Urban Seed News

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Election Forum

October 31, 2007

Gordon Preece is one of several speakers at
BEYOND THE HIP POCKET

Satuday November 10
2-6pm Ridley College Stanway Alpha Lecture Theatre (Walker St Parkvill VIC)
This is a free event and no registration is required.

Outrage at Gambling Losses

Urban Seed shares the concerns of the Interchurch Gambling Taskforce on the amount of money being lost to gambling in this state. This also highlights the amount of revenue going in to government coffers from these losses. Whilst not being prohibitionist, we are concerned about having gambling legislation that is fair to protect those Victorians who can't afford to play and lose consistently on these machines.
View the Herald Sun article here

View The Age article here

Sue Hogan's Thoughts on Media Engagement

October 25, 2007

Media attention is a mixed blessing. Recently we have been confronted once again with this reality. On 21 September the Herald Sun ran an article titled ‘Security a key to survival’. The journalist and photographer visited Credo Café to interview volunteer and community member, Neil. They wanted to take photos in Credo during lunch. However, we are cautious about allowing this as we wish to create a safe and relaxed atmosphere. Some of our guests come to the city to be anonymous and others experience the vulnerability that can accompany poverty. It is our desire to uphold the dignity of each person who joins us for lunch. The very term ‘homeless’ can undermine people’s sense of self-worth. On this occasion however, not allowing cameras in Credo resulted in a published photo which unfortunately used the city laneway as a cold and stark background. It was a negative image and once we had not foreseen. In addition, the photographer asked Neil to pose with a sad face, but Neil himself is rarely without a smile.

Neil expressed to us his disappointment with the article and photo and he has written about his perspective. (See below). In his generous way, he quickly brushed off the negative feelings. However, this article, the second article beside it ‘Homeless get younger’ and the associated Lord Mayors Charitable Fund ‘Heart of Melbourne’ campaign has lead to further debate at Urban Seed about how to work with the media. How should we engage with something that has power to reach and influence many people, but also has the power to reinforce negative attitudes? Will the public read, and buy, newspapers, that use good-news stories rather than play on our pity?

The recent success of the Choir of the Hard Knocks is another example of using a visually powerful approach to engage the public. Many people have been moved by the stories that have emerged through the choir. There has been a powerful inter-play between homelessness with hopefulness. However, many of us at Urban Seed, who know some choir members as friends or guests at lunch, have sat uneasily with the high publicity and public emotion. We wonder if the celebrity of homelessness is helpful? (Is any celebrity, in fact, ultimately helpful?). Any project, which is nurtures belonging and creativity should be celebrated. However, the challenge for all of us is to move beyond sentimentality and to change our lives to end homelessness within our own neighbourhoods.

Many of us know when we see something we don’t agree with. The question that remains, however, is what images and stories do we want to see in the media? Urban Seed worked with the Lord Mayors Charitable Fund to attempt to present a message that emphasised the need for recognition, community and acceptance, rather than the need for charity. Homelessness is much closer to home than any of us likes to acknowledge. Someone we know – a friend or family member, or ourselves - may experience homelessness at some time. ‘Homeless people’ are not living across an invisible, dividing line. Life circumstances, health, relationships and coping mechanisms, along with strong systemic, economic and political barriers, have the potential to lead each of us towards homelessness. However it is still difficult for many fundraisers to find alternative messages with the same power to engage the general public.

The LMCH are raising awareness and funds for organisations which provide a variety of services to address the needs of people without either shelter or ‘home’. However, in our country at the present time, the type of funds required to end homelessness are huge, given the exorbitant costs of land and housing. We need acts of charity to alleviate the affects of poverty. We need support services to help people address personal struggles. However we cannot effect sustainable social change without the political and economic will to address the injustices created by excessive property-driven wealth creation of individuals and governments alike.

At lunch in Credo Café, in the week following the article about Neil, I witnessed the attitude of service. It lead me to think about the attitude of generosity we need in our society in order to change the reality of homelessness. Perhaps this is a message that we need to embrace: to see homelessness as part of our neighbourhood, and part of our responsibility to alleviate. As we serve the meal each day we pass the bowls of food along the main table in the centre of the café. After this we pass the bowls to all those waiting in line behind the table.

On this particular day I was struck by the way each person behind the table passed the meal given to them, to another person. Each person, in need of a hot meal themselves, served those around them first. While the method of serving the main table is a Credo tradition, the second part has been instigated by our guests. It is often those with the least to give, who give to others in need. This is also true in housing. Many people in crisis stay with their friends, who are living in transitional or short-term accommodation themselves. They offer someone in need a place to stay at the risk of losing their own tenuous housing.

It is difficult to create a powerful message or image out of the types of actions that many of us at Urban Seed believe are worthwhile. Our measure of success in the alleviation of poverty doesn’t necessarily translate well for the media. However it is worth trying to change people’s perceptions without perpetuating the stereotypes. All of us have a part to play in creating a generous, fair and compassionate society.

New Internship with Youth & Schools Team

October 18, 2007

Urban Seed is now offering internship positions with its youth a schools team. Urban Seed: Youth and Schools run seminars and city exposure tours to school students as well as edge, a leadership and community development program run in schools in low socio-economic areas around Victoria. The internships will include participation in youth and community work training with Praxis (www.praxis.org.nz). For more information and applications please contact Chris Lacey on 03 9663 0699.

Article about Neil Smitham

October 09, 2007

Read the article about Neil here

Neil has asked us if he could post a response to this article on our website which we agreed to.
The Following is from Neil:
I Neil Smitham, 51 would like to clarify the areas I thought I was misrepresented, in
Response to the article in the Herald Sun dated the 21 September 2007 written by Mary Bulling, subtitled “Security a key to Survival”

The general perspective of the article was that of a herion addict who had lived in a car for sometime. I was quite clear to Mary that I had only lived in my car for three days and nights after being evicted from ‘Hollywood Hotel’ a boarding house in St Kilda.

My main drug problem from which I developed schizophrenia which I still suffer from to this day was my dependence on marijuana. Intravenous drugs were only a small part of my life where the article implied that this was something that I struggled with for some time.

The reason I come to Credo Café is motivated by a need to assist those who have found themselves in the same situations I have experienced. The peace from my faith and the security at my present rooming house of 17 years empowers me to continue living live to the full.

Neil as we know him...looking a lot happier than his photo in the paper

Gordon Preece comments in the Herald Sun

October 02, 2007

Click here to read article