Pathways to Wellbeing, Social Cohesion, Skill Development, and Participation in Disadvantaged Communities: Royal Botanic Garden Sydney's Master Gardener Volunteer Program

The Master Gardener Volunteer Program led by Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust. The catalyst for the inception of the Master Gardener Volunteer Program (MGVP) in Sydney arose when Philip Pettitt (the then Community Greening Coordinator) travelled to the United States to attend the Botanic Gardens Conservation International Conference in 2015 and was inspired by the Brooklyn Urban Gardener Course operating in New York and Brooklyn. Upon his return, the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust (RBGDT) piloted three short courses in 2016 funded by the Office of Environment and Heritage. Further funding was received from the Department of Social Services Resilient Communities Fund in 2018 to expand the MGVP for a period of three years. This study focuses on the delivery of the MGVP at 17 sites in New South Wales, Australia. These include: Liverpool, Curran, Central Coast, Wollongong, Riverwood, Mt Annan, Auburn, Sydney, Eden, Newcastle, Miller, Telopea, Willmott, Bega, Warrigal, Yallah, and Nowra. The overarching objectives of this research were to investigate the Master Gardener Volunteers’ self-reported changes to wellbeing, social cohesion, skill development, and participation as they engage over time in the MGVP; and identify the reported strengths of the program delivery and areas for improvement

Understanding the Experience and Perceived Impact of the Ready Arrive Work Program

The Ready Arrive Work (RAW) program assists high school students from refugee backgrounds to explore vocational learning pathways in a supportive and positive environment. It aims to equip them with a better understanding of employment, workplaces, career planning and the pathways which can lead to a successful career after completing school. Designed by JobQuest and the NSW Department of Education the RAW program targets government high schools in metropolitan and regional NSW. It has been operating in NSW High schools since 2006. For students from refugee backgrounds, careers advice has been consistently identified in policy and research as a point of vulnerability and as an ideal opportunity for intervention. A recent Victorian inquiry into school-based career advising (Parliament of Victoria, 2018) identified numerous issues faced by refugee students including: unfamiliarity with systems of education and work, inadequate knowledge of career options and prerequisites, isolation, trauma, disruptions, lack of connections and mentors, parents’ limited knowledge and accompanying expectations. More than a decade after the RAW initiative and resources were developed, and after rapid expansion of the program beyond its original site, this research aimed to gather an understanding of the perceived impact, enablers and barriers of the RAW program. This qualitative research interviewed 58 stakeholders including school students, school staff, Job quest staff and Raw steering committee, industry and civic partners. Findings indicated that the Ready Arrive Work program was beneficial for students, schools, industry and civic partner organisations. All the ‘impacts’ reported by these stakeholders were positive. This indicates that participating RAW stakeholders hold the program in high regard and the continuation of the program should be prioritised by the NSW Department of Education. Specific impacts were reported by stakeholders for each of the participating groups

"Meeting the Mum Where She is at": Recommended Best Practice to Support Vulnerable New Mothers

Becoming a new mother can be a complicated life transition with physical, emotional, and psychological changes. Women with additional vulnerabilities are at greatest risk from physical and mental ill-health due to adversities faced when becoming a new mother. The impetus for the current White Paper arose from the desire to develop a deeper understanding of the needs of vulnerable new mothers, the perceived impact of the Early Years Support Service, and the best practice guidelines for how to support new mothers with additional vulnerabilities. This White Paper is based on the first empirical study of the Early Years Support Service, involving 47 stakeholders with direct experience including: 22 mothers who had or currently use the Early Years Support Service, 15 volunteers, 6 staff, 4 significant others. The Early Years Support Service is available to primary carers irrespective of gender. All of the service users who participated in this study identified as mothers and thus this White Paper discusses the experiences of mothers

