Held to recognise the valuable role carers have in their communities, the luncheon was held on 16 October at Sunbreakers in Mandurah.

About 20 carers from Arafmi, local church groups, Community First’s PHaMs and HACC programs were treated to a scrumptious three course meal.

City of Mandurah Mayor Paddi Creevey and Mr David Templeman, MLA, Member for Mandurah were invited guests of honour, paying a tribute to the unsung heroes in their speeches, saying ‘the community would fail to function without them’.

With an extensive background in social and community work, Mayor Paddi Creevey understood the importance of the role of carers and community services, and thanked Community First for its hard work.

The luncheon was well received by all, with dignitaries, staff and guests inter-mingling and sharing stories.

Community First New Victoria Park Employment Services Site. Federal MP Bill Shorten, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, and Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation officially opened the new premises.

On 3 September 2012, Federal MP Bill Shorten, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, Financial Services and Superannuation, officially opened Community First’s new employment services office at Victoria Park’s Lichfield Street.

The bigger premises would assist more than 900 job seekers to access better job searching services and training tools, increasing opportunities for job seekers.

Community First is a large not for profit organisation providing services to assist people to a better life. It is an employment service provider for Job Services Australia, and Disability Employment Services. Community First also provides services to people who are frail, aged, with disabilities or mental illness, through programmes such as Home and Community Care, Family Living Initiative, Personal Helpers and Mentors, and the Individualised Community Living Strategy.

To find out how we can help you, please email info@cfi.net.au.

On 25 May, Community First will be holding a morning tea to thank our volunteers who are the backbone of our community services.

Our dedicated volunteers generously give their time to support our services.  They assist Community Service staff across a wide range of services including the Healthy Meals Services and the Multicultural and Ability Arts Centres where they provide much needed support to those who are frail, aged and disabled.

On behalf of Community First – thank you Volunteers, for your generosity, hard work, and your dedication of giving back to the community.

Some Community First volunteers Dorothy Powell, Jeff Funnell, Leslie Whiffler, Eilieen Allison (Executive Manager, Community Services) and Nora Whiffler.

On 9 December, Community First organised an appreciation lunch to thank the backbone of its Community Services operations – the volunteers.

Volunteers from Community First’s Healthy Meals Services – Meals on Wheels in Palmyra work tirelessly to help prepare, cook and deliver meals to people across the City of Melville.

Volunteers also provide support to our day centre activities in the Mandurah, Kwinana, Bull Creek and Fremantle, across the aged and disability sector.

Eileen Allison, Community First’s Executive Manager Community Services acknowledged the hard work of the volunteers.

“Volunteers donate their time, energy and resources to help Community First in its purpose to support individuals in the community that face social, economic, physical and psychological disadvantage.”

“They make a significant difference in the lives of others.”

Jeff Funnell, who has been volunteering for the past 18 months leading weekly music sessions, is extremely passionate about volunteering.

“Giving back to the community and helping people makes me content.” he said.

Community First is a large not for profit organisation which aims to to strengthen communities and deliver local quality of life outcomes to people by providing community and employment services to provide a ‘one-stop shop’ for information, services and support.

Community service programs provided by Community First, as funded through the State and Commonwealth Government, include the Personal Helpers and Mentors Program (PHaMs), Home and Community Care (HaCC), Meals on Wheels, the Family Living Initiative and the Individualised Community Living Strategy.

Employment service programs provided by Community First, as funded through the Federal Government, include Jobs Services Australia (JSA) and Disability Employment Services (DES).

For more information, or to find out how to volunteer, please contact us at info@cfi.net.au or call 9435 1380.

To strengthen communities and deliver local quality of life outcomes to people, Community First provides employment and community to provide a ‘one-stop shop’ for information, services and support they need in the short and long term.

Community service programs provided by Community First, as funded through the State and Commonwealth Government, include the Personal Helpers and Mentors Program (PHaMs), Home and Community Care (HaCC), Meals on Wheels, the Family Living Initiative and the Individualised Community Living Strategy.

Employment service programs provided by Community First, as funded through the Commonwealth Government, include Jobs Services Australia (JSA) and Disability Employment Services (DES).

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Community First on Mental Health Commission Panel

In early December 2011, Community First was selected by the Mental Health Commission as a preferred respondent for the “Individualised Community Living Strategy”, and as part of a panel, will provide support services to up to 100 specifically selected individuals.

Eileen Allison, Executive Manager Community Services, said that “Being appointed to the panel is a testament to the dedication and commitment of our mental health teams who have established Community First has a worthy member of the panel and further acknowledges our organisation as a mental health service provider across Western Australia. “

Preferred respondents on the panel will be matched with individuals with a severe and persistent mental illness to make a successful transition from hospital inpatient settings to living in the community.

Consideration may also be given to people who might not be in hospital at the particular time of assessment but who have a history of multiple periods of hospitalisation that parallel the criteria of long term.

Individuals receiving assistance will reflect a range of complexities and challenges resulting in the need for a mix of low, medium and high levels of support to be provided by panel members.

Community First will provide support to individuals in partnership with clinical and accommodation support service providers to ensure that individuals are fully supported in their transition back into the community.

To find out if you are eligible to receive these services, please contact Community First at 08 9550 4555 or email info@cfi.net.au.

Community First at Homeless Connect 2011

Community First International Limited (Community First) is a large not for profit organisation which supports individuals who face social, economic, physical and psychological disadvantage.

