Project Proposal

After our initial idea fell through we understandably felt a little discouraged about our prospects of creating a successful project. However we quickly regrouped and, having kept in contact with some of the organizations we had originally emailed, we soon found a real need at the St.Mary’s House of Welcome.

The management at St.Mary’s were friendly and approachable and the project development was more of a conversation than a one-sided effort. We found the management was open to our ideas and had ideas of their own. They also were really in tune with the needs of their members. Thus, we developed a new project.

We received very positive feedback about our project proposal both from St.Mary’s (who were extremely enthusiastic about its prospects) and Rita, so we have included it below to give you an idea of what a proposal could look like. We are successfully implementing the proposal as we speak (updates to come soon), so it appears to be a good plan to work off as well.

Student Ambassador Leadership Program

Project Proposal – ALG 7

Hamish Brown, Ling Sing Ch’ng, Adam Fenech, Louise McNeil, Timea Stan, Ralph Wilson

Our goals

§ To give the homeless people of Fitzroy a greater sense of self-worth by providing a means for them to personally contribute to their community

§ To educate more people about homelessness by opening their eyes to a completely different way of life.

§ To provide a voice for the homeless community.

§ To further our own sense of community through our project team, hence creating a synergetic approach more efficient than our individual efforts.

Our objectives

§ To produce a lasting record of life stories of some members of St Mary’s House of Welcome in written or video form. We will also achieve this by simply listening to them, as they don’t often get that opportunity.

§ To have these stories regularly posted on the official website of St Mary’s.

§ To spend time building up relationship with members through regular meetings.

The background and significance of this project

Homelessness is not merely the lack of shelter; it is also the lack of social and emotional support which the majority of the community enjoys. More importantly, people experiencing homelessness are deprived of social status because of society’s tendency to view their inability to be independent as a weakness. They are stigmatised and consequently lack the usual level of community interaction that we are familiar with. Their rich life experiences and stories are lost with the end of their life.

Sister Roseanne of St Mary’s House of Welcome has always wanted to record the stories of their members but has been restricted by lack of time and resources. Our project involves documenting these stories so they are preserved for future generations. We will build relationships with the members of St Mary’s House of Welcome and give them the opportunity to be heard. Recording their stories re-affirms the value of their existence and will hopefully result in a greater sense of self-worth.

An article in Volume 10 of the Journal of Social Distress and the Homeless (Davey, 2001) highlights the importance of targeting self-esteem as it has resounding impacts on other areas such as stress, social competence and behaviour problems. Thus, by focussing on the issue of self-esteem, we are attempting to improve many other areas of their lives as a result.

We were also encouraged to pursue the issue of self-confidence through our interactions with homeless people we met. A woman who was part of the Choir of Hard Knocks showed us a newspaper article featuring her picture and was incredibly proud of her achievements. We wanted to recreate this sense of accomplishment with a different group of homeless people who weren’t so lucky as to be a part of the Choir of Hard Knocks.

Finally, as university students with privileged backgrounds, we would also benefit from this project by forming friendships with a group of people we would never normally interact with, and by learning about a very different type of existence.

Current approaches to improving the self-esteem of homeless people and educating others about their plight

Father Jeff O’Hare’s (Chaplain BSL) book Brotherhood: Stories of Courage of Resilience covers true stories of 29 disadvantaged people. It details how they overcame difficulties with support from the Brotherhood of St. Laurence until they are able to make their own contribution to society.

The Council to Homeless Persons features videos of homeless people on their website. Their aims are to dispel some of the myths surrounding homelessness and create a better understanding of how people become homeless, and to help find ways to end homelessness.

The “Tomorrow Journal” by St. Vincent de Paul Society (not yet published) includes stories starting with “Today I am…”. The journal encourages people to see ‘today’ from another point of view, and inspires them to help disadvantaged groups create a different future.

The Choir of Hard Knocks builds the confidence of underprivileged people by involving them in a collaborative creative effort and singing at large-scale events.

“The Oasis” is a documentary about youth homelessness that reveals the realities of life on the streets and the circumstances that can result in homelessness.

How will our project be different?

We were inspired by the existing programs and realised we could learn a lot from their approach. We hope to use the knowledge and experience available in this area while targeting a more limited group. That is, members of St. Mary’s House of Welcome who are homeless, elderly and have lived in the Fitzroy area. We hope that this targeted approach will result in a more visible outcome, showing others that programs such as ours can have real benefits in the community.

In addition, by focusing on the members of St. Mary’s House of Welcome, we hope to be able to provide a valuable history of the area through their memories, as some of them grew up and lived most of their life in Fitzroy. Finally, as university students, we have the ability to educate our peers and can encourage them to visit the website, through social activities, networking sites and our ALG blog. Thus we hope to reach perhaps a different audience than existing projects are able to.

