News

Richard Dent to leave CEO role at EW Tipping Foundation

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 15:24:13 +1000

After nearly 12 years at the fore of the EW Tipping Foundation, CEO Richard Dent will be leaving the organisation in early 2012 to take up a new role at Leadership Victoria.

Richard has been appointed to the position of new Executive Director at the respected and influential non-profit organisation, which has a long history of providing leadership development opportunities across the Victorian community.

Richard Dent

EW Tipping Foundation Chair Geoff Donovan congratulated Richard on his appointment and together with the Board thanked him for his unswerving dedication in advancing social justice and human rights at the foundation.

“Richard has fundamentally helped shape our organisation into the large, successful, reliable organisation that it is today. He helped us become early adopters of person centredness and individualised funding, and helped create our sense of energy and drive in addressing social issues,” Geoff said.

“His work in developing the disability profession and disability sector has been pivotal, and his contributions to the National Disability Insurance Scheme campaign have helped commence a fundamental change for people with a disability. The Boards and I thank him for his outstanding contribution.”

Geoff Donovan

Geoff also said that since 2000, Richard had overseen the development of five successive strategic plans and had laid down excellent foundations in preparation for the 2012 strategic planning cycle.

He advised that the recruitment process for a new CEO, would commence soon and that interim CEO arrangements would be in place from late January until the commencement of the new CEO.

Geoff said he was confident that the foundation would attract many very high calibre candidates, as the organisation continued to develop its important social mission.

“The Board has every confidence that the organisation's executive leadership will continue their excellent performance in managing and developing the organisation. We also have very sound and professional volunteer Boards, and during the interim CEO period, the Boards will ensure that our organisations' activities continue smoothly for staff, and to make a difference to the people we support,” he said.

“Richard will continue to work tirelessly and support our mission right through to late January,” Geoff said.

“Our mission is vitally important to many Victorians, and the Board looks forward to working with all staff and our networks to continue our successful mission in 2012 and beyond.”

EW Tipping Foundation and Vista Community Support AGMs

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 12:30:48 +1000

The EW Tipping Foundation and Vista Community Support AGMs were held consecutively on Tuesday 15 November.

The organisations took this format for the first time in order to further align their activities and services.

As part of the formal proceedings, longstanding board member Dorothy Graff retired after more than 10 years’ service.

EW Tipping Foundation Chair Geoff Donovan thanked Dorothy for her “...enormous commitment to the vision and mission of the Foundation,” and for being, “... a living example of the contribution that board members can make in leadership roles.”
Geoff presented her with flowers and a statuette in recognition of her outstanding years of service, as well.

Dorothy will continue to contribute to the foundation’s Community Relations Committee.

Geoff Donovan also noted the foundation’s many achievements in 2011, including its involvement with the campaign for a National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and the multi award-winning environmental sustainability initiative, SustainAbility Stars.

Vista Community Support Chair John Rowan also celebrated the many 2011 achievements of Vista and noted in particular its participation in the As Eye See It project, and the growth of the organisation and its services across regional Victoria.

Preston Community Service Centre opens

Mon, 15 Aug 2011 12:27:39 +1000

The Hon, Craig Ondarchie, MLC Northern Metropolitan, officially opened the Vista Community Support Centre in Preston on Tuesday 2 August – to a chorus of voices!

Mr Ondarchie was also joined by Cr Tim Laurence from the City of Darebin, a number of people we support and their carers, Vista centre staff and the With one Voice Choir.

Cameron, whom we support, presented Mr Ondarchie with a piece of art he had created just before the choir belted out a series of upbeat songs.

Guests and representatives managed to catch their breaths in time for a morning tea - DisabiliTEA - in support of the National Disability Insurance Scheme at the opening.

Stories show need for NDIS

Wed, 06 Jul 2011 16:27:16 +1000

Geelong disability campaigner, Simone, can’t see why politicians wouldn’t adopt the proposed National Disability Insurance Scheme, when it is obvious what the scheme means to so many Australians.

Simone, who has cerebral palsy, has long been a passionate advocate for people with disability and recently helped create the official Facebook site for the NDIS. Since then she has seen its followers swell to over 7,000.

She believes the level of support and genuine need for the scheme that is described on the social media site daily, are indicative of the breadth of consensus for reforms.

“I see around ten new followers every single day. Some talk about their struggle to get funding for equipment, others about their fight for more support hours. It is clear that thousands of Australians see a real need for it,” she says.

“For me, the NDIS would mean a higher level of independence, flexibility to choose a suitable support package, and it would help make things a lot easier in terms of accessing the services I need,” Simone says. “Every day I hear or read about countless people in similar circumstances, or who know someone who could use the level of help and freedom that a better disability scheme would bring.”