Resilient Families Plus: Evaluation Report and Executive Summary

Resilient Families Plus is a 10-week school-based family intervention designed for students in their initial high school years and their parents. The program aims to bolster family relations since the premise of the program is that positive family environments are associated with better social and learning outcomes (Shortt et al., 2007; Toumbourou, et al., 2013). Resilient Families Plus has been newly created from the original and established program called Resilient Families developed by Professor Toumbourou and colleagues at the Centre for Adolescent Health in conjunction with Deakin University (‘program developers’). Resilient Families Plus is a new prevention program with a family home reading component and is an extension from the previous Resilient Families program. Resilient Families Plus comprises the same five core elements of the original Resilient Families program but with two extra components which focus on academic and learning outcomes in addition to the health and well-being outcomes central to the original program. Academic and learning outcomes become a new focus through the introduction of the Parent committee training session and distribution of a parent reading campaign brochure designed to encourage adolescents to read an extra 10 minutes per day. The Resilient Families Plus pilot was conducted in Terms 2 and 4 in 2018 with Year 8 students and their parents from two Victorian secondary schools. These two schools had a high percentage of students from disadvantaged backgrounds (both schools had more than 50% students in the bottom quartile on the ICSEA1 measure). The aim of the evaluation was to examine the feasibility of the Resilient Families Plus intervention and its readiness for trial, and to explore whether the program had an influence on academic achievement precursors such as academic self-concept (Mathematics Self-Concept and English Self-Concept) and academic resilience. The original protocol of this evaluation included a comparison of two intervention groups (Resilient Families and Resilient Families Plus) and a control group. However, low recruitment (two schools and 34 students) resulted in the need to amend the evaluation design to a smaller scale study of one intervention group (Resilient Families Plus) reducing the potential for robust estimates of impact. Accompanying this impact study was an implementation and process evaluation and cost calculation of the Resilient Families Plus program. The evaluation of Resilient Families Plus was independently conducted by Western Sydney University between July 2017 and March 2019. The program delivery was co-funded by VicHealth and Evidence for Learning, and the evaluation was funded by Evidence for Learning

'Thrown Out Into the World': Transition to Post Schooling for Autistic Young People

Autistic Young People in Australia experience poorer employment outcomes upon transition out of school than their non-disabled peers. This can lead to significant disadvantages in terms of financial, social, physical and mental well being as they may not be able to experience the benefits of work. the transition from school to post-school has been identified as a period where Autistic young people do not receive adequate support and, regrettably, understanding how to improve support remains a gap in the research literature. The introduction of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) changed the funding landscape for Autistic young people in terms of the supports they may be eligible to receive, leaving potential gaps in support at a critical time in an Autistic Young Person's life. This research was co-produced and adopted a qualitative methodology and aimed to understand the perspectives and experiences of key stakeholders (Autistic Young People, Parent/Carers, Educators and Disability Employment Service Providers) around the transition of Autistic young people from school to post-school education and employment options. Reflective Thematic Analysis was adopted to analyse transcribed interview data from 39 participants across the four stakeholder groups. Key Findings indicated the uniqueness of young autistic peoples' experiences and their desire to prove themselves as well as the importance of harnessing autistic strengths and interests and the need for early, collaborative transition planning. It calls attention to gaps in transition, including delayed planning, limited and inconsistent supports, siloed approaches to transition planning, strain on families and the impact of ongoing stigma and discrimination toward neurodivergent people. Recommendations are posed to optimise post school transition. This study contributes new knowledge to the evidence base surrounding the transition of Autistic Young People out of school. It highlights recommendations for research, policy, education, and practice to improve outcomes for Autistic Young People

Identifying key benefits and characteristics of community gardening for vulnerable populations : a systematic review

Vulnerable communities (including people from refugee, Indigenous, culturally and linguistically diverse, and low socioeconomic backgrounds) represent the most at-risk populations facing inequities and negative health, economic, and social outcomes. Te recent COVID-19 pandemic both highlighted and fuelled these disparities. Community gardening has emerged as a communitybased solution to address these inequities, yet the research literature has largely considered outcomes for the general population rather than those with the most need. Tis paper represents the frst systematic review to summarise the evidence on the broad impact of community gardening on outcomes for vulnerable populations. A systematic search of 13 databases (PubMed, Medline, Scopus, ScienceDirect, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, PsycINFO, Web of Science, Academic Search Complete, Education Source, Education Resources Information Center, Psychology and Behavioral Science Collection, SocINDEX, and Allied Health and Complementary Medicine Database) for English language articles from 1985 to 2022 was conducted. Tere were 33 studies identifed where females were substantially overrepresented in the studies compared to males, and the main criteria for vulnerability included low socioeconomic-status and culturally diverse populations. Findings revealed that community gardening provides a wide range of benefts for vulnerable populations, with social connection, health, education, and nutrition being the more commonly cited. A relative emphasis on benefts of social connections, education, and nutrition is apparent for vulnerable populations in comparison to reviews considering the general population. Te quality of studies was evaluated as moderate with little information provided about program characteristics. Tese shortcomings reduce the understanding of what characteristics are most likely to result in improvements and limit the capacity of practitioners to translate research into policy and practice for vulnerable communities

A systematic review protocol to identify the key benefits and associated program characteristics of community gardening for vulnerable populations