Potential strengths of our project team

· We have a variety of backgrounds and skills.

· Many of us have volunteered previously.

· Some of us have project management experience.

· We get along well and can work cohesively as a team.

· We are committed to taking on our share of the work.

· We feel passionately about this area of community development.

· We are independent and driven, using our own team members for motivation and clarity.

Potential weaknesses of our project team

· We may have trouble getting together at similar times due to differing commitments and availabilities, however we communicate effectively through other means like email.

· We have differing individual approaches to completing tasks, however we know each other well enough now to effectively delegate tasks based on each member’s strengths.

· No previous experience with homelessness (need more time researching/asking questions)

To Do List

· Source timetable of St Mary’s to find suitable times the members will be present

· Discuss logistics regarding updating the website and writing sections in the newsletter with St. Mary’s House of Welcome.

· Familiarise ourselves with the legal release forms the members must sign before we interview them.

· Visit St. Mary’s House of Welcome regularly to help members become familiar and comfortable with us

· Determine how comfortable members would feel being interviewed and decide on interview medium (video, voice recorder, written)

· Interview a variety of members.

· Update website regularly with profiles, interviews, pictures and videos of members

· Write a regular column in the newsletter with member interviews and pictures

· Have a launch party for the website or potential film with member interviews; invite members of St. Mary’s House of Welcome and the community at large, including other Melbourne University students.

· Discuss the potential for distribution of the finished product to schools and the wider community as a revenue raising initiative for St. Mary’s and in order to raise awareness in the community.

Timeline

July holidays	Visit St Mary’s House of Welcome in small groups to build up good rapport with members. Identify members willing to share their stories.
Weeks beginning 27 July & 3 August	Continue meeting with St Mary’s clients (an opportunity for those who were away in the holidays). Organise fine details of project (delegate tasks and formulate a more detailed timeline)
Week beginning 10 Aug until beginning of October. (Approximately 8 weeks)	Begin filming and recording stories. Take photos of the members to put with their written profile. Type stories and upload to website.
End of October - November	Time off for exams
December 2009 – January 2010	Depending on availabilities, more filming or perhaps editing the episodes together into a whole film. Possibly organise an event like a launch party for St Mary’s members to see the film or website and also invite members of the community.
February 2010	Complete project and write up final reports

Anticipated results

We hope to be able to deliver a project that will make a noticeable difference within the St. Mary’s House of Welcome community. We will consider our project a success if we can see an increase in members’ self confidence through behaviours such as excitement about being interviewed, pride about their interviews being published, increased openness and self esteem. We hope to leave a permanent record of the members’ lives, the history of Fitzroy through their eyes and the incredible work of St. Mary’s House of Welcome. Finally, we hope to raise awareness of the lives of homeless people and encourage a desire in the community to learn more about the lives of homeless people. After these many positive results, with great anticipation we believe this extended interaction with a community previously unfamiliar to us will provide a broader, more accepting view on society, flowing on to a desire to be further involved in less comforting and more challenging roles for the benefit of the larger community.

Conflict resolution

One of the most important aspects of developing a project to benefit the community is meeting the people who are going to help you get there and creating lasting and fruitful relationships with them. This increases your chance of success as different people have different ideas, strengths, skills and experiences. We are certainly learning a lot about working effectively both within our ALG and with others we meet along the way. Unfortunately sometimes miscommunication and differing expectations can lead to relationships breaking down. Dealing with this has also been a challenge for our ALG.

We had decided to undertake a project involving a cooking program at the Coolibah Centre based largely on communication with the centre’s manager. After attending a meeting with the members we discovered that the need we sought to fill with this program was already being catered for with another cooking program and a variety of activities for the members. Furthermore, the members were not interested in our proposal. Somewhere along the way our wires got crossed and the information conveyed to us did not reflect the reality of the situation. After spending more time trying to come up with ideas that would meet the members’ needs we had to make the difficult decision to abandon the project and work with an organization that we felt really needed our help.

After conveying this in a polite email to the manager we were stunned to receive an unjustifiably harsh and negative response. Though hurt and angered as well as disappointed at having spent months developing a project with very little input and assistance from the organization and having to start again so late in the program, we knew that we must act professionally in order to do ourselves and SALP justice. After discussing the matter with Rita we sent an email back clearly outlining the reasons for our decision and stressing our respect for the organization and its members. We ended with the hope that future SALP groups would be able to work harmoniously with Coolibah as it had been added to the SALP database. Though we received no reply, we feel our professional and positive response will ensure that future SALP groups are still welcome at Coolibah.

Dreamlarge Knowledge Transfer Student Grant

The Student Ambassador Leadership Program is nothing if not a learning process. You learn how to work effectively with a group of people who could be very different from you, you learn how to develop and manage a project that will impact on people’s lives and challenge you along the way and you learn a variety of processes that are necessary to make this happen. Finding funds is often crucial to the successful implementation of your group’s project.

