By Cam Lucadou-Wells
Women seeking to rejoin the workforce will be helped in an innovative pilot employment program in Dandenong.
Find Your Place has been set up by charity The Placement Circle to overcome barriers to mature-aged students finding a meaningful job and financial autonomy.
The pilot scheme works on a peer-support model, with at least 15 women studying together and supporting each other in a Certificate III aged care course at Chisholm Institute.
Within six months, they’re qualified and job-ready in a high-demand vocation.
They also receive mentoring from community service organisations, referral to support services, social activities and closed Facebook pages.
The first group of graduates will then help the next group of women on the program.
The program will be evaluated by Victoria University, with hopes for ongoing Federal funding.
“Here at The Placement Circle, we believe that Respect Matters,” founder and chief executive Mikaela Straface said.
“That means every woman who enters our programs feels respected, cared for and listened to, and they pass those qualities onto the other women they support.”
Dandenong was chosen for the pilot because of its diverse multicultural population, accessibility to Chisholm and accredited aged care providers for placements.
“There is a high demand for qualified aged-care workers in the areas, especially those with community languages and cultural understanding that participants will bring to the workplace.”
She hopes that Find Your Place will expand into other high-demand industries such as NDIS, dexterous trades such as carpentry, transport such as heavy-vehicle, train and tram driving, and cybersecurity.
Ms Straface says there’s a “poverty crisis” facing women in Australia.
Many were failing to find work due to balancing family duties, being unable to study in a second language or not previously studying at a higher level.
Studies show that many women were on low incomes, with little superannuation, did not own their homes and were at risk of homelessness due to not having their own “nesteggs”.
Women’s homelessness was up 9.5 per cent in the 2016 national census, with many suffering mental health distress and domestic violence.
Greater Dandenong mayor Jim Memeti said the council was committed to work with The Placement Circle on the pilot.
“The education and employment of women and girls provides the single strongest pathway out of poverty and into financial independence.”
Spaces are still open for the first intake of Find Your Place.
Details: theplacementcircle.org
