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Welcome to Jesuit Social Services |
Jesuit Social Services works to build a just society by advocating for social change and promoting the health and wellbeing of disadvantaged young people, families and communities.
Our vision Building a just society
Our mission Standing in solidarity with those in need Expressing a faith that promotes justice
Our values • Welcoming – forming strong, faithful relationships • Discerning – being strategic about how we can have the greatest impact • Courageous – standing up boldly to effect change. Building relationships is the heart of our work.
In all our services our goal is to enable people to connect with others so they can take an active part in the community. Only when people form relationships can they come to trust again. When they trust, they may imagine new possibilities and pursue them.
We don’t give up on people.
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JESUIT SOCIAL SERVICES ANNUAL FUNDRAISING DINNER
Saturday 20th March 2010 Victory Room, Etihad Stadium
Booking Form
Guest Speaker
The Hon Julia Gillard MP Deputy Prime Minister
delivering the inaugural Frank Costigan QC address
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Announncing Just Cycle Yarra Valley - Sunday 11th April 2010 Jesuit Social Services is proud to present Just Cycle Yarra Valley - a new fundraising recreational cycling event which will take place in Victoria's beautiful Yarra Valley on Sunday 11 April 2010. The event features two courses - a 45km recreational ride highlighting the picturesque Yarra Valley and a 120km endurance ride featuring the challenge of Mount Donna Buang. More than just another recreational ride, Just Cycle Yarra Valley offers a complete entertainment experience for cycling enthusiasts, friends and family with a day of fun activities and live music amongst the vines of Yarra Valley's Rochford Wines. All proceeds from the event go to Jesuit Social Services.
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The Artful Dodgers Studios present Out Of My Head Moving Imagery on the Signal Screens Flinders Walk, Northbank, Melbourne behind Flinders St Station towards Sandridge Bridge After Dark: 1st - 18th February 2010, 8pm - midnight
Following the Artful Dodgers Studios sculptural exhibition at Signal in November 2009, comes a special screening on Signal's projective windows of more artwork from the Out Of My Head exhibition, exploring the concept of altered states of mind.
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The Outdoor Experience A unique opportunity exists for 16 - 25 year olds males who have or had issues with alcohol and other drugs. TOE programs offers alternative means of tackling difficult life issues and provides opportunities for making sustainable positive changes through a supportive and challenging Bush Adventure experience. Please click here to find out more about the program and how to get involved. Visits to TOE at the Bush Hut and interviews for young people can be arranged at any time by contacting the program on (03) 9855 2633.
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Policy Responses and Speeches |
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When will we ever learn?
When will we ever learn? "Lock ‘Em Up" (p1, The Herald Sun 14/1/10) might make good headlines. It might even fool some people into thinking that the Leader of the Opposition's apparent ‘tough on crime' stance will make our streets safer. But it doesn't make good sense. The evidence consistently tells us that tackling the social problems behind crimes is what makes sense. The social problems are real. For example 7% of people in prison have not completed secondary, trade or tertiary education (Statistical Profile of the Victoria Prison system: 2004-05 to 2008 -09, Corrections Victoria p.12) and two thirds of new prisoners in Victoria report that their offences relate to drug use while between 80 - 90% of prisoners on a second or subsequent sentence report problems with drugs.(Victorian Prison Drug Strategy 2002.
If the ‘lock ‘em up' strategy' worked we wouldn't have 1 in 4 prisoners being reconvicted within 3 months of being released from prison. We wouldn't have between 35 - 41 % of prisoners being reimprisoned within 2 years of being released (Australian Institute if Criminology 2008). We wouldn't have to spend millions on extra jails as more and more people are locked away, despite the fact that overall crime has decreased by 25% over the last 9 years in Victoria (Crime Statistics - Victoria Police 2009).
It is ‘time to act' Mr Baillieu. Not with a headline-grabbing, knee jerk reaction but in a way that all the evidence says works - addressing the social problems behind crime. That makes sense.
Christ Was A Refugee Too (Letters to the Editor, The Australian, 23/12/09)
Finally, a boat load of people who fled a warzone in Sri Lanka have been recognized as refugees entitled to protection from persecution ("Viking Tamils finally reach destination", 21/12, 22/12). Does anyone else see the irony that refugees have again become a political football during the Christmas season? This very week we celebrate the birth of Jesus - not the picture book, sanitised story but the real life version which saw a baby born in an animal shelter, because the good people of the town of Nazareth couldn't find any ‘spare' accommodation where his heavily pregnant mother could give birth. Then, no sooner was he born than he and his family became refugees, fleeing for their lives. Sound familiar? Julie Edwards CEO Jesuit Social Services
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Julie Edwards, CEO, spoke at Caritas in Veritate - Reflections on Pope Benedict's encyclical on Human Development on 19th November 2009.
Photo: Julie Edwards with Archbishop Philip Freier, Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne and Rufus Black, Master of Ormond College
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Letter to the Editor The Age 17 Nov 2009 Jail will do this child no good... Disadvantage sets in early in life and tends to accumulate.
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Leadership: Integrity Across Domains Speech given by Julie Edwards, Chief Executive Officer on 10th November 2009 at Edmund Rice Educaton Australia.
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Submission to the Australian Human Rights Commission inquiry into African Australians and human rights Submission to the Australian Human Rights Commission inquiry into African Australians and human rights and social inlcussion issues.
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Protecting the rights of the most disadvantaged Jesuit Social Services submission to National Human Rights consultation |
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More Policy Papers & Speeches
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