Games working

Arcade games of the ’80s are making a comeback in Dandenong.
Envision Employment Services’ Work For the Dole participants and staff built six arcade units for Youth Support and Advocacy Service (YSAS).
Envision directors Stephen Murphy and Sean Teer said the Federal Department of Employment funded the project through SkillsPlus.
After six months of work, they handed over the units at YSAS’s Lonsdale Street headquarters on Friday 22 July.
Mr Murphy said the games reflected passion and commitment to excellence.
“These beautifully-crafted units will be a great addition to the youth recreational activities whilst also doubling up as an information resource whilst the machines are not being played,” he said.
“This is a great example of a community project that benefits local jobseekers, local youth and the wider community.”
YSAS is a not-for-profit agency that enables young people with substance dependence and misuse issues, mental illness and social disconnection to take control of their health and wellbeing.
It aims to engage, support and strengthen highly vulnerable and high-risk young Victorians by developing non-judgemental, caring and respectful relationships with young people and their families and communities.
YSAS has more than 200 staff and provides services across 12 sites in metropolitan and regional Victoria.
It was established in 1998 in response to increasing heroin overdoses, and has since supported more than 20,000 young people and their families.
Initially set up in 2002 as Envision Australia, Envision Employment Services is a not-for-profit organisation that directly supports other community providers and more disadvantaged jobseekers through work experience placement and training.
The Envision Resume service and its newly branded job search training program Job Primed are key projects.