Work Activity Centre

It has been a busy year to say the least. I remember in the beginning, visiting the other Work Activity Programs on the mainland and wondering if our agency could ever meet the standard they had set. Executive Director, Carol Pendergast, and I came back from that tour with a plan that took a year to put together but what we started with in May of 2003 barely resembles the existing program. Since then we have processed over 200 applications to the HAC Work Activity Program, enrolled over 100 participants and changed a lot. Basically, we got a lot better. Rather than merely duplicating the existing programs I believe we have improved on the template and in some respects have exceeded the standard.
      Over the past year, the HAC Work Activity Program has incorporated a training strategy that allows continuous intake into the program without compromising overall training objectives. An amended schedule and curriculum has been adopted to address this new modular instruction and continuous intake. Overall, this has dramatically reduced our waiting list and provided a mechanism to address seat vacancies promptly. Additionally, the inclusion of offsite placements for the Maintenance Department and the expansion of offsite placements for Retail Department has further improved the effectiveness of vocational instruction and increased participant post- training employment nicely. Furthermore, the Silicon Island Cafe, a facet of the training offered through our Food Service program, has become increasingly busy since opening in early November, 2003, which can be directly attributed to the quality of food and service provided within this facility. Moreover, since the last annual report we have integrated assessment options to provide an action plan for employment and a comparative skills inventory to measure participant progression, which allows better planning and tracking of employment objectives.
      The revised Work Activity Program curriculum and improved vocational instruction has added an increased level of program effectiveness and has been well received by participant and instructor alike. This was clearly illustrated in April of this year when we held our first graduation exercises for the participants from Intake 1and 2 ; I was pleased to see how many of our graduates could not attend the ceremonies because they were working and to hear from others who had to take time off from work to be there. During the ceremonies I had the opportunity to thank graduates for helping us put our Work Activity Program together from moving vans to cardboard boxes.
      The group, as a whole, made us work harder by challenging what we were teaching and what were doing. Their input has helped us, and in some respects forced us, to raise the bar on the entire program. Their thoughts, life experiences and perspectives, have made the program richer and their individual successes have made the entire program a success. We have a program here in Sydney that compares well with those on the mainland and that we all can be proud of.

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