SNAICC welcomes NSW Intermediary – Early Years Support Service

The NSW Intermediary – Early Years Support service has been established and is already going strong, SNAICC – National Voice for Our Children has said. 

 

The office has been set up in North Wollongong with a team of four strong Aboriginal staff members, ready to support its success. 

 

NSW Aboriginal Early Years Integrated Services will have noticed a lot of requests and engagement over the past few months as the team reach out, gather information, and offer direct support. Advisory Committee meetings have been reactivated and booked for the year ahead, and there have been “great conversations and direction provided by valuable members to date on strategic objectives, priority areas and branding”.

 

Director Jo Goulding is from the Bidjigal mob in La Perouse and will be leading the team. She is joined by: 

 

• Boandik woman Brooke O’Donnell from the Mt Gambier region, responsible for the Policy and Programs portfolio; 
• Renee Leslie, a Gamilaraay woman from Gunnedah, appointed as the Workforce Development Advisor; and, 
• Kaysha Carlson, a Wadi Wadi woman supporting the team as Admin/Executive Assistant. 

 

Since commencing in her role in June, Ms Goulding has recruited her team, established a location and together they are developing and mapping strategic priorities. 

 

“Unfortunately, the NSW restrictions have impacted on face-to-face workshops and meetings,” a SNAICC representative explained, “however the Intermediary played and continues to play a critical role in feeding the concerns and challenges of the sector in NSW under COVID-19 to government agencies.”

 

Some of the feedback to the Intermediary was around the need for SunSmart policies and resources. The team has negotiated a deal to help supply sunscreen and hats to services, as well as starting work on a compliance guide to support in this space.

 

The team have also worked with First Peoples Disability Network to partner with the Royal Flying Doctor Service for a mass vaccination roll-out in Gunnedah. More negotiations are also underway with the First Peoples Disability Network to increase support for children with disability needs in centres.

 

The NSW Intermediary have hosted their first webinar based on survey feedback for services to be involved in Stage 2 updates to the approved learning frameworks. Stakeholder discussions have begun with the VET sector on how to best support training and development for the sector with TAFE and ECTARC, and evaluation activities have pivoted to accommodate the NSW restrictions and are moving forward.

 

In the coming months, SNAICC said services should watch out for the following:

 

• Wellbeing Yarn
• Care packs
• Evaluation podcast and webinar
• Training and development opportunities
• Branding and logo announcement
• NSW Intermediary social media profiles.

 

For more information about the NSW Intermediary – Early Years Support please see here.