Dallas Neighbourhood House has a solid commitment to supporting residents from all walks of life. Over their 30 years of service, they continue to build healthy community connections and support residents. Located in Broadmeadows a growth corridor in Northern Melbourne, they operate from a Council owned facility known as the Broadmeadows Community Hub. Broadmeadows is a transient suburb, that constantly changes and evolves. It is often the first place of residence for new arrivals fleeing humanitarian crises who require high levels of support.
The culturally and linguistically diverse community mostly speaks Arabic and are from Turkey, Iran and Iraq. It is expected to evolve as the war in Ukraine continues and Broadmeadows being close vicinity to the airport.
New visitors to the centre start with receiving food parcels, help with services and bill relief. They then educate people about their educational programs, vital health information, and other ‘wrap around’ services, such as mental health support.
Stand out partnership
Dallas NH partners with local Primary School hubs who have a strong focus on community learning for all. It is often the first step for parents into adult learning. At these hubs, families can join one of our free playgroups, take part in adult classes, cook in our community kitchen or join in one of many community events. They believe learning should become an enjoyable lifelong habit for all.
Dallas NH delivers ACFE funded English classes, digital literacy, cooking and gardening programs within the school hub for parents. During homeschooling, parents didn’t realise they too needed digital literacy to support their children, which led to the Dallas NH delivering entry-level digital literacy classes. Remote learning didn’t work due to the low literacy levels, which required face-to-face.
The ACFE grant {name of the $5000 grant} funded a set of mobile laptops with dongles to go into the hub for delivery. The recent arrival of the refurbished laptops has also added to their capacity to deliver to more people.
Learners can now understand how computers work, are learning to search online, book online, and access resources.
Working in the sector
Carolyn Webster in the passionate and committed Manager at Dallas Neighbour House and has worked within the sector for almost 20 years. She highly values working with people and enjoys the creativity and agility that the job brings. She says, “if there is a need in the community, she comes up with a solution and then applies for grants to meet their needs.”
The programs developed directly benefit others and are designed to be responsive. Carolyn loves the community development work as there is always something that needs to happen and she “makes it work”.
Can do approach
A short 2½ minute video to encourage Hume women in abusive relationships to take the first step. We are sure that this powerful message will resonate to other communities, and encourage you to share with your community.
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