Commonwealth Disability Services Census: 2000

[Excerpt] The Commonwealth Minister for Family and Community Services, through the Department of Family and Community Services, funds disability services in each State and Territory. This funding provides access for people with a disability to vocational programs and employment opportunities thereby promoting economic and social participation and choice for people with disabilities in work and the community. This report presents national data on services for people with a disability, and consumers accessing employment services funded under the Commonwealth/State Disability Agreement in 1999–2000. The data was collected as part of the annual Commonwealth Disability Services Census conducted on 30 June 2000

Commonwealth Disability Services Census: 1999

[Excerpt] The Commonwealth Minister for Family and Community Services, through the Department of Family and Community Services, funds disability services in each State and Territory. This funding provides access for people with a disability to vocational programs, employment opportunities and promotes economic and social participation and choice in work and community life. Information is collected each year from services in receipt of funding. This report, the fifth in the series, contains the findings from the 1999 Commonwealth Disability Services Census and covers all Commonwealth funded employment, print disability, advocacy and information services. The collection provides information to assist in the planning, development and management of Commonwealth disability programs and enables the Commonwealth to fulfil its reporting obligations under the Commonwealth/State Disability Agreement

Australian Government Disability Services Census: 2002

[Excerpt] The 2002 Australian Government Disability Services Census recorded information about 64,639 consumers who received assistance from Australian Government disability employment services between 1 July 2001 and 30 June 2002. These are referred to as ‘All Consumers’ and Tables and Figures referring to all consumers have the suffix ‘FY’ (financial year)

Social housing in NSW: a discussion paper for input and comment

Currently the New South Wales social housing system faces many challenges – funding is decreasing, operating costs are rising and homes are ageing. This makes it difficult to maintain existing properties as well as to build more homes to meet the increasing demand for housing assistance. To make sure that the social housing system continues to provide a much-needed safety net into the future, the NSW Government is asking the community to provide innovative ideas to reform the system. Executive summary This paper invites input and comment from all stakeholders on the futureof the New South Wales social housing system. The New South Wales government believes the New South Wales social housing system can have a more positive impact on people’s lives by providinggreater opportunities and pathways towards client independence, particularly forpeople of working age, children and young people. At the same time, it should also continue to provide a safety net for vulnerable people; providing housing assistance tothose who need it, while they need it and where they need it. The New South Wales Government iscommitted to working alongside the non-government and private sectors to drive theinnovation required to meet these objectives

Australian Government Disability Services Census: 2003

[Excerpt] The 2003 Australian Government Disability Services Census recorded information about 68,137 consumers who received assistance from Australian Government disability employment services between 1 July 2002 and 30 June 2003. These are referred to as ‘All Consumers’ and Tables and Figures referring to all consumers have the suffix ‘FY’(financial year)

Social and emotional outcomes of Australian children from Indigenous and culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds

Objectives: 1) profile the living environments and 2) examine the social and emotional outcomes of Australian children from Indigenous and cultural and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds at school entry. Method: Secondary analysis of cross- sectional data collected in Wave 1 of the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (n=4,735). Child mental-health outcomes were measured using parent report of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ). Results: Significant differences in family and neighbourhood characteristics, including parental income, maternal education, maternal parenting quality and neighbourhood safety, were found in children of Indigenous and CALD backgrounds compared to the reference group of Australian-born, English-speaking children. After controlling for family and neighbourhood characteristics, significant differences in parent-reported SDQ total difficulties were found for Indigenous children. Significant differences in emotional difficulties and peer problems subscales were found for children with overseas-born mothers regardless of English proficiency. Conclusions: Children from Indigenous and CALD backgrounds experience poorer mental health outcomes at school entry than their Australian-born English- speaking peers. They are also more likely to be exposed to risk factors for poor child mental-health outcomes within their family and neighbourhood environments

The cost-effectiveness of Australia\u27s active after-school communities program

The objective of this study was to assess from a societal perspective the cost-effectiveness of the Active After-school Communities (AASC) program, a key plank of the former Australian Government\u27s obesity prevention program. The intervention was modeled for a 1-year time horizon for Australian primary school children as part of the Assessing Cost-Effectiveness in Obesity (ACE-Obesity) project. Disability-adjusted life year (DALY) benefits (based on calculated effects on BMI post-intervention) and cost-offsets (consequent savings from reductions in obesity-related diseases) were tracked until the cohort reached the age of 100 years or death. The reference year was 2001, and a 3% discount rate was applied. Simulation-modeling techniques were used to present a 95% uncertainty interval around the cost-effectiveness ratio. An assessment of second-stage filter criteria (&quot;equity,&quot; &quot;strength of evidence,&quot; &quot;acceptability to stakeholders,&quot; &quot;feasibility of implementation,&quot; &quot;sustainability,&quot; and &quot;side-effects&quot;) was undertaken by a stakeholder Working Group to incorporate additional factors that impact on resource allocation decisions. The estimated number of children new to physical activity after-school and therefore receiving the intervention benefit was 69,300. For 1 year, the intervention cost is Australian dollars (AUD) 40.3 million (95% uncertainty interval AUD 28.6 million; AUD 56.2 million), and resulted in an incremental saving of 450 (250; 770) DALYs. The resultant cost-offsets were AUD 3.7 million, producing a net cost per DALY saved of AUD 82,000 (95% uncertainty interval AUD 40,000; AUD 165,000). Although the program has intuitive appeal, it was not cost-effective under base-case modeling assumptions. To improve its cost-effectiveness credentials as an obesity prevention measure, a reduction in costs needs to be coupled with increases in the number of participating children and the amount of physical activity undertaken.<br /

Establishing LA VIDA: A Community-Based Partnership to Prevent Intimate Violence against Latina Women

LA VIDA—the Southwest Detroit Partnership to Prevent Intimate Violence Against Latina Women— evolved in response to community concern about the problem of intimate partner violence (IPV) and the lack of culturally competent preventive and support services for Latino women and men in southwest Detroit. Since 1997, diverse organizations have mobilized as a community-academic partnership to ensure the availability, accessibility, and utilization of IPV services. This article describes and analyzes the evolution of LA VIDA within a community-based participatory research framework using a case study approach that draws on multiple data sources including group and individual interviews and field notes. The challenges and lessons learned in addressing a complex multifaceted problem such as IPV in an ethnic minority community are highlighted in an examination of the process of mobilizing diverse organizations, conducting community diagnosis and needs assessment activities, establishing goals and objectives within a social ecological framework, and integrating evaluation during the development phase.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66991/2/10.1177_109019819902600606.pd