2017-2018 ANNUAL REPORT

C O N T E N T S

About Us                                                

Our History                                            

Our Mission

Our Vision

The CFS Board

The Chairmans Report

CEO Report      

Treasurer's Report 2017/2018

Community Services                            

Children's Services                              

Disability Services                                      

      

                                 

                         

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A B O U T U SCommunity First Step (CFS), is an independent,not-for-profit, community based organisation inSydney's South West, We work with our local

community to support the development ofengaged, useful and robust citizens.

1973-2018OUR HISTORY OUR MISSION

OUR VISION

Community First Step was founded more than 40years ago. In 1973 a group of local residentsformed what was then known as the FairfieldCommunity Council for Social Development - aforum for community development and action onsocial issues. Over the 30 years that followed the groupdeveloped it' services and projects and, after afew names changes, in 2007 'Community FirstStep' was born. Today, Community First Step is a growingorganisation that includes Children's, Disability andYouth & Community Services. We employ over 85staff and work with more than 50 volunteers andstudents each year. Our purpose is to work in partnership with thecommunity, business and government to strive forexcellence in meeting the holistic needs of ourcommunity through the provision of high qualitysupportive learning, sporting, cultural and welfareprograms.

The community First Step mission is toprovide sustainable, evidence basedprograms that support the development ofengaged, useful and robust citizens. To improve the performance of ourcommunity on independently-assessedsocial and economic measures.

All community members have a fairopportunity to peacefully live, learn,develop, contribute and succeed.

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T H E C F S B O A R D

Sue joined the Board on 4 April 2005. Sue isan actuary and independent investor withextensive experience in financialmanagement, banking, reinsurance,actuarial education and projectmanagement. Prior to becoming a director Sue has held avariety of roles with companies such asZurich Financial Services, BT FinancialGroup, Westpac, Swiss Re and beeninvolved in the professional educationprogram of the Actuaries Institute. Skills include investment, financial servicesand markets, business management,leadership, strategy, organisational changeand performance improvement, andcorporate governance. Other current directorships. Several private companies and BongalongSt Community Garden. Special responsibilities Member of the Finance Committee

SUE HOWES

ANDREW AMER

HELEN WILSON BEc FIAA GAICD

Non-Excecutive Director

Andrew joined the Board on 26 April 2016and has extensive senior managementand Board experience in the services,industrial and resource sectors acrossAustralia and Asia. He was a Member ofthe AICD NSW Council and AICD LawCommittee for three terms and iscurrently a Member of the ProfessionalConduct Tribunal of the ICAANZ. Prior to becoming a director Andrew heldmanagement roles including ManagingDirector Amoco Australia, Group ManagerStrategy and Marketing Suncorp, GeneralManager Service Development MyerGrace Bros., and Senior ManagementConsultant in Strategy, OrganisationalRestructuring and Marketing PwCworking on some of Australia’s largestcompanies including BHP and ColesMyer. Skills include business management,strategy and marketing, organisationalrestructuring, service quality andperformance improvement, andcorporate governance. Carabella Resources Limited Mackay Sugar Limited Ainsworth Game Technology Limited;and Delta SBD Limited.

Acting Chairman Non-Executive Director

BspThy (Hons) MBA GAICD Non-executive Director

Helen joined the board in October2017, and is also the Chief ExecutiveOfficer of Evergreen Life Care. Shebrings over 30 years’ experiencewithin the health, aged care andcommunity service sectors, including20 years located in South WestSydney. Her experience includes seniorexecutive roles within large, mid-sized and small organisations, acrossthe not-for-profit, private andgovernment sectors. She has alsoworked as a clinician and as amanagement consultant, guidingorganisations through the challengesof changing policy, social,technological and competitivelandscapes. Skills include business development,service development, strategy,quality, compliance and riskmanagement. Other current directorships Non-executive Director of PACEAged Care Former directorships Aged Care Services NSW/ACT Special responsibilities Member of Disability Committee

Special responsibilities Chairman Member of the Finance Committee

T h e C F S B o a r d i s c o m p r i s e d o f p e o p l e w h o p r o c e s s t h es k i l l s a n d e x p e r i e n c e f u l f i l t h e c o m p a n y ' s g o v e r n a n c er e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s .  

Rebecca joined the Company in July 2016.Rebecca is an Australian qualified lawyerwith extensive experience in corporate,commercial and resources law.   She has broad experience in globalmarkets, having provided legal andstakeholder engagement support to globalcorporations in Australia, Africa, SouthAmerica, and PNG.   Rebecca also has experience in theimplementation and management ofcompliance frameworks to ensurecompliance with relevant laws, regulations,contractual obligations and ethicalstandards. Rebecca has strong communication,negotiation, and leadership skills withdemonstrated ability to accept challenges,use initiative and complete projects on timeto achieve business objectives. Special responsibilities Company Secretary

Rebecca Crosby

Matthew Day

David Heard LLB BHlth Sci

Company Secretary and Non-ExecutiveDirector

Matthew joined the Board on 26 April2016 and is also Chief Operating Officerof Healthdirect Australia.  Healthdirectplay a leading role in Australia’shealthcare landscape by designing anddelivering high-quality telehealth, onlineand e-health services across the nation. Matthew has a history including sales,engineering and financial positions,predominantly in the IT sector. His careerwith CSC included 5 years as AustralianCFO and 5 years managing customerrelationships and sales, including settingup the local Healthcare practice in 2007.   Matthew spent two years as RegionalPresident, Asia Pacific at Ventyx, asupplier of enterprise software andservices to major infrastructurebusinesses and developed and executedthe company’s expansion in China. Skills include business management,strategy, leadership and changemanagement, customer relationshipmanagement and business development.