Gardening has long been a popular pastime. There is a growing evidence base for the health and well-being benefits of gardening. Community gardening brings a social aspect to gardening, thereby increasing the potential benefits to include addressing social inclusion and poor community health through sharing of values, support of others, and building networks. This systematic review protocol aims to determine the characteristics of community gardening that could lead to beneficial outcomes such as connection with the community and development of new skills. Thirteen academic databases will be searched for studies looking at the benefits of community gardening, with a focus on vulnerable populations. Data will be extracted from all studies meeting the inclusion criteria and summarized to provide an overview of the current literature. This systematic review aims to provide a comprehensive investigation into community gardening, its benefits, and how they are achieved for the target population. By gathering and synthesizing this information, the review should allow policy makers and practitioners to work more effectively to address health and social inequities, by highlighting areas of need and enabling optimization of future interventions

MyVoice Pulse Survey of WSU Staff: Working Through the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic profoundly affected both staff and students in higher education institutions globally, with teaching and learning moving online, and research being suspended or adapted via videotelephony. Western Sydney University (WSU) surveyed its staff to develop a comprehensive understanding of the reported impacts of COVID-19 on both their work and life, and the strengths and challenges of utilising videotelephony for teaching and research. All WSU staff were surveyed via the MyVoice Pulse survey, with data collected by The Voice Project. A total of 2335 staff completed the survey, with a response rate of 86%. Permission was secured from 1695 (62.4%) staff for their responses to be included in this research. Out of these respondents, 59.6% identified as female, and 33.1% identified themselves as academic staff. Diversity related questions had Cronbach’s alpha of 0.63. All other questions when tested returned a Cronbach’s alpha of greater than 0.75 implying those questions were consistent. The current study provides valuable insight into the reported impacts of COVID-19 on the work and life of staff at WSU, as well as staff perspectives on some of the innovative practices that were adopted in response. The timeliness and the potential impact for informing University policy and practice are among the strengths of the study. The crosssectional nature of the data means that clear temporal associations between demographic factors and outcomes cannot be established. Additionally, it is important to note that results may be impacted by the uneven sample size in some groups. As COVID-19 transformed the work of the University and its staff dramatically, it appears that staff beliefs about the impacts of these changes varies substantially. If innovative practices such as remote teaching and HDR supervision, and videotelephony for research continue it will be important to conduct further research to identify exemplary practice given the current divide in staff opinion. Similarly, findings may serve as a catalyst for policies and practices that seek to address some of the inequities highlighted in staff voices

Leading Disability Research and Workforce Development: A Western Sydney Collaboration

In this White Paper we draw attention to the potential of excellence in research and workforce development as a means, in part, to foster greater inclusion and participation for people with disability. We present a critique of the current limitations in research and workforce development and highlight the urgency to address such shortcomings to realise inclusion within our communities. We demonstrate that Western Sydney University is well positioned as a leading institution to address many of these concerns. This White paper showcases the innovative work of our team, and calls for seven key actions, to advance inclusion and participation for people and communities in Greater Western Sydney, Australia, and beyond

Fostering a Culture of Evaluation to Understand and Increase the Social Benefit of Community First Step's Activities

Community First Step is a not-for-profit community organisation in Sydney’s South West, established in 1973, working with the local community to promote diversity and encourage unity. Its current vision is to support and empower people to overcome disadvantage and barriers to personal, social and economic growth by delivering inclusive and innovative services. Its key services can be characterised as Community Services, Disability Services, and Children’s Services. Traditionally, the broader not-for-profit community and social services sector has typically provided services to individuals and the community with limited consideration of evaluating the impact on outcomes for its participants. Evaluation is defined as a systematic and objective process to make judgements about the worth of programs typically in relation to their effectiveness, efficiency and appropriateness (NSW Government, 2003). Instead, Monitoring is typically conducted, where management processes are periodically reported against KPIs not concerned with outcomes or questions about worth, but rather outputs (e.g. number of services delivered, the number of people supported). The Chief Executive Officer and Board of Community First Step are committed to enhancing the organisation’s capacity to identify the social benefits created by its activities, and move towards the evaluation of outcomes and impacts as an integral part of the program life cycle. It is recognised that this transformation is complex and requires an investment of time over a number of years with a staged approach that sees the conduct of a series of interrelated activities building on each other to reach the long term goal for the organisation. This 12-month project represents the first phase of realising this goal. As an initial step to improve the embedded evaluation processes within Community First Step, the researcher worked to develop evaluation tools and processes for two specific programs nominated by the Chief Executive Officer (i.e. New Steps and the Youth Club) and conducted a trial to determine their utility. More importantly, the project seeks to encourage staff and systems within Community First Step to increase their awareness and confidence with evaluation so that the organisation itself may build its capacity to progress towards evaluating rather than monitoring all of its activities