We received awards for excellence in our work
BSL staff and volunteers worked hard to serve the community and were delighted to be awarded for their efforts.
These awards reflect the care our teams show for the people we serve, and our commitment to excellence in our work. We are proud of the work our teams do and are honoured by the recognition received.
Creating Futures for Youth
Our partnership with Citi Foundation in delivering the Creating Futures Program is a proud one. We were delighted when the Fundraising Institute of Australia (FIA) recognised our partnership by awarding us ‘Best Strategic Partnership’ for 2022 . This award recognises highly successful partnerships that achieve mutual benefit and fundraising success, and the work of our Youth, Fundraising and other team members involved in supporting the partnership.
Our Creating Futures for Youth program empowers young people experiencing disadvantage to pursue their career goals and build their capacity to work or undertake further learning. The program was based in Frankston for four years before moving to the northwest of Melbourne.
In the last seven years, Creating Futures for Youth has supported over 1,200 young people, with more than 900 securing employment and over 650 finding full-time employment. Additionally, the program contributes to structural change through the BSL-led National Youth Employment Body, which engages local and national stakeholders to identify employment barriers and create employment pathways for young people.
We look forward to a continued partnership with Citi Foundation and supporting young people to successfully transition into aspirational work.
Aged Care Critical Interim Support Program
We were delighted that our Aged Care Critical Interim Support program was named as a finalist in the ‘Team’ category in both the LASA Excellence in Age Services Awards 2021 and the HESTA Excellence Awards 2021 . Both awards are nationally recognised and promote exceptional achievements in aged care services.
In the below videos, you can meet our CIS team of aged care professionals who support some of the most vulnerable older members of our community. CIS case manager Wouter is a testament to BSL’s work at the forefront of practice innovation.
View Heather's Story:
View Gary's Story:
Breakfast Club
Local resident and volunteer, Jazmyn Walkin, has been a volunteer co-ordinator at BSL’s Breakfast Club program for over five years. In June 2022, Jazym was the Paul Carlin Outstanding Community Leadership Award recipient from the Rotary Club of Carlton. You can read more about her experience.
The Breakfast Club in Fitzroy’s Connie Benn Centre was established in December 2001 by BSL in partnership with Sacred Heart School and is one of BSL’s Before, During and After School (BDAS) Programs. It operates each weekday during school terms offering primary school-aged children a nourishing meal before school.
Jazmyn volunteers on top of other personal and professional commitments and has played an integral part in facilitating and adapting the program throughout copious challenges presented by COVID-19. Through this volunteer role, she feels as though she is ‘making a difference' and values having this opportunity as a way of enabling her to show her commitment and ‘give back to a community (she) cares about.’
Saver Plus
In February 2022, at the second annual Financial Inclusion Awards in Sydney, our Saver Plus team received the ‘Team Champions Award’. The award is fantastic recognition of our Saver Plus team’s commitment to delivering a high-quality virtual program and to supporting more low-income Australians to develop and maintain a savings habit, regardless of their location.
Saver Plus underwent significant changes in response to COVID-19, including transitioning the program so it could be delivered virtually end-to-end. This included significant improvements to infrastructure, upskilling of staff and updates to program collateral and materials. The program has now supported over 50,000 participants with their savings goals.
2/3: Enabled digital access for over 1,100 lower-income families and individuals to support remote schooling. Assisted over 950 participants with registering for email accounts, downloading banking apps, setting up payment transfers and completing online forms
3/3: Between March and September 2020 over 1,500 participants opened new online ANZ bank accounts
Digital Literacy Program
BSL’s Digital Literacy program, run by the Work, Economic Security and Social Inclusion (WESSI) team, provides a great example of the important contribution volunteers have made during the pandemic. Since it started in January 2021, the program has seen 18 volunteers work alongside 34 participants to help them to achieve their digital literacy goals and support the development of employment or financial capability skills.
In March 2022, the program was recognised by peak body, Volunteering Victoria, and nominated for the 2021 Volunteering Victoria COVID-19 Innovation Award. Although not winners, the whole Digital Literacy team were immensely proud to be honoured with the nomination for their amazing work.