BSc (Hons) CGMA GAICD Non-Executive Director

David joined the Board on 22 March2016 and is also a principal ofFinncorn Consulting, offering strategicand financial advice to large corporateclients.   A graduate of the AICD’s CompanyDirectors Course, the IESE MBAprogramme in Barcelona and theUniversity of Adelaide, he also servedon the Board of Shaun Parker & Co, aninnovative contemporary dancecompany based in Sydney, and is apast Director of Scallop Credit Union. Mr. Heard’s career has includedproject management, financial,marketing and business developmentroles with Shell, Macquarie Group,Bank of America Merrill Lynch andSchroders. Other current directorships Non-executive director of ShaunParker & Company Former directorships Scallop Credit Union Special responsibilities Member of the Finance Committee

BE(Hons) GradDipAppFin MBA GAICD Non-Executive Director

Special responsibilities Chairman -Appointed 28 June 2018 Chairman of Disability Committee

T h e C F S B o a r d i s c o m p r i s e d o f p e o p l e w h o p r o c e s s t h es k i l l s a n d e x p e r i e n c e f u l f i l t h e c o m p a n y ' s g o v e r n a n c er e s p o n s i b i l i t i e s .  

David joined the Board on 20 March 2017. Aqualified economist and lawyer, David hasexperience in the education, government,and not-for-profit environments. He is currently completing his PhDexamining business power and economicpolicy at UNSW Australia. David is also theFounder of Youth Pathways Network, avoluntary organisation helping to fightyouth unemployment and crime in WesternSydney. David’s skills include policy research andanalysis, operations management, projectmanagement, risk management, strategicplanning, community engagement,marketing, and leadership. Special responsibilities Member of the Risk ManagementCommittee

David Saliba BEc

Mark Webb

Laura Sampson (Hons 1 and UM) LLB GDLP (with Distinction)

Non-Executive Director Bachelor of Laws/Bachelor of Arts  Company Secretary

Mark joined the Board on 30 May 2016and is also Chief Executive of the NSWDepartment of Parliamentary Services, aspecialist service department working tosupport the operation of the NSWParliament by providing logistical supportand advice to Members of Parliament, theDepartments of the Legislative Counciland Legislative Assembly and the peopleof NSW. Mark’s professional background includeswork across the private sector, federalpublic sector and state public sector,including work in the technologyindustry, and public policy areas such asemployment, the environment andheritage and central governmentfunctions. Skills include policy, government,strategy, change management, businessprocess and improvement and corporategovernance. Other current directorships Vice President of the Institute of PublicAdministration-NSW Division Member of the Engineering SydneyAdvisory Board, University of Sydney Former directorships Recursion Pty Ltd Special responsibilities Chairman of the risk managementcommittee

BSc computing BEng electrical engineering,computing MBA. Non-executive Director

Laura joined the Company in August2018. Laura graduated from WesternSydney University in 2017 with aBachelor of Laws/Bachelor of Artsand commenced working as a lawyerin August 2018. Laura has experience in tort claims,and spent a number of years workingas a Paralegal in Parramatta andLiverpool. Laura is presently workingin a large Plaintiff-focused personalinjury law firm. Through personal circumstances andher work, Laura has gainedexperience and is committed toassisting the disabled community inWestern Sydney. Laura’s skills include legal research,advocacy, negotiation, organisation,time management and client service.

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TheChairman'sReport

2017-2018During the 2017-18 financial year we have hadchallenges finding and retaining a long-term CEO. However, the organisation is in good shape withsufficient surplus to carry us through hard timesand support development of innovative newservices.  I thank our staff who have supported theorganisation through a difficult period to live ourmission. "To provide sustainable, evidence-basedprograms that support the development ofengaged, useful and robust citizens. To improvethe performance of our community onindependently-assessed social and economicmeasures". You will read through this reportaccomplishments across our service lines, and ata company level which have been driven bymanagement.  These including notableachievements to improve quality, efficiency andemployee engagement. Growth Community First Step has improved and evolvedour services to the Fairfield community resultingin solid revenue growth over the past four years.Our challenge moving forward in an ever morecompetitive landscape is to focus our growthplans to maximise our community impact atappropriate risk.  

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Board and CEO I’d like to thank Sue Howes who steppeddown from the Board Chair to act as interimCEO for nine months in October 2017 whenour previous CEO left the organisation.  Theachievements documented in this reportwould not have been possible without Sue’sleadership. In July 2018 a permanent CEO wasappointed, however this appointment did notwork out.  As I write this report, Lesley Jordanan experienced CEO with experience acrossHealth, Not for Profit, Aged Care andGovernment has joined us interim CEO and isalready making a positive impact. My gratitude also to Andrew Amer who actedas Chair for nine months but stepped downfrom the Board in August.  Andrew providedstrong governance advice throughout histime in the Board.   Thanks also to James Slade-Symonds andTrent Daniels who resigned from the Boardthis year and welcome to Helen Wilson whojoined.  Rebecca Crosby has taken a leave ofabsence from the Board after the birth of herfirst child and we are pleased to welcomeLaura as our new company secretary. Our volunteer Directors have a diverse set ofskills and experience.  In the 2018-2019 yearwe will invest in Board development tostrengthen our performance in guiding andgoverning Community First Step’s future. This will include finalising out strategythrough to 2023.

The Management Team are working with anumber of new projects and initiatives that willachieve this growth.

