mr Wakelin-King said.

 Key areas of progress as a direct result of the Plan include; 

• The creation of 240 Jobs in the construction industry through the Redfern Waterloo’s  Aboriginal Employment Model and training course 
• The establishment of the multi-agency Case Coordination Project 
• The introduction of sustained home visiting of new Aboriginal mothers in Redfern and Waterloo 
• Connect Redfern being actively involved in a number of the strategies listed in the Human Services Plan including the development of strategies for communicating with parents to increase children’s participation in childcare, supported playgroups and preschools and facilitation of interagency professionals.
• Sydney South West Area Health Service (SSWAHS) has taken a number of steps to improve the integration of its mental health and drug health services as recommended in the Human Service Plan 
• The SSWAHS community mental health team has been able to recruit a full-time Clinical Nurse Consultant to the Redfern Health centre which has enabled the service to extend its intake hours of operation from 5 hours per day to 8 hours per day. 
• The RWA and the NSW Department of Community Services (DoCS) provided training in Dadirri - Deep Listening in Indigenous Counselling Skills Training from Gnibi College, Southern Cross University. This five day training course was offered free of charge and provided resource tools to aid the educational / healing process for those working with clients for crisis intervention, counselling or longer term healing interactions. 
• New Service specifications have been developed for NGO youth service funding agreements with DoCS. 
• The establishment of  the Redfern-Waterloo Community Drug Action Team 
• The development and implementation of the Waterloo Green Action Plan 
• Support of the Babana Aboriginal Men’s Group 
• The delivery of a range of community building activities 

Following recommendations made in the report the RWA has recently re-established the Redfern Waterloo Youth Services Taskforce and Family Violence Taskforce to continue to progress action in these areas. 

The report also identifies that there was a slight upward trend in the number and rate of reported domestic violence related assaults and apprehended violence orders (AVOs) issued between 2004/05 and 2006/07.  An increase in the reporting of these incidents due to the increased community awareness about family violence through the actions contained in the plan, has contributed to this finding. 

“Whilst much work has been undertaken by the agencies involved we all understand that  it will take some years before improvements in outcomes in areas such as literacy and numeracy, school attendance and retention, child protection and domestic violence are achieved and are captured in the agency data sets.”  Mr Wakelin-King said 

There are also some actions that are yet to be put in place. 

“The Human Services Plan is a work in progress that was to be phased in over a ten year period” Mr Wakelin-King added “The RWA is still focused on urban renewal, improved human services and job creation for the residents of Redfern, Waterloo, Eveleigh and Darlington and this work is actively continuing in this regard” 

REDWatch Notes:

The Evaluation can be downloaded from the RWA website : Human Services Plan Phase 1 - 18 Month Evaluation Report (pdf ~251kb)

The RWA Newsletter article covering this anouncement can be found in: Redfern Waterloo Update July 2008 (pdf ~630kb)

This is the link to the RWA Evaluation Framework (MS Word 304KB) referred to in the evaluation.