Focusing on Excellence

A new state of the art, multi-purpose centre in Redfern is aiming to change this perception by allowing young Indigenous Australians pathways to achieving their potentials.

Jason Glanville, National Centre of Indigenous Excellence (NCIE), said the new multi-purpose facility would work to shift the current debate. “The National Centre of Excellence defines excellence in a fairly broad way,” Mr Glanville said.

“The idea of the centre derives from the need to move away from the deficit conversation about disadvantage and to focus on the positive contribution that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people already make to the community.”

“[The centre also aims to] lift the benchmark and to say to young Aboriginal people particularly, that you can dream of a bigger future – you don’t need to be confined by the situation that’s in front of you at the moment, and the job of the centre is to help you make those dreams come true.

“So the centre is really a place for everybody, but we are approaching it from a positive place of excellence rather than this deficit model of disadvantage.”

The centre currently offers a fully equipped gym and oudoor heated swimming pool.
Once it is officially launched next month, it will also include an intensive literacy tutorial centre for primary school students, community meeting rooms, a 130-bed hostel and multip-purpose sports courts.

Since opening its doors to the community three weeks ago, the gym has attracted almost 900 members, according to Mr Glanville.

For 10 year-old Sasha Cummings, the swimming pool and basketball courts have provided a regular hang-out.

“I come here a few days a week,” Sasha said. “The Centre is cool because it gives us a place to hang out after school.”

Mr Glanville said the community would see the full benefits of the centre with time, as more programs are introduced. “While we have the commercial operation in the gym, the core business of the centre is to provide development pathways for young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from right across the country.”

With the second anniversary of the Federal Government’s official apology to the Stolen Generations just days away, Mr Glanville said more worked needed to be done to assist Aboriginal communities. “I think we need much better mental health services on the ground, we need much better family reunification services, we need much better counseling an support services for the members of the stolen generation and their families who are still very strongly impacted by the effects of that past policy.”

Source: www.altmedia.net.au/shifting-the-focus/16240