The CEO'sReport

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Despite the changes mentioned in thechairmen report, the staffing body of theorganisation has formed into a cohesive andgoal driven team of people who can achievegreat things for the community of SouthWestern Sydney. Our achievements are discussed throughoutthe rest of this report by our senior managersand clients, but a high level overviewincludes: In disability we have grappled with and nowhave a good understanding of the NDIS andits aims. Our work is now focused on improving thequality of our services so that we provide ourclients with the ability to live the lives theyreally want to live. During the year we took the decision to exitthe Supported Independent Living (SIL)facility that we had opened after realising anumber of issues relating to its managementthat could not be surmounted. The Board has not, at this time, taken adecision to re-engage with the provision ofSIL services. In community we continue to outperform ourcurrent KPI's set by our funding bodies. Weare working on mapping our outputs tooutcomes in preparation for the TEI reforms,which we wholeheartedly welcome.   We have altered some of our projects tobetter meet the needs of our clients and willcontinue to look for new and innovativeprojects to meet the emerging needs of ourcommunity. 

We continue to work with our partners,Learning Sphere, to provide access to trainingopportunities for the community of SouthWest Sydney. Their support has beenfabulous and we continue to enjoy a closeworking relationship with them. Our children's services team have skilfullyand seamlessly implemented the changes tothe new Child Care Subsidy as well asimplementing a new management system forstaff, government and clients. Our utilisation over the year has seen greatimprovement over the previous year in allcentres, but particularly in Parks OccasionalCare, which is performing exceptionally wellon both financial and quality metrics. Administratively we have taken on andimplemented a number of projects toimprove both our efficiency and the workingenvironment for our staff. We have transferred to a new accountingsystem that in time will also handle ourpayroll, and have also implemented anemployee management system that willstreamline much of our internal processing

Organisational Continuity

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We have undertaken an IT review, changedour IT providers and are in the process ofupgrading our systems and processes to bemore efficient and allow staff to more easilyaccess and store information. Volunteering has become an area ofincreased focus in the organisation.  We are now actively finding work within theorganisation that can be performed byvolunteers to allow us to provide workexperience opportunities to those in thecommunity who need to prove theircapabilities and find further employment.  As a result of this we have moved some ofour volunteers into both casual andpermanent positions in the organisation andfound some excellent employees through thisprocess. Our staff are also finding regularopportunities to develop and supportcommunity events on a volunteer basis, suchas developing Sunday markets in Villawood. We are increasingly defining entry level rolesand employing members of the communityinto these roles and then ensuringopportunities arise for further training anddevelopment and movement through theorganisation into a variety of other roles.

We can see a significant improvement inrevenue from FY17 of 32%, a small deficitfor the year and an 18% increase in theequity position of the organisation. The deficit during the year was partlydue to spending on systems upgradesand improvements and a number ofitems that arose out of systems changesand accounting reconciliations. 

Financially

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Family &CommunityServices

Community First step is supported by Family andCommunity Services grants, The Smith Family, byvarious grants from Fairfield City Council and ClubGrants. In the year 2017 - 2018, the team hasdelivered many successful programs and positivelyimpacted on our community members, encouragingpositivity and hard work.

Our Child, Youth and Family Program continued tosupport children and their families through earlyintervention support. Families were assessed andidentified as vulnerable and under this program wereprovided support through one on one casemanagement and various parenting programs. Therange of support offered under this program hasextended in reaching out to families with issues suchas financial difficulties, parenting concerns, isolationand cultural transitions.  Our Youth and Family program has been successfulin forming stronger connections and engaging youththrough early intervention by providing support andassistance in areas of Youth Justice Conferencingsupport, Work Development Orders, casemanagement, workshops and by engaging youngpeople in activities creating a positive and safeenvironment.   964 Youth participants were supported through ouryouth programs. The highlight of our various Youthprograms this year was The Getaway. This was aYouth Mentoring Project where we organised for 11students from a local Intensive English Centre(Fairfield High School) to engage in a developmentprogram to assist them to settle into their newcountry and provide them with the skills required tolead productive lives. These students took part in workshops that werefocused around problem solving, introduction tolocal services and organisations as well asconfidence building and teamwork skills. Thestudents went on to attend a weekend at CampWombaroo where they put the skills learned intopractice in an active outdoor environment. All of these students are ‘newly arrived’ from eitherIraq or Syria and had been in Australia between 5months and 2 years. Many of the young peopleparticipating had not been out of Fairfield and wereable to experience new surroundings and activities.

Early intervention and prevention – juvenile crimeprogram another successful project delivered byCFS youth team this year. The program supportedyouth at risk clients by engaging them in differentsocial programs with crime prevention focus and oneon one support. The most of the participants fromthis program are still engaging in Youth centreactivities which a very successful outcome from thisprogram.

Child, Youth and Family Program  

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CFS engages with the young people of Fairfieldthrough activities run four afternoons per week atFairfield Youth Centre. These programs aredesigned to provide a range of activities to allowyoung people the opportunity participate in a rangeof experiences and activities that broaden theirhorizons and enhacne their living skills in a safe andpositive environment. Programs are developed in consultation with localyoung people to identify the skills and abilities theywould like to develop. This has resulted in thedevelopment programs such as jam sessions, artsand crafts groups, soccer coaching, homeworkhelp, trivia and games, legal aid drop ins and girls’and boys’ groups were introduced. These activitieshave increased female participation in the centre. Sadly within this year, a young boy who frequentlyattended our Youth Centre sadly passed away anda service was held for him at the Youth Centre. This service allowed his friends and fellow studentsa space to grieve safely and allow them to feelconnected towards each other in a time of need.The memorial allowed them to write theirgrievances and messages to him and his family andleave tributes and donations. A presentation created by CFS staff ran throughoutthe service.  Though his passing was tragic, many people cametogether to support his family and all donations,tributes and letters were passed onto the family.Counsellors were present and one on one supportwas also offered and a healthy dialogue aboutsuicide prevention was engaged in. 

