Stronger Voice 4 Greater Western Sydney

The Western Sydney Regional Reconciliation Network is hosting a free public event at the Parramatta Town Hall on Thursday 28th June from 3.30pm-8.00pm.

The event is aimed at strengthening engagement to achieve justice for Aboriginal people, build more understanding for identity and belonging and grow our relationships with each other.

Every individual and organisation in our Western Sydney neighborhoods has much to contribute to this journey and to the afternoon. There will be performances and presentations, group discussions and celebration, followed by a feast of Aboriginal finger-food.

Click here to download flyer.

For more information or to register: contact Maria Maguire, ph 9896 3839 or email wscf@wscf.org.au

‘My Suburb, My Community’ is a photographic exhibition, part of the Head On Photography Festival, that explores the issues facing the western Sydney suburb of Kingswood as documented by young people.

Project Manager Mandy Schöne-Salter provided Kingswood High School students with a camera and tuition and gave them the task to take a series of photographs of their suburb and members of their community. The resulting images form a powerful portrait of a community struggling with the challenges of multiculturalism, a declining jobs market and bored youth, while still managing to retain hope and a sense of pride in this place.

Mandy hopes the project will empower local youth by encouraging awareness of their surrounding environment and more active involvement within their own community.

The exhibition is being held at Kingswood railway station so that all community members and leaders will be able to learn about the realities for local youth and be motivated to make changes towards a better Kingswood.

This project is funded by Penrith City Council’s Neighbourhood Renewal Grant 2012; called ‘Magnetic Places’ and supported by RailCorp.

Click here for more information and exhibition dates.

Congratulations to all winners in the 2012 ZEST Awards!

“Nearly 450 people gathered at the Grand Royale on February 29th, 2012 to celebrate the achievements in the Community Sector at the 2012 ZEST Community Service Sector Awards. Representatives from all corners of Greater Western Sydney braved the conditions to attend and the enthusiasm of the audience was evident from the start of the ceremony. The 2nd Annual ZEST Awards Ceremony was a great success, with the high quality of the nominees showing the strength of the Community Sector in the Greater Western Sydney region. Several performances from artists based in Greater Western Sydney also showcased the talent which can be found in the region.

The Stronger Voice for Greater Western Sydney Partnership, which consists of WSCF, WESTIR and TRI Community Exchange, would like to acknowledge the patronage of the Hon. Barry O’Farrell, Premier of NSW as well as the generous contributions from our sponsors. The 2012 ZEST Awards Sponsors include Blue Mountains City Council, Community Resource Network, Community Sector Banking, Family and Community Services, Hawkesbury City Council, HESTA, Holroyd City Council, LCSA, NCOSS, Penrith City Council, Parramatta City Council, WSROC and YAPA.

Without the nominations from the community the unsung heroes of the Community Sector would not get the recognition they deserve. Therefore we would also like to thank all those who nominated projects, organisations and individuals, and encourage everyone to nominate again for next year’s ZEST Awards.

Finally we would like to thank all those who attended on the night and contributed to the great atmosphere of the ceremony. Without the enthusiasm of the community this great event would simply not be possible.

It has been a great experience organising the 2012 ZEST Awards and seeing the positive impact it has had on the Community Sector in Greater Western Sydney. We hope to see you all again next year.”

And the winners are…

Outstanding Community Leader – Volunteer Capacity
•    Winner: Aunty Carol Cooper      Highly Commended: Ruben Amores

Outstanding Community Leadership – Paid Capacity
•    Winner: Omeima Sukkarieh

Out of the Box Award
•    Winner: Food 4 Life Market

Outstanding Youth Leader
•    Winner: Tarsha Gavin        Highly Commended: Blake Bardowski

Exceptional Not for Profit Organisation – Service Capacity
•    Winner: Western Sydney Tenancy Advice Service

Exceptional Not for Profit Organisation – Project Capacity
•    Winner: 474 Stories High – Stories from Auburn Central (ACDN)

Outstanding New Worker in a Not for Profit Organisation
•    Winner: Vicky Lewandowski

Outstanding Project within a Government Organisation
•    Winner: EmploYourself (Housing NSW)

Outstanding Project within an Aboriginal Organisation/Group (Margaret Oldfield Memorial Award)
•    Winner: Darug Tribal Aboriginal Corporation

Outstanding Voluntary Project
•    Winner: GCT Volunteers (Great Community Transport)

Outstanding Partnership Project
•    Winner: Paint Penrith REaD    Highly Commended: Com4Unity

Outstanding Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Organisation/Group
•    Winner: Paint Auburn REaD (ADSI)     Highly Commended: Flavours of Auburn

Outstanding Project within a Business
•    Winner: The Carrington Hotel

Inspired and Supportive Journalism
•    Commended: Damien Madigan (Blue Mountains Gazette)

Hall of Fame
•    Winner: Jan Collie

Click here to go to the 2012 ZEST Awards photo gallery.

Click here to view the ZEST video.

From the ZEST Awards website.

Celebrated Aboriginal artist Leanne Tobin has been named the winner of the 2011 NSW Parliament Aboriginal Art Prize, taking out the coveted award ahead of 36 other works selected in this year’s finalist group.
The Mountains resident was presented with the prize at a recent ceremony at Parliament House in Sydney for her work, Defending Country.
Leanne said it was a huge honour to claim the award which is now the richest Aboriginal art incentive on offer in Australia with a main art prize of $40,000.

Source: Blue Mountains Gazette

Congratulations to Helen Walker and the team at Great Community Transport for taking out this year’s top CTO Award at the Annual Community Transport Organisation State Conference in Newcastle recently.
Great Community Transport provides people in the Blue Mountains and Penrith areas with affordable transport for medical appointments, shopping and social outings. GCT has more than 20 staff and more than 100 volunteers who embody the motto, “More Than Transport, We Care”.

Source: Community Transport Organisation