BA Communication, CDC Dip, FAICD
For every $1.00 invested by funders in 2018/19, SYC’s work will return $6.50 of economic value to Australian taxpayers over the next 20 years by alleviating disadvantage, reducing service use and increasing personal and Government income – and that’s before we even consider the positive contribution SYC has made in the individual lives of the people we exist to serve.
SYC seeks to offer people support to make life better, easier, safer and more rewarding. The people we work with as clients have many experiences in their life which may lead to, or have already led to, them experiencing disadvantage.
The number and complexity of the issues people experience means that they may need to encounter many services and service providers. Government systems of providing services, in Australia, is fragmented into issues-based focus areas such as employment, housing, education, training, health, justice, disability, support-payments, mental health. In amongst all these services are gaps that occur between them.
SYC describes these as “small gaps, but with deep holes”. SYC has steadily grown the capacity of our organisation to bridge as many gaps as we can.
In April 2019 SYC launched the Sticking Together Project into NSW, funded by a Social Impact Bond. This project was the culmination of many years of work combining our employment services experience, with our experience working with young people in education, housing and wellbeing support. It was evaluated by the Queensland University of Technology for its performance in Victoria, SA and Queensland and it achieves superior results in employment for the most disadvantaged young people.
This project has been a vanguard in SYC’s improved way of working together.
Indeed it is our Mission to empower the people we work with to create a life without disadvantage, to build sustainable independence and to experience personal wellbeing in all areas of their life.
In 2016 SYC’s Board and Executive contemplated the strategic future of the organisation. SYC had grown from being a small Adelaide-based charity to quite a large provider of multiple services around Australia. SYC had become a “large-small” organisation that risked being at its maximum capacity.
Our Board contemplated three questions: Should we contain our activities to fit with our operating capability? Should we shrink to reduce our risk? Or should we be ready to keep growing without risking it all?
Our Board chose the third option: to invest in building our systems and governance to have the capacity to meet growing demand for our services.
Since then, SYC has invested in upgrading our technology, our finance system, our governance systems and we are upgrading our HR systems. SYC invested to improve our capacity for data collection and insights and our ability to develop those insights into improvements in practice.
SYC is close to achieving our goal of becoming a “small-big” organisation – one with the systems to run the existing enterprises safely and successfully and with capacity to grow.
To that end, our focus in 2020 must be to “run a good business” with all the elements that implies. Good systems and processes, good technology, good safety, good outcomes for clients, great culture and great people working at SYC.
In 2022 we will see the biggest change in Employment Services since it began in 1999. To be ready for these changes SYC must be strong and agile – we need to have “built our management muscles” – and that’s what we’re going to do throughout 2020.
Our SYC – Towards New Horizons document sets out our vision and strategy for 2020 and beyond. You can see from this annual report, and in context of all the annual reports from 2016, that this is the Vision of an organisation ready to take a greater role in the world of human services.
It shows SYC is not just ready to deliver more services, we are ready to increase the positive impact we can have to remove or mitigate disadvantage in lives of the people we exist to serve.
SYC is ready to work more closely with our peers, partners and the community to reduce the “friction” that clients experience when services are disjointed – SYC is ready to work even better:
To be the most effective provider of services that foster wellbeing, independence and opportunity for all Australians.
I have the privilege of being the CEO of an organisation with talented and dedicated staff and the support of a professionally astute board. Together we have delivered another year of positive outcomes for tens of thousands of Australians. I am grateful for their support and the opportunity to continue to do the work I love.
BA Communication, CDC Dip, FAICD
For every $1.00 invested by funders in 2018/19, SYC’s work will return $6.50 of economic value to Australian taxpayers over the next 20 years by alleviating disadvantage, reducing service use and increasing personal and Government income – and that’s before we even consider the positive contribution SYC has made in the individual lives of the people we exist to serve.
SYC seeks to offer people support to make life better, easier, safer and more rewarding. The people we work with as clients have many experiences in their life which may lead to, or have already led to, them experiencing disadvantage.
The number and complexity of the issues people experience means that they may need to encounter many services and service providers. Government systems of providing services, in Australia, is fragmented into issues-based focus areas such as employment, housing, education, training, health, justice, disability, support-payments, mental health. In amongst all these services are gaps that occur between them.
SYC describes these as “small gaps, but with deep holes”. SYC has steadily grown the capacity of our organisation to bridge as many gaps as we can.
In April 2019 SYC launched the Sticking Together Project into NSW, funded by a Social Impact Bond. This project was the culmination of many years of work combining our employment services experience, with our experience working with young people in education, housing and wellbeing support. It was evaluated by the Queensland University of Technology for its performance in Victoria, SA and Queensland and it achieves superior results in employment for the most disadvantaged young people.
This project has been a vanguard in SYC’s improved way of working together.
Indeed it is our Mission to empower the people we work with to create a life without disadvantage, to build sustainable independence and to experience personal wellbeing in all areas of their life.
In 2016 SYC’s Board and Executive contemplated the strategic future of the organisation. SYC had grown from being a small Adelaide-based charity to quite a large provider of multiple services around Australia. SYC had become a “large-small” organisation that risked being at its maximum capacity.
Our Board contemplated three questions: Should we contain our activities to fit with our operating capability? Should we shrink to reduce our risk? Or should we be ready to keep growing without risking it all?
Our Board chose the third option: to invest in building our systems and governance to have the capacity to meet growing demand for our services.
Since then, SYC has invested in upgrading our technology, our finance system, our governance systems and we are upgrading our HR systems. SYC invested to improve our capacity for data collection and insights and our ability to develop those insights into improvements in practice.
SYC is close to achieving our goal of becoming a “small-big” organisation – one with the systems to run the existing enterprises safely and successfully and with capacity to grow.
To that end, our focus in 2020 must be to “run a good business” with all the elements that implies. Good systems and processes, good technology, good safety, good outcomes for clients, great culture and great people working at SYC.
In 2022 we will see the biggest change in Employment Services since it began in 1999. To be ready for these changes SYC must be strong and agile – we need to have “built our management muscles” – and that’s what we’re going to do throughout 2020.
Our SYC – Towards New Horizons document sets out our vision and strategy for 2020 and beyond. You can see from this annual report, and in context of all the annual reports from 2016, that this is the Vision of an organisation ready to take a greater role in the world of human services.
It shows SYC is not just ready to deliver more services, we are ready to increase the positive impact we can have to remove or mitigate disadvantage in lives of the people we exist to serve.
SYC is ready to work more closely with our peers, partners and the community to reduce the “friction” that clients experience when services are disjointed – SYC is ready to work even better:
To be the most effective provider of services that foster wellbeing, independence and opportunity for all Australians.
I have the privilege of being the CEO of an organisation with talented and dedicated staff and the support of a professionally astute board. Together we have delivered another year of positive outcomes for tens of thousands of Australians. I am grateful for their support and the opportunity to continue to do the work I love.
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