Youth Club

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This year  we have developed and delivered arange of outstanding activities and programs tomeet the needs of, as well as build the capacity of,our community. We have consistently made an effort to reach outto community members of every age group andethnicity, through our one off events or regularweekly activities.  Through our large events, workshops, socialinclusion activities we reached out to over 12,600people in the community. Highlights of our mostsuccessful events this year included. State wide Coffee with a Cop event, whichattracted over 500 people in Fairfield CrescentPlaza, providing local people a forum to speak tothe Fairfield Police over a cup of coffee andcreating a sense of security for the community. Wheelchair sports at the youth centre, to createan opportunity for our young people to understandwhat disability is and experience the daily life ofpeople with physical disability by playing sports ona wheelchair. This event focused on creating a sense ofresponsibility, respect and empathy for people witha disability. Employ-Me First event, where the communitymembers were provided information onemployment process in Australia and also had anopportunity to attend mock interviews. Two attendees were able to seek employment andvolunteering opportunities within Community FirstStep through this event.

Pheonix Voices of Youth – CFS has been workingwith organisations and the Intensive EnglishCentres of local high schools to provide refugeestudents experiencing difficulties due to thelanguage barrier to express themselves throughsinging in a choir. Through this program students have shown a rapidimprovement in their language skills as well asdeveloping leadership skills and confidence. Wehave watched a number of students bloom into agroup of accomplished singers during their time inthe choir. The group have been privileged to practice withand perform with the Sydney Philharmonia choir toshowcase their talents and the story of theirsuccess has spread throughout Australia after theywere featured on both the ABC News and anAustralian Story program. Now their stories of success is spreadingthroughout Australia through their interviewsbroadcasted by ABC.

Community Building

Community Programs andEvents   

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Over 5,900community

members werehelped to access arange of servicesto assist them to

improve theircircumstances and

provide muchneeded help

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Learning Sphere Collaboration

CFS runs a community hub that continues to providemuch needed  holistic support to the community ofFairfield. This year we have introduced a range of programs and activities to engage the communitythat foster involvement and inclusion and assist inbuilding resilience and independence. These new activities include English conversation,arts and crafts groups and knitting classes. The aim ofthese groups is to bring people together from avariety of backgrounds who have common interests,develop skills in the community, reduce socialisolation, develop works that can be sold and providea small income whilst developing business skills. The staff who work in the hub are consistentlyimproving the hub environment and facilities, to develop a more vibrant and inclusive atmosphereand make it a second home for community members. This year over 8,000 people were offered support with a range of activities to assist them to accessmuch needed government assistance, emergencyfood, personal items and funds aid, English languageskills, employment training, employmentopportunities as well as referral to a range of partnerorganisations we work with to meet their particularneeds. Over 360 community members participated in at leastone of our activities. Another highlight for this yearwas the introduction of food parcels and hygiene packs. These are distributed tosupport homeless people and those strugglingfinancially.

Fairfield region comprises a large, growing numberof refugees and new migrants, most of whomcome from countries where English is not widelyspoken. Fairfield is one of the most multiculturalcities in Australia; more than half the residents wereborn overseas and over 70 per cent speak alanguage other than English at home. One-fifth ofthe nation’s refugees are settling in WesternSydney’s Fairfield Council area.  To assist with this transition we developed Fast 5 tournaments, designed to assist withtransitioning young arrivals into the community, as well as introducing them to the Australian culture. 294 local high school students, all recentarrivals, benefitted from this program. The program assisted in breaking down barriersand bringing communities together throughfootball. Young people from different backgroundsand language groups playing football togetherrequired the ready use of English to communicate,involved socialising outside usual cultural normsand brought people together who face the sameobstacles. The participants learnt aboutother cultures and beliefs, built up their confidenceand developed new social skills. The program also offered participants anopportunity to follow and join a fan base thatshared common interests. Participants now have a base from which to grow their social circles to other regions in Sydney and potentially Australia wide. Sport is one of the bestmethods of bringing people together, whether it beindividuals that participate or friends and familythat come along to offer support. With Youth FirstSteps program, not only the transition todeveloping social connections from isolation wasmade easy, but also developing a skill in a newcountry was made possible.

Community Hub

Youth first steps program

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Community First Step collaborates closely with ahighly regarded and awarded training organisation todeliver courses that will up-skill community membersto improve their chances of employment. Over 150people were referred to the courses such as Caféskills, Business skills, cleaning and warehousingduring the year.

Many students have been successful in gaining employment at completion of their course, some of them have joined the ranks ofCFS and work in our many services.

Singing is my only hope in the life because it let me feel everything we experiencethrough the days just by saying words with a melody that represent us. The

Phoenix Voices of Youth choir helped me a lot. It improve my voice, let me feelconfident, it improved my English, meet new people from different cultures &

going through many experiences together as a team and family. - Rouz Saeed 

Rouz's family migrated from Iraq (through Jordan) about 2 years ago and she is one of the originalmembers of the Phoenix Voices of Youth choir. She also helps out with the kid’s choir when she has

time after school.

