Western Sydney Community Forum is pleased to announce a new partnership with major infrastructure company John Holland to provide support for front line community agencies in areas of community mental health and the provision of devices.

The Mental Health Rapid Response Strategy will support local placed based community organisations, who are experiencing increased demand, to boost the provision of mental health service and support to local communities. Western Sydney Community Forum’s community organisation partners who will expand access to mental health services at the local level as part of this strategy are:

  • Canterbury City Community Centres
  • Community Migrant Resource Centre
  • SydWest Multicultural Services
  • Western Sydney Migrant Resource Centre
  • Youth Solutions

To address the digital divide and deliver the Digital Access Rapid Response Strategy, Western Sydney Community Forum also enlisted the support from WorkVentures a social enterprise which provides opportunities for young people with skills, training and work while providing low-cost IT solutions to community organisations. Together with John Holland and WorkVentures, a pool of devices was funded and provided to organisations in Western Sydney. In total 260 expressions of interest were received totalling over 1300 devices requested. Unfortunately, there simply were not enough funds to provide to all requests. Western Sydney Community Forum will continue to pursue other opportunities to increase access to digital devices to support services working with communities across the region.

The successful agencies who will expand access to digital devices at the local level as part of this strategy are:

  • Arab Council Australia
  • Blacktown Area Community Centres
  • Bonnie Support Services
  • Boronia Multicultural Services
  • Cambodian Australian Welfare Council of NSW
  • Dundas Area Neighbourhood Centre
  • Junaya Family Development Services
  • Liverpool Neighbourhood Connections
  • Multicultural Disability Advocacy Association
  • Nepean Community & Neighbourhood Services
  • Nepean Multicultural Access
  • Outloud (Bankstown Youth Development Service)
  • Parramatta Holroyd Family Support
  • Riverstone Neighbourhood Centre
  • Tharawal Aboriginal Corporation
  • The Parks Community Network.
  • Wilma Women’s Health Centre