From all the staff here at CTC we would like to extend a big congratulations to our Safe Haven Team Leader Mr Les Stewart on winning the inaugural Howard Leisemann ‘STAR’ (Service, Teamwork, Attitude, Reliability) Award at the recent CTC Day. This was the major award presented on the day and Les was chosen from 17 people who were nominated by their peers accross all CTC Services.

The award was presented to the - staff member, who has made an outstanding contribution in the area of service, has promoted teamwork and collaboration and has done so with a positive, dedicated and forward-thinking attitude and is named in honour of our long serving Chairman Mr Howard Leisemann.

The Australian Social Inclusion Board is currently conducting research on cycles of disadvantage.  As part of this research, the Board will be holding public consultations in each capital city and is offering an open invitation to anyone with experience and expertise on cycles of disadvantage, and how people avoid or break out of disadvantage.

Consultation schedule

Consultations will be held in all capital cities, on the dates below.  Please note that the RSVP date is the last possible time to register your interest to attend a session.  Places at all sessions will be limited and registrations will be received on a first in, best dressed basis.   

Brisbane:             23 August, 2pm-5pm (RSVP by 16 August)

More detailed information including details on venue and discussion agenda will be issued when people register an interest in attending.   

To register your interest for any of the sessions, or if you have any queries, please send an email to Laura Backhouse at Laura.Backhouse@pmc.gov.au.  Please mention your name and contact details and which session you wish to attend.  

 More information:  For a brief introduction to this research, see: http://www.socialinclusion.gov.au/Partnerships/Board/Pages/BreakCycleReqSubs.aspx .  For more general information on the Board, see: http://www.socialinclusion.gov.au/Partnerships/Board/Pages/default.aspx

Carlink, an internet based corporate carpooling service built by MyCarpools for a community organisation in the South Burnett region of south-east Queensland, has won the Climate Smart Partnerships Award at the Queensland Premier's 2010 Sustainability Awards night. The Partnership Award goes to "a community and/or local government partnership for implementing climate change abatement or sustainability initiatives resulting in social and ecological benefits".

The Carlink Project, led by the Graham House Community Centre in the South Burnett Region, is a multi-organisation, member based corporate car-pooling program. Carlink's 'trip management' function takes car-pooling to a new level, reducing the duplication of travel between small towns in the South Burnett and to the Wide Bay Burnett, Darling Downs, and Brisbane sub-regions. The Carlink software calculates fuel savings, road kilometres and carbon emissions for each journey logged. Savings amongst passengers' and drivers' organisations are also calculated.

Partner organisations such as CTC have registered on the Carlink site and create their own organisation profile, manage registrations of their own staff and generate reports on staff activity. Graham House, the 'host' can generate reports on all activity across all members providing an overview of the regional carpooling initiative and aggregating fuel savings, kilometres avoided and vehicles removed from the road.

Leslie Dennien from Graham House, said that "Carlink allows workers to plan journeys between regional centres with total trip distances in the hundreds of kilometers ... [and] to co-ordinate travel, share rides and reduce costs, reduce vehicle wear and tear, reduce road kilometres and fuel use."

CTC is proud to be an inaugural partner organisation with Graham House in this project and wish them every success. For more info go to www.grahamhouse.org.au

The National Disability Awards are open. Please nominate a person or an organisation in this area who deserves to be acknowledged. Nominations for the 2010 National Disability Awards close on 16 July 2010.

Nominations are open to people with a disability who have achieved something remarkable or made a significant contribution to their community, and people within their community who have contributed to the disability sector. The National Disability Awards are part of the Australian Government's celebration of International Day of People with Disability.

The 2010 Award categories are: Minister's Lifelong Achievement Award; Young Disability Challenge Award; Business Award; Local Government Award; Social Inclusion Award; and Accessible Housing Award. For details on these, please see the website below. For instance, the Local Government Award is for local government authorities who have succeeded in implementing substantial changes to improve physical, social, economic and cultural access and inclusion for people with disability and their families.

Nominations close Friday 16 July 2010

For more information on the Awards or to nominate someone for a National Disability Award click here or phone 1800 440 385.