This program is designed to assist parents frommore established migrant communities with children aged 0 to 12 years. This is a dedicated parenting program designedto assist in building resilience in children andparents to help them overcome disadvantage andcope with life transitions. Parents are providedparenting training and support via an established,evidence based program specially developed tohelp parents who are experiencing high levels ofstress while raising their children while alsoassisting them to develop solid relationships bothwithin the family and with others in thecommunity with a view to establishing a supportnetwork. This year, we are expanding this program toinclude the development of skills in emotionalcoaching in parents, which helps recognise andrespond to children’s  emotions in a supportiveway. This program has shown great results in theFairfield and wider community and is of greatbenefit to community members  struggling with anew environment, demands of finding andmaintaining employment, navigating a range ofdifferent cultures, understanding medical careand schools as well as trying to raise children. 161 Individual clients benefited from this program, including 15 families who received direct support with parenting. One success story from thisprogram was of a single Mum who is newlyarrived with young children. Through this programshe was able to build strong resilience andconfidence for herself and her children . Inaddition to this she has been able to findemployment that has allowed her to support her children and live independently in this new country, which she now calls her home.

Newsteps program

Direct Support

Workshops

Social Inclusion 

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Rena is a client who came to CFS due to relationship concerns and had to leave her home. She hasbeen supported by CFS with food vouchers, was referred to a Barista course. With support letter

from CFS Rena was also granted a permanent residency visa. She has now found herselfemployment and is  living an independent and successful life in Australia.

Community First Step helped me a lot and even with a Barista Course. When I attendedthe course it was a hard journey for me but through that course I gained my Barista

certificate which has helped me get a job in a café. Staff have helped me a lot, he alsowrote me a support letter which helped me get my permanent residency. Staff have

helped me improve my English which was very bad when I came to the country. Theystill call me and keep in contact with me. Thank you CFS.

- Rena

- 74 year old man with more than 12 year history of smoking joins CFS led Quit program and has completely stopped smoking. - Former police constable who had lost his job and marriage and was on a disability support pension is assisted by CFS to renew his insurance and obtain employment as a security guard. - Recently arrived single mum with limited language skills seeks support with parenting concerns and stress. Now working in a bakery and gaining confidence to support herself and her family. - Homeless dad with 8 year old child in severe financial crisis assisted by CFS to pay bills, get life back on track and secure community housing. - Student in English conversation class has best birthday in many years when cooked traditional Arabic meal and birthday cakeby fellow participant. - Parent assists with interpretation for parenting program and gains confidence and acclaim of peers. - Young Syrian who had bike stolen by ISIS members in Syria joins Healthy Riders program soon after arrival and is given new bike and helmet.

Good News Snapshots

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We have proudly expanded our Children’s Servicesteam to 25 Educators due to "exceeding outcomes" inoccupancy and increase in Roving and Playgroupbookings. Our main goal over 2018 is to focus onquality and compliance; all services are workingtowards receiving exceeding outcome in one or moreareas of the assessment and rating process.

Children'sServices

Our Children’s Services has had a very busy yearimproving the quality of our services. This year hasbeen full of huge achievements. We started the yearoff by centralising all admin to Head Office, this wasintroduced to assist Coordinators in having moretime to spend with the children, educators & families,Improve arrears management and create a smoothenrolment process. We have also had a busy time helping families transition to the Child Care Subsidy System, as wellas transitioning to a new administration program.This software has the ability to allow families to signin digitally, which again will reduce the amount of admin time for our Coordinators. We have also introduced an automatic direct debit system. We restructured our Management team andintroduced a new Coordinator at The ParksOccasional Care and we were able to create anopportunity for a long standing Coordinator toachieve one of her professional goals to coordinateboth OSHC sites. We have proudly expanded our Children’s Servicesteam to 25 educators due to the increase inoccupancy and increase in Roving and Playgroupbookings. We have focused on supporting,mentoring and guiding our educators in their journeywith Community First Step. We have achieved thisthrough high engagement from our Educators intraining opportunities. The Children’s Services team has participated intraining on inclusive practices, inclusion support, kidsand traffic, trauma and the child, national qualitystandards, national quality framework, providinghealthy food, working with children from a refugeebackground, understanding autism, magic &emotion, circle of security and Child Protection.  

The Children’s Services team participated in asustainability competition. The idea of thecompetition was to encourage team work, improvesustainability and improve educator’s satisfactionwith their work. Recently we have participated inEarly Childhood Educators Day and the communityprogram through Gill’d Wetherill Park. These events have given us the opportunity tocreate a strong sense of team work. Our main goal over 2018 is to focus on Quality andCompliance; all services are working towardsreceiving Exceeding outcome in one or more areasof the assessment and rating process. Each monththe coordinators and educators are completing oneor more internal audits that are contributing to ourQuality Improvement Plan. Parks Occasional Care was a finalist in the EarlyChildhood Education Week and all Children’sServices where finalists in the Fairfield LocalBusiness Awards.

Children's Services

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The Parks Occasional Care (POC) has had asuccessful year with a significant rise in occupancyand a large increase in number of families that useour service. Its curriculum and activities program andobservation.  Children are supported in theirtransition to school. The Service has incorporated aschool readiness program throughout the dailycurriculum that is based around the children’sinterest and Early Years Learning Framework. We aim to help children develop skills, abilitiesand the characteristics that promote a child’sability to become a successful learner and tofamiliarise children with school routines, rulesand expectations. We have created relationshipsand engage in networking with the local schoolsin the Wetherill Park area. The POC has engaged in a large amount ofCommunity Participation. We have continued ourregular weekly excursion to Wetherill Park libraryfor story time. As part of our school readinesscurriculum we have created strong connectionswith our local community. Over the past year we have had visits from StePseye testing, SWIAA nursing home, our local liaisonofficer from Fairfield Police Station, Smithfield Firestation, CFS Disability Day program and theVietnamese conversational group. POC was a finalist in Early Childhood EducationWeek; we created a program based on the theme‘Extend your service to the community’. During Education Week we created a program forthe children where we worked in collaboration withother community organisations to be able toachieve the best outcomes for children. FrankCarbone, the Mayor of Fairfield City attended ourservice to help us celebrate.