To strengthen communities and deliver local quality of life outcomes to people, Community First provides employment and community to provide a ‘one-stop shop’ for information, services and support they need in the short and long term.

Community service programs provided by Community First, as funded through the State and Commonwealth Government, include the Personal Helpers and Mentors Program (PHaMs), Home and Community Care (HaCC), Meals on Wheels, the Family Living Initiative and the Individualised Community Living Strategy.

Employment service programs provided by Community First, as funded through the Commonwealth Government, include Jobs Services Australia (JSA) and Disability Employment Services (DES).

Community First Supports Homeless Connect 2011

Community First International Limited (“Community First”) was one of the key service providers at Homeless Connect, a one-stop shop event organised by the City of Perth and Volunteering WA, aimed at providing services for homeless people.

Held on the 16th November at Russell Square and the Hellenic Centre, Northbridge, Community First staff provided information about its employment and community services and registered eligible people for its services at the event.

Community First also gave away 100 food packs to people who were homeless which contained food such as baked beans, tuna, spam, crackers, biscuits, milk, water, cheese and noodles. Staff volunteered their time to put these packs together.

Said Pius Joseph, Business Development Executive Manager, “Community First’s mission is to strengthen communities through support services, leadership and empowerment, and we strongly believe in social responsibility and collaborative community engagement.”

“At Homeless Connect we were able to showcase the employment and community services we provide which could be utilised to help people have a better quality of life.”

To register for our services, contact us at your nearest office.

The Community Services Excellence awards publicly acknowledge the Western Australian Community Services sector and its role in helping to shape, strengthen and inspire our community.

The awards seek to recognise the contribution made by the many thousands of outstanding organisations working within the community services sector and provide public recognition and reward to those judged to be the best of their kind.

There are three categories of Awards:
1.    Organisations
2.    Partnerships
3.    Individuals

It is with Great pride that CFI announce that its Personal Helpers and Mentors Program in Mandurah, Rockingham and Kwinana won the Organisations category for a large group or organisation with an annual turnover of $5 million or more.  There were three other finalists in the category. Organisations represented in this category were large organisations with a turnover of over $5M.  The nomination of this award came from a participant in the program, who values the work of the PHAMS team. Congratulations to the PHAMS team for their efforts, this has been recognised at a very high level and is a great result for the program, for the staff and for Community First International.

In March two of our amazing volunteers Lynn Kennedy and Lynn Walker took the initiative to engage our Ability Arts participants in  the Arts Strings project . Artstrings is an exhibition and auction of donated instruments turned into fabulous works of art. Exciting works have been produced by Leon Pericles, Robert Juniper and many, many other fine local artists. Supported by a Community Development Grant from the City of Subiaco, the exhibition will be open to the public for two days, and have a ticketed event for live auction on May 22nd 2010. This worthwhile project enables 140 music students from Perth Modern School to tour to Europe in April 2011. As part of their tour they will perform in Anzac Services in London, take part in workshops and classes in Hungary, and perform in France and Belgium.

The Community First Ability Arts participants jumped at the opportunity to contribute to this community project and with the assistance of the two Lynn’s they have created a masterpiece from an old guitar. Community Artist from around Perth are supplied with old instruments to turn them into works of art , with some amazing results ,to  view the gallery of original artworks or for more information about the project and the auction which is to take place  Saturday 22nd May 2010 please follow the link  http://wrendesign.com.au/artstrings/2010gallery.html  to view the Community First Ability Arts contribution to the project follow this link  http://wrendesign.com.au/artstrings/images/art/Community%20First.jpg

The Department of Education, Employment & Workplace Relations (DEEWR) compiled data from a study into national priority unemployment regions and found that in WA the South-West Region (covering Cockburn, Kwinana, Rockingham, Mandurah & Pinjarra) the unemployment rate was almost three times higher than the national average. The outcome from this research was to pinpoint priority areas, understand why the regions had such high numbers of unemployment, what the feedback from local businesses was regarding employing local candidates and how the labour market has changed in the area during recent times of global economic downturn.

One of the strategies DEEWR put into place for each priority area across Australia was to have Centrelink host a Jobs Expo to pull candidates and local businesses together to create employment opportunities and outcomes.

Centrelink Rockingham coordinated the Jobs Expo and requested assistance of local Job Service Providers to gain awareness of the event from job seekers and employers. Community First International had four sites involved in the Expo (Fremantle, Maddington, Rockingham & Mandurah) and resulted in having the largest number of job vacancies and candidates attending the event than any other JSA provider.

The Expo provided fantastic exposure to job seekers and employers for Community First. Showing the extensive range of services and professional assistance offered to the local communities. The CFI booth was by far the busiest in the whole venue and was commended by Centrelink managers and DEEWR representatives for the way CFI staff helped job seekers gain referral to vacancies and promote themselves to other employers at the expo.

CFI provided training for job seekers prior to the Expo, as well as preparing & printing over 3000 resumes, 300 name badges and job search activities for every CFI / Fremantle Multicultural Centre client who attended.

The outcomes at the Expo for CFI

CFI listed 94 job vacancies covering the entire priority area, we received 250 resumes from job seekers and had 260 CFI/FMC job seekers attend the event (86% of those booked in to attend).

Employer Liaison Officers from each of the attending sites have been enthusiastically collating all documentation and resumes received at the Expo for referral to the job vacancies awaiting placements to follow the success of the event.