After making some enquiries we discovered we could source some food and ingredients for our Cooking Program from Second Bite, however we still needed to find funds for cooking utensils, utilities and providing some sort of remuneration for the asylum seeker teachers as well as tram tickets for people travelling to the centre. We discussed many ways of coming up with the funds including: grants, fundraising events, and sponsorship from local business.

We were encouraged to apply for a Dreamlarge Knowledge Transfer Student Grant. None of us had undertaken such an endeavour before and we didn’t know exactly how to go about it. Also, given how long it took us to formulate a concrete project we were running late in applying. So it is not surprising that we didn’t achieve what we’d hoped to. In fact our application didn’t even make it to the KT Grant Office.

Below is a copy of parts of our application with the comments of our mentor from the Economics and Commerce department. It is a great example of what not to do when applying from one of these grants and though we were disappointed with the outcome it was a great learning experience, which will help us in applying for other grants.

Things we learnt:

• We heard the committee actually met before the deadline for applications and given that the application needs to be checked by a mentor from your faculty, your deadline should be at least three days before the official deadline.
• Make sure you understand what the questions are asking and answer them fully and clearly.
• Pay attention to detail, things like getting dates right and spelling things correctly. Double check before sending off the application. Making mistakes looks sloppy and shows that you have not put in much effort.
• Make sure you know your project inside and out and know what you need money for and how much money, have research to back this up.
• Make sure you are familiar with the criteria for the grants as the bar is quite high, so your application must be tailored to the criteria and be professional.

DREAMLARGE KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER

STUDENT PROJECT GRANTS

DREAMLARGE Knowledge Transfer Student Project Grants will be available for students enrolled in a University of Melbourne degree for projects commencing in 2009.

Grants will not normally exceed $2,500. Up to six grants of $5,000 will be provided where funding for travel or other essentials for the project are required

Each project must have an external partner contributing equal funding for the project.

An electronic copy of the application is required as well as a hard copy containing original signatures. Supporting documentation must be attached to both paper and electronic copies.

Late applications will not be accepted.

Applications close on friday 15 May 2009

(The notes accompanying this form provide details on the eligibility conditions for the Scheme and the 2009 selection criteria. Applicants are advised to read these notes before completing the application form.)

TITLE OF PROJECT

COMMUNITY THROUGH COOKING

DETAILS OF PROJECT (Please provide summary of your project in no more than 500 words.

The summary to include: project aims, outcomes timelines and details on how the project will further the University’s Knowledge Transfer agenda which connects student groups with external partners – See guidelines for applicants - http://www.knowledgetransfer.unimelb.edu.au/ )

Aims: Developing a sense of community for marginalised people. Increasing self respect, dignity and a sense of achievement by creating a meal. Facilitating dialogue in order to gain an understanding of different. communities i.e. between homeless people and refugees and university students. Providing temporary source of income for refugees. Keep a permanent record of the sessions and stories in book.. Provide a certificate upon completion of the program for each member so as to promote a sense of achievement and self worth There is no project description at all. Timeline: May 08 to July 08: Finalise details of project Wrong year June 5th: SALP Project Proposal due July 1st : Session 1 (sessions to be held of the first Wednesday of each month) August 5th : Session 2 September 2nd: Session 3 September 22nd: SALP Symposium- presentation of project to university and community leaders October 7th: Session 4 November 5th : Session 5 February: Project report written for SALP Coordinator How the project furthers knowledge transfer: Includes other SALPers Creates a source of information through book/blog/video Positive reputation for the University (Uni students are community orientated) Establishes links between Brotherhood of St. Laurence and University of Melbourne for future student involvement through SALP and Engineers Without Borders Creates a link between two marginalised communities to celebrate commonalities and foster an attitude of acceptance.

LIVE cocktail party!

Last week, the Melbourne Uni Leadership, Involvement and Volunteer Experience Uni threw and awesome cocktail party for students involved with various organisations around campus, and anyone who was interested in volunteering, to network and find out more about the opportunities available.

A speed-dating-type game got us all talking, albeit awkwardly at first, and free flowing beer, wine and bubbly removed (almost) all the awkwardness by the time the dancing started. We were also entertained by a fantastic hip-hop dance duo.

Various organisations had set up stalls with representatives ready to give us all the information we might need to get involved, whether it be travelling to Africa or undertaking sustainability projects closer to home. There were also inspiring presentations about past and future projects that had us wishing there were more than 24 hours in a day so we could try everything.

It was an altogether fun night and a great reminder that there is so much on offer at Melbourne Uni in terms of organisations wanting to make a positive change in the world. We would highly encourage everyone to attend next year and get involved!