Although families bring in lunch for the children, wewanted to improve the morning and afternoon teaoptions for the children and promote healthyeating. The Educator’s role model healthy eatingand at meal times encourage children to only eathealthy foods. Our resources are collected fromthe Australian dietary guidelines and Munch andMove, these are shared with families, children andeducators. We have taken pride in the homely environmentthat we provide for the children and families whomattend the service.  Our service is safe, suitable andage appropriate for all the age groups of children inwhich we cater for. We worked on creating a smooth orientationprocess that is now provided for each family whichincludes: a tour of the centre, a welcome letter, andtime with the Coordinator to answer any questions.We also book in as many or as few orientationsessions with families and children that parentsthink are necessary. Collaborative planningopportunities are offered to families during thistime. Families are encouraged to become involvedin the service and contribute to service decisions.The expertise of families is acknowledged,discussed and implemented through the children’scare at the service, as well as integrated into theprogram. The families are seen and respected asthe most valuable source of information in regardsto their children. Our service has created a positive relationship withLady Gowire, we are an affordable childcare optionfor parents that are studying English through Tafeand we have continued our Parent Supportprogram through Parks Community Network. Theparent support program is run each school term for6 weeks. The Parent support Centre is locatedbehind the Parks Occasional Care and they offer avariety of classes through the year, designed toassist clients with parenting skills.

The Parks Occasional Care

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Allambie Road OSHC Service is located at theEdensor Park Community Hall. We offer ourservices to children from Governor Phillip KingPublic School, Bossley Park Primary School, MaryImmaculate Primary School and Prairiewood PublicSchool. Our St John’s Park OSHC is located on the groundsof St John’s Park Primary School. Our Services recognise that middle childhood isan important stage that bridges the gap betweenearly childhood and adolescence. We believe thateach child is unique and should always berespected and valued. Our curriculum recognisesthat learning and curiosity is happening all the timeand is intertwined through all developmental areas. This year we have improved our curriculum andprogramming as we foster on-going learningexperiences that are safe, positive, fun andnurturing for the whole child. We endeavour to guide the children into the nextstage of their development with confidence inthemselves and in preparation for the next chapterof their school years. We believe that childrenshould be given choices, responsibilities andopportunities to initiate their own learning. We believe that to have a good relationship withchildren you must also have an honest and openrelationship with their families. This is why we workin partnership with each family to create the bestoutcome for their children. Various events were planned throughout the yearwhere families are invited to participate. Theseevents are related to culture, community andcelebration. Both services worked hard to improvetheir garden as part of our suitability project andboth services won the competition. The winnerscelebrated with a delicious night out at a localItalian restaurant.

Allambie Road and St John’s Park participated inclean up Australia Day, Harmony Day, Scienceweek, Book week, Naidoc Week and ANZAC day.We also successfully fundraised for the end of yearChristmas Party through selling Lego andfundraisers. This year the children participated in excursionsand incursion. Our excursions included Fairfield City Museum,The Museum of Fire, Featherdale Wildlife Park,Aquatopia Water Park, Aqua Gold, WollongongScience Centre, AMF Bowling & Laser, The ScenicWorld, Stardust Circus, Magical world of science,The Hawkesbury Paddle wheeler, BonnyriggPark, Plough & Harrow Park, The movies andNinja 101. Our incursions consisted of MobileRidge Farm, Things that creep and crawl andBonnyrigg Bunning’s.

Out of School Hours Care

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Roving Child Care has had a very successful year.We have grown up to 19-20 bookings per weekduring the school terms. We have established great relationships across theFairfield LGA with schools, community hubs,facilitators and other Community organisations. Currently we have five playgroups that run eachweek throughout the school term. Two beingMulticultural playgroups and three Supportedplaygroups. We have strived to distinguish ourselves from otherplaygroup organisations through the importancethat we place on fostering positive outcomes for allcommunity members. We work in partnership with the local communityto meet the needs of our clients and families inorder to create the best outcomes for children. We aim for the children to have access to a safe,secure and caring environment. This year we focused on the experiences that weprovided to the children. Our educators have worked across all of ourchildren’s services and have provided richcurriculums and imaginative programs that areinspired by current practices and research. We believe that children are capable learners andthat they should guide their own learning andengagement through play.

Roving Child Care & Playgroups OutcomesThe Parks Occasional Care Occupancy hasgrown 110% over the past year, in the month ofJuly 2017 the occupancy percentage was 24%and during the month of July 2018 it was 50.5%.    St John’s Park has grown in occupancy in ourmorning sessions by 8% and afternoon sessionsby 9%. In 2018 Children’s team have completed 286hours in training, 220 of these hours were freetraining opportunities and staff were not paid fortheir time. As a result we have provided theequivalent of $4,475 in staff training at no cost toCFS. Our Roving Childcare services provided care toapproximately 2339 children and we provided1,227 hours of services. In our playgroups we looked after 1,979 childrenand provided over 564 hours of service.

Thank you very much for providing the best after school care and vacation care for my children.They are safe and always happy when I pick them up. You and the staff are always friendly andaccommodating towards me. Without Allambie Road I would not have been able to go back to

work full time and I appreciate having you all there for us. Alicia and Aiden love the bus ride to thecentre every afternoon, they rave on about the food provided and the activities are never boring.

