The Community Support Hubs came out of a financial literacy course I was facilitating for clients and tenants. We had one of our clients turn around say, Well, why am I even doing a budget? I’ve got no money. I can’t get through the fortnight.
I asked the client if they knew the different services that are around? Like Anglicare? Like Salvos? You know that these are places that you can go to and get resources and hampers that can help you get through the fortnight? And the client said that he had no clue. He didn’t know that any of these services were available.
So, I saw there was this gap. I started speaking to people from different services about being in the same place at the same time as a drop-in Hub to offer on-the-spot information and support, and it started from there. At the first Hawkesbury hub, in April 2023 we had representatives from 12 services, and two people from the community turned up. We’ve now got over 30 services on our books, from across the Blue Mountains, Hawkesbury and Penrith. At our latest one in May, we had 20-something people come along. It varies every time 鈥� we have definitely noticed an increased turnout in the past year.
People find out about the Hubs in a lot of different ways. Some people from the community come through word of mouth, sometimes they鈥檙e referred from our tenants. Our caseworkers bring along clients, as do some service providers. We also run letterbox drops and promote it across different community centres in key areas.
Without the service providers showing up, there wouldn鈥檛 be any Hub. My team always show up, as well as other staff from Link Wentworth. I get help from other service providers and sometimes even the people from the community with setting up and packing down for the day. We are supported from community centres in each of the three Local Government Areas, they make sure that people know where the Hub is on, and on what days, so that people can find the support. It is a very humbling thing to be part of: everybody getting together with the same approach, with the same objectives.
People get different things from the Community Hubs. You get people that come along for support from the service providers, but then you also get people who come in just to have a social chat. When they hear that we put on a lunch, some people come along for that, or for the hampers that are available.
We have helped over a thousand people in the community now since we started.
We get people that keep coming back each month because they get to know the service providers and that becomes a steady source for getting some regular support. It鈥檚 a combination of the services being available and also getting that social connection as well.
Sometimes people come in for support for one specific thing, and then find out about all these other services that are available. Recently, we had a couple come in for help with NDIS, and while they were there they spoke with Services New South Wales to try and get their dog registered as a companion dog as well. They had a bit of lunch, a coffee and a chat.
The Community Support Hubs have been instrumental in creating referral pathways that didn鈥檛 previously exist. They provide a unique avenue for service providers to meet and connect with each other. It’s grown from 12 service providers to over 30. Local organisations also then become aware that all these services are coming together in one place, and they know they can support their clients so much better if they have contacts. It means that clients can get answers and access more readily, which previously might not even have been known to them.
What could we do if we had more funds for the program? I’d grow the Community Support Hubs so that we can reach further. Currently, with three running in Penrith, Hawkesbury and the Blue Mountains, we are only reaching the main areas of those places. We need more, so that we can help more people. People from organisations in other areas are reaching out to me asking, How did you set this up? So, we know the need is there.
It is also about more resources, to be able to get tangible things like opal cards or backpack swags or vouchers. Tangible things that are actually going to help those vulnerable people. Before my current role as a sector capacity specialist, I was a Caseworker. When you speak to the people in the community – whether they be our tenants, clients who are homeless, or at risk of homelessness 鈥� that is when you really start to see the gaps, not just in the support that is available, but even in the capacity to ask for support, or to find it. A lot of people don’t have a voice.
And as service providers, we become aware of what that looks like, what disempowerment and struggling to survive is like, on a day-to-day level. Even just showing up to a Community Hub can be a huge thing for someone who is struggling; being in a different space and walking in can be overwhelming. It can help if someone is there to walk them around, find out a bit about what they need, introduce them to different services. We may not be able to help all of the homeless people or all of the vulnerable people, but we’ve been able to help that one person that day.
That鈥檚 how I explain the Hubs. That’s what the Hubs mean to me: helping one person at a time.
There was a period in my life when I didn’t realise I was homeless for a time. I actually didn’t realise until I started working in Community Housing. At that time, although it was just normal, I went through a stage where I’d just gone from staying from friend to friend to friend. And then my car started filling up more and more with all this stuff. I guess I was talking to friends about what was happening, but in a way, I was never being heard. And I didn’t know where to go, or what to do. It was one strong friend who gave me the helping hand that actually got me from where I was, to where I am now.
But not everyone’s got that. Not everyone’s got that support network. I feel that I am lucky, in the sense that I do have a support network, because I don’t know where I would be if I didn’t.
And that鈥檚 another thing the Community Support Hubs provide, hopefully, in building a support network for some of these people who keep coming back.
Link Wentworth wishes to acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the Land on which we work and pay our respect to the Elders past, present and emerging, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.