YNEWS THIRD EDITION 2016 WELCOME TO THIS ISSUE YNEWS Election Scorecard results announced.....................4 3RD EDITION 2016 Update from our Early Childhood Services...............6 A recap of the She Leads College Conference.........12 Welcome to the latest edition of YNews! Here, we celebrate a range of achievements and events, Meet Ariel Ford, Circles of Support Counsellor.......14 including the release of our 2015-16 Annual Report, Partnerships that make a difference - The Snow and Election Scorecard. Foundation..............................................................17 We also hear from our Early Childhood Services Upcoming events and opportunities ..........................19 teams, and gain an insight into our therapeutic counselling program, Circles of Support. Photo gallery - Highlights from the Meet the Candidates event...................................................20 YWCA-CANBERRA.ORG.AU YNEWS. YWCA CANBERRA, THIRD EDITION Acknowledgement of Country. YWCA Canberra proudly recognises the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to own and control their cultures, and pays respect around these rights. YWCA Canberra acknowledges the need to respect and encourage the diversity of Indigenous cultures and aims to respect Indigenous worldviews, lifestyles and customary laws. 2 WELCOME YNEWS. YWCA CANBERRA. THIRD EDITION 2016 TO YNEWS YWCA CANBERRA THIRD EDITION 2016. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT With this edition of Ynews, I am very We recently released an election scorecard, which ranks each major pleased to also announce the launch party against five key areas of concern for the ACT community. We of our 2015-16 Annual Report, which worked closely with the ACT Greens, Canberra Liberals and ACT Labor you can now download from the YWCA to ensure their party’s commitments were clearly captured in our Canberra website. scoring. This year’s report details our success The final results saw the ACT Greens leading with a 70% result, stories, social impact, and how we are followed by ACT Labor on 50% and Canberra Liberals on 40%. You tracking against the strategic directions can read more about the election scorecard and see the specific and priorities set by our Board. questions asked of each party on our website. We hope this will help our members take an informed vote to the polls at the election. As you will read in the Annual Report, this year YWCA Canberra continued to Keep an eye on our e-newsletter for details of our Christmas demonstrate its values through our key fundraising appeal, which will be launched soon, as well as our areas of work in community services, children’s services, training and celebratory member event to herald the end of the year. I look forward education, and advocacy. to connecting with many of you then! Ahead of the upcoming ACT Election, YWCA Canberra has been Kind regards, continuing to advocate for social inclusion and gender equality, Frances Crimmins building off our election platform, Every woman, every child, every day, which outlines specific policy recommendations for the incoming ACT Government to create a more inclusive and equal Canberra. PRESIDENT’S REPORT In preparing for the AGM, I was also able to reflect on some of our achievments this year, including the many awards we have received Welcome to our third edition of Ynews. for our high quality services to the Canberra community. These awards This is a special edition, which we have include: timed to coincide with our 2016 Annual • Frances Crimmins, YWCA Canberra Executive Director, was General Meeting (AGM). recently named the Australian Institute of Management’s ACT Leader of the Year; The AGM provides us with an opportunity to reflect on some of the highlights of • We received citation as a Workplace Gender Equality Agency the past year, and also look to the future. Employer of Choice; A major priority will be the continuation • Our children’s services team was awarded a NAPCAN Play of the National Merger Project. Your Part award for Child Aware Local Initiative As you know, we have been working with other YWCAs across • We were awarded two YOGIE awards for outstanding Australia over the past 18 months to explore the best future model contributions to young people - for the YWCA Canberra Clubhouse and to ensure the sustainability of the YWCA movement here. This to Natasha Drumgold for Y’Aspire program management, and process is still evolving, and the focus currently is determining if merging into a single, national organisation is in the best interests • We were named winners in the ACTCOSS awards for of our currently separate organisations. innovation in partnership for the YWCA Canberra Clubhouse. Should we determine that merging to a single organisation is in the I look forward to seeing us build on these achievements in the coming best interests of our local and national communities, we will call on 12 months! you, our members to vote for its implementation at a special EGM next year. I will keep you informed going forward, and look forward Kind regards, to continuing this discussion over the coming year. Kate