Countering UK-style disengagement

On the third day of the recent riots in England I was sitting in the community college in Dubbo NSW, 500 km west of Sydney, examining educational programs designed to give second chances to previously disengaged people, particularly Aboriginal people. Given the UK riots, the question was running through my mind at the time, and probably many other people’s minds, as to whether Australia was doing enough to support the disengaged and help them build options for the future. This question is very relevant to Dubbo as it is one of the small number of locations in Australia in the last ten years where Aboriginal people have taken to the streets to express their frustration with their social conditions and their lack of options. In recognition of the complex issues involved, public disturbances several years ago led to the razing to the ground of a large suburban section of West Dubbo and the re-location of hundreds of Aboriginal families. I have a fair grasp of the issues around Dubbo and the region having visited there regularly for the last five years. I also prepared a report three years ago for the government on neighbouring Wellington where I was confronted by complexities around long-term unemployment, poor health levels and drug and alcohol abuse. There are no simple solutions to these complex issues. Dubbo could be a litmus test as to whether governments and communities are doing enough to help Aboriginal people to build a future for themselves and their families. I spent several hours learning from a local Aboriginal woman Edith Eastwood what helped turn her life around in the last twelve months. Edith prefers to be called Mibby. Mibby was raised in Western NSW, around Brewarrina. She left school at 16 to have her first child and is now forty years old, a single mother of four children, two of whom are still in high school. She suffered domestic violence for more than a decade and for many years fought a battle with substance abuse and nagging government officials wanting her back in the workforce. She readily admits she was dependent on government welfare but felt she had no hope of a better existence. Just over twelve months ago she received a letter from Centrelink informing her that because her youngest child was thirteen, if she wanted to retain welfare payments, she needed to enrol in job-related training program. “I got a letter in the mail saying that I had to do some sort of training because my baby is now 13-years-old. They were pushing us to do some sort of formal training to get us back into the workforce.” Mibby attended the compulsory training at the bowling club and found it of no interest. However she very much enjoyed the company of the other students in the program and they bravely decided to front up at Western College, the local community college, and enrol in an accredited program. “We had a great class and we didn't want to leave each other so we just decided to enrol in another course. We all came up to Western College and enrolled in Certificate III in Business. That's how it started.” The next step in Mibby’s story is equally unusual. She came to the notice of the Western College staff for a range of reasons one of which was that she organised a lunch club. “Because we were all single mothers and struggling with lunch, I had an idea that if all of us chucked in $5 we could have some sort of lunch routine. Well it grew. I ended up having the office ladies chucking in money, and all the students. The $5 each ended up feeding us all week. “I was the organiser and I had meal helpers, cutting, chopping. We'd set up salads every day here in the kitchen. We'd spread it out and they'd just come in with plates and help themselves.” Mibby’s collaborative leadership skills became apparent to the Western College staff and after completing her business qualification she was offered a two-year traineeship position as a youth worker at the college. Her initial work involved two days per week helping with the Links for Learning program offered by the college. With financial support from the college, she has nearly completed her Certificate IV in Training and Education and she now works another two days a week in the new PEP program; a program for mostly Aboriginal youths who have struggled fitting in at school. The program involves the active collaboration of the state secondary school, Western TAFE and Western College, and is based at the Police and Community Youth Centre (PCYC) in Dubbo. Mibby took me to see where she works with Aboriginal youth in the PEP program at the PCYC, a centre with facilities that make young people feel valued and connected, including Internet-enabled computers, games machines, a lounge with a wide screen television, a gymnasium, a basketball court and a weightlifting room. She feels totally at ease working with previously disengaged Aboriginal youth. “I've got the personality to suit young people. I relate really well to them. I totally understand where they're coming from, because I've been through a hell of a lot myself. I've lived a very colourful life, I've done things I shouldn't have done but I've also learnt my lesson. I’ve seen the light.” Apart from her high praise for her fellow Aboriginal women students who undertook the retail training program with her, Mibby pays the ultimate accolade to the staff at the college whom she says saw potential in her and “just accept you for who you are”. “And not only that, they sit back and they watch too. They can see who's doing what. It's just like I can see potential in my Links to Learning boys. “I try not to pressure the boys: they don’t need that, they need someone to just trust. They've got hard lives themselves, not through any fault of their own, through circumstances beyond their control. They just need someone to trust and they have found it with me.” From Dubbo to the world, some simple but profound solutions to complex social and economic issues: remain non-judgmental about people who are currently disengaged, see their potential, offer community-based support, encourage them to train and work, and be patient, caring, respectful and trustworthy. Declaration: Western College is a client of Dr John Mitchell, a Sydney-based researcher and consultant who specialises in VET workforce development and strategic leadership. See www.jma.com.au