By Casey Neill
A new $500,000 project will upskill disadvantaged jobseekers and connect them with employers.
Dandenong MP Gabrielle Williams announced the State Government funding for the Dandenong-Doveton Community Revitalisation project at Hilton Manufacturing in Dandenong South on Monday 6 March.
“It’s not about activity, it’s about outcomes,” she said.
“I want to see Dandenong and Doveton transform over time.”
Ms Williams said the cash would address priorities that the industry leaders and community groups identified through the City of Greater Dandenong Employment Taskforce.
She said the main task was expanding the One Percent Project, which encourages employers to recruit at least one per cent of their workforce from economically disadvantaged communities.
Ms Williams said that job creation could solve most community problems.
“It’s at the heart of absolutely everything,” she said.
She said there were families in Dandenong and Doveton where two or three generations had never been employed, and the cycle needed to be broken.
The funding will enable the One Percent Project to involve more businesses and better connect the region’s employment programs with local job opportunities.
The Dandenong-Doveton Community Revitalisation project overall will strengthen links between employers, school transition programs and TAFE institutes to create more opportunities for early school leavers to get into pre-apprenticeship programs.
The City of Greater Dandenong Employment Taskforce will work closely with community service agencies and schools to connect families struggling to find work with employment services and employers.
Ms Williams said she was impressed with the goodwill and dedication of local businesses.
Hilton Manufacturing managing director Todd Hartley said his parents Tom and Margo grew up in Doveton and started the business in a shed in Dandenong.
“We’ll do all we can to help with this project and to engage more of the less fortunate people into our industry.
“There is just so much opportunity if we get this project right.”
Greater Dandenong mayor Jim Memeti said unemployment levels in Greater Dandenong were higher than the state average and that this project would help to give unemployed people the skills and confidence to find a job.
SEBN manager Sandra George said the unemployment taskforce was now regional, to include City of Casey.
She wants to bring community capability up to take advantage of the jobs on offer, and link the unemployed with jobseekers.
“We’ve got employers yelling for people,” she said.
“It just doesn’t make sense.”
City of Casey deputy mayor and River Gum Ward councillor Damien Rosario said the Dandenong-Doveton Community Revitalisation Project was an investment.
“It’s an investment in the future of jobs in this region,” he said.
“Doveton is a disadvantaged area but it doesn’t have to be.”
