2008 project recipients
Community Engagement Grants Scheme
Supporting children with cerebral palsy (Awarded $9,940)
Project Leader: Dr Sim Kim Lau - Faculty of Informatics
Partners: Wollongong Hospital SESIAHS; The Disability Trust
This is a community-driven project developed to respond to the needs of children with cerebral palsy (CP) between the ages of four to 10. This project seeks to develop a DVD resource kit to help children with CP in home-based stretching exercise programs in a fun and engaging way. The DVDs will be disseminated in the Illawarra and South Coast region as well as the SESIAHS and be made available to children with CP Australia-wide through deployment of a project website.
The project team also aims to submit the DVD resource kit for demonstration at the International Cerebral Palsy Conference to be held in February 2009 in Sydney.
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Young people and the impact of government fines (Awarded $10,000)
Project Leader: Ms Debbie Langton, Faculty of Law
Partner: Illawarra Legal Centre Inc
This collaborative project between the University and Illawarra Legal Centre (ILC) aims to assess the impact of government fines on young people and their families. This is a new venture identified from the existing work of the local Children’s Court Assistance Scheme (CCAS) a current Project of the ILC.
The project will involve three aspects. The first involves research into the existing work on young people and fines, primarily train fines and how this impacts on lives as well as current law enforcement, debt recovery strategies directed at fine defaulters and possible strategies that could reduce the number of legal cases related to fines appearing in court and impacting negatively on a young person’s life opportunities. The second aspect is the production of educational information and resources for use in schools and youth centres; and thirdly, the identification and submission of possible law reform issues associated with young people and fines.
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Establishing a representative community of patients in Volunteer Patient Programs for medical education at the Graduate School of Medicine in Wollongong and Shoalhaven (Awarded $9,990)
Project Leader: Ms Isabelle Potter, Graduate School of Medicine, Faculty of Health & Behavioural Sciences
Partners: Women’s Health Centre, ALCO – The Spanish and Latin-American Community Organisation
This project involves the expansion of the Volunteer Patient Program at the Graduate School of Medicine in Wollongong and Shoalhaven. It aims to establish a community of patient volunteers that is reflective of the cultural make up of the local communities.
The project aims to improve both the relationship between the Graduate School of Medicine and the local multicultural communities, and the care offered by non-Indigenous Australian health professionals. It will also seek to raise the awareness and understanding of medical students to multicultural issues, so that their approach to patient care will be respectful of cultural issues.
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Blakwrite Symposium (Awarded $7,840)
Project Leader: Dr Erine Blackmore, Woolyungah Indigenous Centre
Partner: South Coast Writers Centre
This inaugural three-day residential symposium will focus on creative development for Indigenous writers, publishers and editors located throughout Australia; strengthening existing relationships and initiate new relationships amongst a geographically dispersed population; and develop mentoring relationships between emerging and established Indigenous writers. Held at the University’s Campus East residence, the Blakwrite Symposium will include keynote addresses and workshops focusing on the topics of editing and publishing; poetry; prose; and scriptwriting.
The project builds on the collaboration between the Woolyungah Indigenous Centre and South Coast Writers Centre in fostering and promoting Indigenous literature and self-representation.
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Kids Guernica: 15 years of peace (Awarded $3,932)
Project Leader: Associate Professor Ian Brown, Faculty of Education
Partners: DET, Bulli High School
This project involves the collaborative development of a mural (7 by 3.5 metres) for the 15th Anniversary of Kids Guernica, a large scale peace project for children globally initiated by the Art Japan Network in 1995, the year of the 50th anniversary of World War II.
The sole Australian contribution to the exhibition, the mural will involve 15 different local schools and approximately 250 students, coordinated by the Head Teacher of Visual Arts at Bulli High School, Mr Scott Copland. This CEGS funding covers the first stage of the project – the design, construction and realisation of the project as well as the mural’s transportation to the United States for the exhibition.
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Creative Community Connections: International House and Strategic Community Assistance to Refugee Families (SCARF) (Awarded $8,795)
Project Leader: Dr Lindsay Oades, International House
Partner: Strategic Community Assistance to Refugee Families (SCARF) Illawarra
The aim of this project is to commence the Creative Community Connection (CCC) project which involves a mutually beneficial collaboration between International House UOW and SCARF. It is specifically designed to complement existing government offerings to refugee families aimed at leveraging the value congruence of the two organisations; the positive attitudes to diversity within the International House UOW community; existing facilities of International House UOW community and the ongoing supply of student volunteerism.
The project involves four key components; an interactive food and music function; computer skills coaching; international friendship and mentoring program and periodic transport assistance to refugee families.
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