Happy New Year ICAN E-News readers! We are entering a new phase of service delivery in 2014, informed by our 2014 strategic plan. In the year ahead, ICAN will focus on training through its successful Indigenous Financial Counselling Mentorship Program, home ownership education for the Palm Island community and outreach visits to Cape York communities.
ICAN will continue to address the under representation of qualified Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the financial counselling sector. Our 2nd Indigenous Financial Counselling Mentorship Program, with ten students representing agencies providing money management and financial counselling services in Indigenous communities across Australia will graduate with a Diploma of Community Services (Financial Counselling) in June 2014, and will be able to transfer these valuable skills back in their home communities. ICAN is currently accepting applications for enrolment in the 3rd Mentorship Program, with an expected rollout in 2014-2015.
ICAN’s ongoing strategic focus of building staff capacity has resulted in new opportunities in home ownership education. The ICAN team has received training to deliver the iHome training on Palm Island, a structured education program for community residents interested in taking up home ownership opportunities. ICAN’s “iHome” education training commenced on Palm Island in early 2013, as part of an integrated approach facilitated by the Department of Families, Housing, Communities and Indigenous Affairs, the Queensland State Government’s Home Ownership Training (HOT) Team and Indigenous Business Australia (IBA).
ICAN is exploring the development of our social impact measurement in the money management/financial counselling space, making a significant investment into our online community services database. The development of these human and technological resources will provide a solid foundation for ICAN’s internal program and service delivery evaluation processes.
If you’d like to find out more about ICAN checkout our website http://ican.org.au or download the latest annual report or strategic plan.