Your Country Your Voice

Young people at risk of homelessness in the Wellington area will continue to receive support with a funding extension to Barnardos Australia’s Reconnect services through to 2022/23.

This funding for Reconnect will ensure the ongoing support and assistance to young people who are homeless or at risk of being homeless.

Reconnect services help to stabilise the lives of vulnerable young people by keeping them connected with their families, communities, and education or employment opportunities. I’ve seen first-hand the difference this program can make to the lives of young people so this funding extension is very welcome news.

I encourage anyone who knows someone in a vulnerable situation to use this service which can provide counselling, family mediation and practical support to find accommodation for young people and their families. The Federal Government’s long-term funding of Reconnect is enabling services to intervene before crisis occurs.

The Federal Government has provided up to $117 million over five years to 102 Reconnect services across Australia, on top of an additional $375 million to frontline homelessness services over the three years from 1 July 2018.

For more information on Reconnect services, call Barnardos Australia in Wellington on 6845 2164. Not-for-profit community organisations are encouraged to apply for funding through the Federal Government’s Community Heritage Grants Program. Grants of up to $15,000 are available for community organisations such as historical societies, regional museums, public libraries and Indigenous and migrant community groups to assist in preserving cultural heritage collections of national significance.

This can include:

• Significance assessments of collections

• Preservation needs assessments of collections

• Purchase of archival quality storage materials

• Preservation training projects

• Conservation activities, including cleaning, treatment or rebinding

• Purchase and installation of environmental control and monitoring equipment

• Copying of material once originals have been preserved

• Cataloguing or collection management software.