Once again, we sincerely thank you for being there for us. - Channy  

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Lama lived and studied in Syria, she has a bachelor degree in pharmacy and pharmaceutical chemistry, shetaught practical pharmacology in University and owned her own pharmaceutical company for over 13 years.Lama has lived in Australia for over four years and because her qualifications are not recognised in Australia,she was finding it challenging to find work. Lama’s journey with Community First Step started at our Hub when she inquired about assistance in findingwork. Our team in the Hub recommended Lama to attend an event that our Community Team was hosting called‘Employ Me First’. Lama carried out a practice interview with Baber and did really well. Lama was positive, wellspoken, kind and respectful. Lama showed a real passion in working with children and expressed interested indoing some volunteer work for Community First Step.  Lama was very consistent with her volunteering forabout two months; she assisted our playgroup educators in everything and was fitting in perfectly. A jobopportunity became available in playgroups and we realised that she was the perfect educator. Lama has become a valued employee of Community First Step and has extended her experience with us bytaking up some shifts as a disability support worker. Lama has recently won our employee of the month awardand is a valuable asset for both the Children’s Services and Disability teams.

Niki was the first person to introduce me to work within Community First Step, you trustedmy ability to work with children. Your support has helped me gain the confidence that I

needed and working with you was the most important experience of my life. CommunityFirst Step has given me the opportunity to work with different clients from different cultures

and countries, I really appreciate this opportunity. Thank you - Lama

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(Left to Right) Niki, Lama, Kelly

Linha arrived in Australia in February 2018 from Iraq. Linha was so excited to be in Australia, three weeks afterarriving she enrolled with Navitas to learn English and become a home tutor. In May 2018, Linha enrolledthrough SSI to complete her Certificate III in Early Childhood Education. In August 2018 Linha received herCertificate III in English home Tutor and immediately started to volunteer to assist two students to learnEnglish. Linha’s journey with Community First Step started when she visited our Community Hub asking for assistancewith finding work placement for her Certificate III in Early Childhood Education. Martine and Niki assisted withfinding placement for Linha at a long day care in Yennora. Linha showed such determination and showedinterest in volunteering with the Children’s Services team at Community First Step. Linha had a very busyschedule with all her studies and volunteer work but was willing to fit us in. We arranged for Linha to volunteerat St John’s Park- our OSHC service.  Linha attended every Monday and Wednesday for a few months and the feedback was incredible. Theeducators, families and children really enjoyed having Linha at St John’s Park. After a few short months, Linhabecame an Early Childhood educator at Community First Step and now works across our Children’s Services.

My first job was with Community First Step, it opened a lot of opportunities for me to meetgood people.  I appreciate this opportunity and I am grateful that I get to work with Niki to

start my career in Australia. I would like to also make a special thank you to Ann and Sue at StJohn’s Park OSHC, they have helped me find confidence and I feel like I am with my family.

Thank you Community First Step for the opportunity to share my story and supporting me tobecome the best person I can be and help the community become a better place. Let’s work

together to make the future a better place. - Linha

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I have been using Allambie Road centre for over a year now and I have had a great experience. The staffare so approachable and friendly. My son has formed bonds with the staff which I am quite happy about

- Antonietta

I can’t put into words how grateful I am for all the staff that you have at Parks Occasional Care. Not onlyare my girls in great care but I know they are loved, not only by seeing this but by the photos that are

shared with me to know that the girls are all well and happy after crying at the door. I can honestly saythat when I drop my girls off I have complete trust that they are in safe hands. Parks has not only givenme the peace of mind of the care of my girls but Maritsa has also had an open ear to what I need as amother and us as a family. She has always listened (even when really busy) and she came up with the

idea for me to volunteer at Community First Step which is something I really needed. I enjoyed theopportunity I was given to volunteer at CFS as well as meet and work with some really wonderful people.

This gave me the opportunity to see what else I was capable of. The advice that Niki and Kelly haveprovided to me has also been invaluable. People sometimes don’t realise that what may seem like a

small action can mean the world to someone else. Thank you again for loving and caring for my girls andmy family. - Silvana

My child has been attending Allambie Road OSHC and vacation care for almost 5 years and during thistime both her and myself have found the staff have always been caring, dedicated and professional. As a

working parent I have found the service to be an invaluable part of my life and consider Allambie RoadOSHC to be like extended family whom I can always count on to look after my child. The centre is wellmaintained and clean. The rules put in place are followed by all staff and children. The food provided is

great and the hygiene practice is of very high standards. Different activities are arranged regularly.Overall; I’m very pleased my daughter has the chance to attend this centre and I highly recommend it.

During their time at OSHC my child has formed many friendship and learnt many skills and helpingyounger children and working in groups. I would recommend it to any family looking for such a service.

- Merise

Dear Team, we are the parents of Lincoln. Our child has been joining your centre since day one ofkindergarten. We love the centre as the staffs are dedicated, friendly and helpful. Especially we wanted

to mention Ms Sue who has been interacting and cooperating with us to help educate and developLincoln Special Thanks to Miss Sue

 - Uyen

I just want to say thank you for my little gift from early childhood educator’s day. I really do appreciateand I am so grateful everyday to be working at CFS. I’ve been so happy to be working here as well. Thankyou for making my passions come true and my dreams. Thank you for always supporting me and for all

the opportunities I had been given these past 9 months. Thank you, Niki and Kelly! - Aira

Testimonials

Disability

Our vision for Disability Services is that CommunityAccess and the Day Program are run as one, beingmerged and renamed the “Community Program”.This was executed as clients started to cross overinto both programs and the outcomes for clientsare largely the same. The Community Programenables participants to shape their own programand be involved in aspects of the community thatmean the most to them.