Chipperfield 3 YNEWS. YWCA CANBERRA. THIRD EDITION 2016. ADVOCACY 2016 ACT ELECTION SCORCARD In the lead up to the ACT election, we want to We consulted with all major parties prior to ensure that gender equality and social inclusion releasing these results, and ensured that they are priorities for our candidates for Government. had multiple opportunities to respond and adjust their responses. That’s why we have released an election scorecard, ranking each major party on their Parties were then allocated scores out of ten, responses to five key issues facing Canberrans. with every ‘Committed policy’ being allocated a two, every ‘Partially met’ policy being On 1 August, our Executive Director, Frances allocated a one, and policies that are ‘Not met’ Crimmins, wrote to ACT Labor, The Canberra being allocated a zero. Liberals and ACT Greens asking for their responses on five key policy issues that The goal of our election scorecard is to ensure address selected issues from the YWCA that our members and the broader public Canberra Election Platform: Every woman, can make an informed decision at the voting every child, every day. booths, with an understanding of each party’s response to issues of social inclusion and The five questions asked of each of the gender equality. parties were: For the full scorecard, verbatim answers 1. Will your party prioritise ending violence provided by the parties and more against women by providing long-term, information about our scoring process, adequate funding to implement primary please visit our website - https://ywca- prevention programs into all schools in the canberra.org.au/advocacy/current- ACT? campaignselectionscorecard/ 2. Will your party support at-risk young people by developing a suitable, long-term alternative to re-engage young people in education or employment pathways, building on the lessons learnt from the successful Youth Connections program? 3. Will your party commit to ending gender inequality, and adopt gender impact assessments across all areas of policy development? 4. Will your party address the ongoing issue of homelessness for women by investing in the provision of single-unit, affordable housing for women of all ages? 5.Will your party ensure the social inclusion of all Canberrans, and commit to funding increased community infrastructure in the Lanyon Valley? 4 4 YNEWS. YWCA CANBERRA. THIRD EDITION 2016. MEET THE CANDIDATES On the evening of Thursday 9 September, members of the ACT community came together at YWCA House for a unique opportunity to meet the candidates. More than 40 YWCA Canberra members and friends spent the evening chatting to 20 of the women standing for election to the ACT Legislative Assembly. With representatives from the Canberra Liberals, ACT Labor, the ACT Greens, Like Canberra, and one independent, there was a candidate for everyone and energetic conversation aplenty. The event was opened by YWCA Canberra Executive Director, Frances Crimmins, who highlighted the need for more women in politics. Frances noted that across State and Territory Governments, women hold only 27 per cent of Ministry positions. It was excellent to hear many of the attendees “In the ACT, we fare slightly better” said and candidates discussing issues addressed Frances, “with women accounting for 35 per in our election platform, Every Woman, Every cent of MLA’s” - but we have a long way to go Child, Every Day, including greater support before equality is achieved. for children and young people, work to reduce gender inequality and violence against women, Frances also discussed the enduring gender and prioritising community inclusion. pay gap, and spoke proudly of the suite of leadership programs offered by YWCA The evening didn’t end when the networking Canberra that are designed to address the rounds finished – our attendees and candidates underrepresentation of women in leadership simply had too much to talk about! The roles. The audience then heard from one event was also a great opportunity for YWCA representative from each party –ACT Greens Canberra members and friends to network with Candidate for Kurrajong, Rebecca Vassarotti, each other – we love getting the Y community Canberra Liberals Member for Brindabella, together. Nicole Lawder, Independent Candidate for Ginninderra, Leigh Watson, Like Canberra Candidate for Yerrabi, Casey Heffernan, and We would like to extend our thanks to all of ACT Labor Candidate for Brindabella, Angie the candidates who took part in the event Drake. – Angie Drake, Nicole Lawder MLA, Tara Cheyne, Denise Fisher, Leigh Watson, Rebecca Vassarotti, Jill Thomsen, Leah Dwyer, Rachel We then moved on to the portion of the Stephen-Smith, Candice Burch, Brooke Curtin, evening our attendees were waiting for – the Elizabeth Lee, Emma Davidson, Jennifer speed networking session. Newman, Veronica Wensing, Meegan Fitzharris MLA, and Casey Heffernan – and to everyone In small group, attendees spent the next hours who came along. rotating around the room, with 6 minutes to chat to each candidate, and ask questions You can read more about these candidates, about key policies and plans.