#ClosingtheGap: Co-design with ACCHOs enables much needed health-care services to be delivered in ways that strengthen communities, respect culture and build capacity. Read more here.

A Koori-designed program in the Children’s Court of Victoria is providing a more effective and just response for Koori families. With potential for expansion across Victoria and Australia, it offers a step towards greater self-determination in the child protection system. Read more here.

Refugee Council of Australia (RCOA) published the report Seven Years On: an Overview of Australia's Offshore Processing Policies documenting the effect of policy changes on those who seek asylum in Australia.

The report COVID-19 Coronavirus Racism Incident Report - Reporting Racism Against Asians in Australia Arising due to the COVID-19 Coronavirus Pandemic has been released. Read the report here.

Social Ventures Australia (SVA) in partnership with UNSW Centre for Social Impact released the report, Partners in recovery: why charities need tailored support, which focuses on why government needs to provide support based on organisation's unique situations.

The Climate Council has developed the Clean Jobs Plan, a report which outlines how 76,000 new jobs for people in Australia can help rebuild our economy now and tackle climate change.

Commonwealth Children and Youth Disability Network (CCYDN) and the UK based organisation, Include Me TOO released a statement with recommendations to address the global impact of COVID-19 on children and young people with disability. Click to read and endorse the statement.

COVID-19 is affecting people from all walks of life, all around the world. Certain groups of people are most at risk to the worst health impacts of COVID-19 - people with chronic illnesses, respiratory conditions, the elderly, people who smoke and people with disabilities or compromised immune systems. Due to the ongoing impacts of colonisation, poverty and inequality; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have poorer health outcomes than Australia’s non-Indigenous population. As well as being particularly at risk of the worst health impacts of the virus itself, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are also disproportionately affected by some of the more punitive and restrictive COVID-19 policy responses at a state, territory and Commonwealth level.

It is these measures that this report seeks to address.

Children and Young People with Disability Australia (CYDA) have collated a report which explores the experiences of students with disability in relation to the educational changes made necessary by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Research evidence from before the pandemic suggests that despite a number of policy commitments and initiatives at local and national levels, there has been only limited progress in moving towards inclusive education and that children and young people with disability often fare poorly in the education system. This is despite the fact that all of the evidence suggests that inclusive education is not just better for children and young people with disability, but can have significant positive impacts for the whole classroom.

Since December 2019, a different Australian each day has been sharing their story and perspectives on one of Australia’s most diverse Instagram accounts. They have come from all walks of life, geographies and diversity of experiences, skills, talents, jobs and hobbies. While they each have a unique story, what has emerged is a shared love of family, friends, fur babies and community.

It is part of a campaign to encourage Australians to diversify their social feeds and gain insight into other people’s lives so we can start to celebrate difference rather than fear it. Inclusive Australia’s research shows that one in five people experience discrimination. Creating connections is an effective way to reduce barriers and prejudices.

Inclusive Australia is calling for the next wave of contributors. Register by sending a direct messaging to the @_somebodydifferent Instagram account or emailing [email protected]

Mission Australia’s Staying home: A Youth Survey report on young people’s experience of homelessness released July 2020 reveals that 1 in 6 Youth Survey respondents had an experience of homelessness. The report compares those who have no experience of homelessness to those who have couch surfed and/or had an experience in transitional housing/living in a refuge.

Infoxchange's annual survey is back for 2020, and there couldn't be a more important time to check in on how our sector is doing with tech.

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented unprecedented challenges for all – one of the biggest lessons learnt has been how important it is to have good, reliable technology so that we can keep supporting communities and making the biggest impact possible.

This survey aims to better understand how not-for-profit organisations are using technology and to recognise the areas of growth and where improvement is needed. It provides a comprehensive view of technology use across the sector including information systems, staff capability, online presence and emerging technologies.

• Australian Digital Inclusion Alliance (ADIA) invites you to join a panel discussion, chaired by David Spriggs (Infoxchange), around Digital Inclusion and COVID-19 and community organisations working to bridge the digital divide - 30 July 2020 - Click here to register
  
  
• Centre for Community Welfare Training (CCWT) are running Key Practices for Accountability online course to help build effective accountability relationships with staff and clients - 12 August 2020 - Click here for more information

• Emergence: Our stories in the next decade will be the theme for a series of events and collaborations over the next 18 months culminating in the next National Community Legal Centres Conference in August 2021 - Click here for more information

• Emergency leaders for Climate Action and Climate Council Presents: A National Response to the Bushfire Crisis: Recommendations - 29 July 2020 - Click here for more information and to register
  

• Have you watched In My Blood It Runs yet? Download Children's Ground discussion material to stimulate important conversations after a screening

• In light of the recent COVID-19 outbreak at St. Basil’s Aged Care facility, FECCA reiterated health directions and listed key practices to follow as well as helpful resources. Click here for more information

• The Workplace RAP Barometer (WRB) is a survey to monitor reconciliation at the workplace level and in organisations with a Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) - Click here to read more about Workplace RAP Barometer 2020

• Centre for Social Impact have developed two new fact sheets addresing financial wellbeing in the context of COVID-19, as well as using the Social Progress Index to identify vulnerabilities in our community. Take a look at the fact sheets here

Goodstart Early Learning has warned families worried about the reintroduction of fees and that applying for the government’s temporary financial hardship support “can take a while so apply as soon as you can”

Single mothers will lose their ‘true safety net’ when the Coronavirus Supplement is cut by $300 a fortnight from September, explains Terese Edwards, CEO of the National Council of Single Mothers and their Children

The JobSeeker COVID supplement will drop by $300 a fortnight and could be cut even further after Christmas, while JobKeeper will shift to a two-tiered system of reduced payments - Toni Wren, executive director, Anti-Poverty Week, discusses on RN Breakfast

"It is essential we all take the lead from those with lived experience, walking beside or even behind those with first-hand experience of racism and forced displacement."

Shankar Kasynathan writes about racism during the pandemic and efforts to help: https://t.co/OVPadoBN7e pic.twitter.com/IWWpSBSMBY

— FECCA (@iFECCA) July 27, 2020