Day Program

Our Vision

Disability Services have been through an incredibleperiod of growth, change and transition over thecourse of the last year. We have seen theCommunity Access program flourish, starting fromthe ground up and now having over 15 activeclients regularly engaged in support programswithin their local community. This includes everything from Doctorsappointments, family visits, engaging with the localcommunity and learning basic living skills such asshopping and catching public transport.

Disability

Our Goals

Some of the program highlights have beenbased on relationships made with the localcommunity. In particular, Tangerine Street has had thepleasure of partnering with Villawood Bunningsto provide additions to the program. The clientshave visited Bunnings to attend the in-houseworkshops and thoroughly enjoy being able totouch, smell and sometimes taste the plants.This led to the revamping of our herb gardenand flower beds at Tangerine Street. Bunningsdonated all the seedlings to allow the clients tobe able to grow their own produce. They havegrown herbs, lettuce and tomatoes so far, all ofwhich they use in their cooking activities.

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The Day Program at Tangerine Street has also seensome massive improvements including an increasein client numbers, increased staff engagement andretention, more efficient operations, higher qualityprograms and most obviously a huge improvementin the physical environments through the hard workof the entire team and many “working bee” dayssupported by the CFS team.  

Our vision for Disability Services is that CommunityAccess and the Day Program are run as one, beingmerged and renamed the “Community Program”.This was executed as clients started to cross overinto both programs and the outcomes for clientsare largely the same. The Community Program enables participants toshape their own program and be involved inaspects of the community that mean the most tothem. 

Our goals for the future include a continualgrowth in client hours, working towards higherquality programs at all times, meeting theexpectations of the NDIS Quality andSafeguarding Framework introduced on July 1,2018 and ensuring the Tangerine Street buildingis used to its fullest potential. We have commenced work on these goals withthe introduction of the bi-monthly SundayMarkets at Tangerine Street. The Markets atTangerine have allowed an opportunity for localcommunity members to engage with the clientsand other residents of Fairfield as well as achance for the clients to be able to give back totheir community. We regularly have staff andclients attending these markets to set up, helpwith the BBQ, sell goodies and chat to thecommunity. These are valuable life skills which also fostercommunity engagement, capacity building andemployability.

This financial year a decision was taken to removeCFS services from our Supported IndependentLiving facility at Lorikeet Street.  This experience wastaken as an opportunity for Community First Step toplan for the reintroduction of SIL as part of ourstrategic plan for the future after a full andcomprehensive project on what high quality SIL setup and provision looks like. The goal for SIL is to implement 1 pilot service withthe view to replicating this model successfully intomore homes over the next financial year. Disability Services welcomed a new SupportCoordinator this year who has managed to grow theclient base by 100% in his first quarter. The goal ofSupport Coordination is to be a central point ofcontact for community members to be able to assistclients to understand what their options for supportand services are. With this key asset to the team we are now able toprovide more Disability focused services throughThe Hub and assist clients to navigate through everystage of their NDIS journey.

SIL

Currentlyproviding

Disability Servicesto over 50  local

residents

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Hi my name is Sosok, I am 35 years old. I have been coming to Community First Step for the last year and a half. I was born in Cambodia and migrated to Australia in 1994. We live in Fairfield, just me and my mum. I have a sister who lives in Fairfield Heights, and two older brothers, one lives in Cambodia and the otherin New Zealand. Although we live far apart our family is close. I love everything about CFS, I love being around the other clients and I love coming here every day. I have achieved so much from coming to Community First Step. I recently graduated as a barista thanksto CFS for making that possible. I have recently completed training in Disability and am grateful for Maurizio in helping me achieve mygoals and certificates. My highlight is being a volunteer with CFS as I really enjoy helping other people and love to be aroundpeople. My goal and passion in life is to continue doing exactly what I am doing. This is what makes me happy. I am Sok.

Sok is also a client at our Tangerine Street Day Program. He is bright and friendly and wants to be aSupport Worker with Community First Step. Over the course of the year he has moved closer and closer to

being able to achieve this goal. This is Sok’s story in his own words.

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My name is Lara I am 25 years old. I have been coming to CFS I think since June last year. I live with my mum in Chester Hill, I have an older sister Ellie who is 30 years old she lives inWollongong and is my best friend, we are very close and see each other lots and talk on the phone allthe time. The things I like about CFS are the staff and I especially like Nicole; the people here are really nice andtreat me very well. I love going to my bowling program every Friday, even though I do not bowl I love playing the arcadegames with my friend Aaron. My favourite activity at CFS was my cooking program on a Tuesday, cooking and eating all the yummythings and learning to be able to cook makes me happy. Achievements – I am in the process of learning to read and learn money skills, which is very importantto me, I also made the decision to live a healthier lifestyle. My goal is to be able to read properly, I really want to learn to swim, I want to lose weight.  My biggestgoal in life is to be able to live by myself one day. I am a happy friendly person and I am very trusting, sometimes I get emotional if I see people cry I willcry. I have a good heart. I am Lara.

Lara is a client at our Tangerine Street Day Program. Over the course of the year she has shown incrediblegrowth and determination to better herself. Our Tangerine Street Coordinator and the Support team

worked closely with Lara to acknowledge her strengths and recognise her full potential.  This is Lara’sstory in her own words.  

Community First Step 25 Barbara Street, Fairfield NSW 2165 (02) 9727 4333 reception@cfs.asn.au