Below are some of the organisations present at the party which you may like to get involved with:

VSAP, email them at vsap.aid@gmail.com

Change & Switch, email them at info@changeandswitch.org

Oaktree Foundation, email them at info@theoaktree.org

GAPS, email them at info@gaps.org.au

Students in Free Enterprise, email them at sife@sifeaustralia.org.au

Student Ambassador Leadership Program, email them at r.manessis@unimelb.edu.au

AIESEC, apply using the online form

Engineers Without Borders, email them at info@ewb.org.au

Project Management Workshop

Tonight, from 5:30 to 9:30(ish), we participated in the Project Management Workshop, which is a compulsory part of SALP. As this is a new initiative this year, we didn't know what to expect. We thought it would quite scary, that we would be grilled on our project idea. But actually it was quite a fun night designed to get us to think creatively about our project. We didn't even have to have a concrete idea!

We began by looking at a problem we all wish we could solve: Melbourne's public transport. We drew a problem map linking the different issues and causes of the problem and thus getting the the core root of it. We had to ensure that our project addressed this root cause of the problem in order for it to be successful. This process was repeated for our own project idea.



We then talked about how to fix the problem within the parameters or restraints that we have placed on us, particularly in relation to SALP guidelines and funding issues. Finally, we presented our project idea to the other ALGs present and received feedback.



Though we already had a project in mind, the workshop was helpful in getting us to think more creatively about our project and while the nude calendar idea may not make it to the action stage, we are going to try to create a documentary/book about the International Cuisine nights as a permanent record of the stories of all the people we've met.

ALG Meeting – Tuesday 12th May

We've decided on a project! We think....

We're partnering with the Coolibah, a drop-in centre for older, homeless people in the Carlton area and the Ecumenical Migration Centre to develop a program through which we would ideally employ recently arrived refugees or migrants to teach cooking classes in their traditional cuisines at Coolibah. We would run regular International Cuisine Nights at Coolibah with all the members sharing a meal and sharing stories. We're meeting with the Coolibah members tomorrow to put forward our proposal and get their input. We're aiming to complete our proposal and Knowledge Transfer grant application by the end of the week.



The following are the details of the project as drawn up during our meeting today.

Aims:

• Developing a sense of community for marginalised people.
• Increasing self respect, dignity and a sense of achievement by creating a meal.
• Facilitating dialogue in order to gain an understanding of different. communities i.e. between homeless people and refugees and university students.
• Providing employment for refugees.
• Possibly have a permanent record of the sessions e.g. blog/book etc.
• Possibly provide a certificate upon completion of the program for each member.

How we’ll achieve those aims:

• Have a few people each session give a talk about their lives. Perhaps powerpoint presentation with a photo and basic info. We could meet up with the speakers and prepare the presentation on his computer.
• Getting refugees with EMC to teach their local cuisines.
• Sharing a meal and stories/socialising.
• Getting other uni students/SALPers involved in volunteering.
• Initially keep a blog of our involvement.

Timeline:

• Proposal and Kknowledge Transfer Grant due 15th May.
• Finish application for funding by 22nd May.
• Finish planning stage by the end of the winter holidays.
• Put plan into action a couple of weeks into 2nd semester.

Plan for each session:

• Shopping with cook (1 hr).
• Preparing presentation with presenter (1 hr).
• Introduction to the cooking instructor, what meal we’re cooking, where it’s coming from etc (15 mins).
• Cooking and preparation (45 mins).
• Share stories while meal is cooking (30 mins).
• Eating time (45 mins).
• Clean up and possibly briefing the cook/presenter for the following week (45 mins).

Potential sources of income:

• Willow (Ralph’s family business): providing bakeware.
• Cooking company sponsorship (advertised on blog, good pr for companies).
• Ad revenue from blog.
• KT Grant.
• Other grants.
• Fundraising.
• Second bite/Fareshare/supermarkets donating food and ingredients.

Potential problems:

• What if we don’t get a grant?
• Availability of ingredients.
• What if no one is willing to share their stories?
• What if refugees don’t want to do it?
• What if people are not available over the holidays to do the bulk of the work?
• Would refugees etc be unwilling to work on religious holidays e.g. Sundays etc?
• What if the traditional international food takes too long to cook?
• Logistics: how would we structure the cooking process and get everyone involved?
  

Let's meet Adam

Name: Adam Fenech
Course: Commerce/Arts
Year Level: 3rd
Interests: Any kind of sport, non fiction books, travel, investing and teaching
I'm listening to: my black lab barking at the cat that lives in my front garden
Maybe I should: start cooking dinner
Forever seems like: I just miss the tram
I never want to lose: (nothing to add)
I believe: in belief
I sometimes: forget to flush the toilet