Vista Community Services CEO Richard Dent agrees with Simone and says that many of the stories coming out of the NDIS campaign attest the shambolic state of the current disability system. “This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity for the Commonwealth government to make a difference to the lives of people with a disability and their families,” Richard says. “This is a chance for them to show that every Australian counts.”

Simone has also been lobbying her local MP, Richard Marles, helping to organise community meetings and regularly updating her personal support workers at Vista Community Services in Geelong, with news of the campaign.

For more information on the NDIS visit www.everyaustraliancounts.org.au

NDIS Update

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 15:48:06 +1000

Vista Support Services CEO and National Disability Services Victoria Chair, Richard Dent, was interviewed by ABC Central Victoria about the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

Richard spoke about the positive difference the scheme would bring to people with a disability, their families, carers and the Australian economy.

Victorians and Tasmanians will have the opportunity to learn more and express their views about the NDIS through a series of regional, suburban and metropolitan forums being held in both states.

Click here to listen to the interview. To see the forum dates, please visit the NDIS website.

End of Year Party

Mon, 20 Dec 2010 09:41:13 +1000

On Sunday December 12th, the EW Tipping Foundation Network held our annual end of year party for people we support, families, staff and supporters. This year was a Dance Party event as we celebrated our 40th anniversary. Held at the Hawthorn Town Hall, there was ample room for guests to enjoy the dancing and a range of other activities well out of the rain!

A highlight of the afternoon was the presentation of our 2010 SustainAbility Stars Awards by environmental campaigner and Keep Australia Beautiful spokeswoman, Lara Shannon. The awards recognised the efforts and actions of the people we support and staff towards environmentally sustainable living.

The event was well attended and provided a great opportunity for everyone to come together and celebrate.

Click here to view our 2010 Year in review video.

2010 EW Tipping Foundation Network Annual Report

Mon, 20 Dec 2010 09:36:38 +1000

The 2010 EW Tipping Foundation Network Annual Report has now been completed, and the final result is something we are truly proud of. This year’s report reflects on the past 12 months and our achievements through partnerships. We are pleased to be able to share some of the many success stories from the people we support, staff, families and supporters across our network.

In keeping with tradition, our annual report is also a bright and colourful calendar for 2011.

You can download a copy of the annual report by clicking here.

For more information, contact your nearest office or email us: info@vistasupport.org.au

New Office in Geelong

Tue, 14 Sep 2010 15:30:27 +1000

Workmen have worked hard over the weekend to get in place the structure for our new meeting / hospitality room, which will be a great asset to our office enabling us to provide a welcoming place for professional meetings, people we support and team meetings.

Our office is in a very central location on Gheringhap Street, with fantastic views across to the arts and cultural precinct of Geelong and parklands. It is also close to the DHS office, youth support services and other community service organisations and key partners.

Official Opening of E W Tipping Foundation

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 14:22:13 +1000

Mr Shorten was joined by Ms Ann Barker, state member for Oakleigh, Ms Kellie O’Dwyer, federal member for Higgins, Laurie Harkin, the Victorian Disability Services Commissioner, Cr Steven Tang, Mayor of City of Glen Eira, representatives from government and the community services sector and people supported by the Foundation.

EW Tipping Foundation Chief Executive Officer, Richard Dent, said, “The Statewide Coordination Centre reflects new directions for EW Tipping Foundation which celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2010.”

“By bringing our Melbourne staff together we will combine resources and create efficiencies to help the Foundation provide a broader range of customised and flexible support services to young people, people with a disability, families, children and older people across Victoria,” he said.

E W Tipping Foundation, a non-profit organisation, was established in 1970 as a legacy to Herald journalist EW (Bill) Tipping, a strong advocate for the rights of people with disability. Originally established to provide disability support services, the foundation now provides a range of community services across the state.

Client Satisfaction Survey Report 2008/2009

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:55:32 +1000

In May, we asked people we support and families in HomeChoices, i-GAIN and Vista to complete a survey about the service they receive from us. This feedback is important to us because it helps us to make sure we provide the best possible services. Thank you to the people who answered the questions and gave us their feedback. We have collated the information we gathered from the surveys. Some of the findings are:

People we support feel they are given the opportunity to make their own choices and decisions, however they would like to make more decisions in certain areas of their life
A high proportion of respondents agreed that they received the support required to keep relationships with family and friends
Access to the community was high and most respondents indicated many community venues they visited and had support to visit. Over 80% of respondents felt they had a good understanding of what was available in the community and felt their staff were supportive of their hobbies and interests
There was some indication from the answers provided that people we support and their families thought our Complaints and Feedback process could be improved
A number of the surveys also indicated that they thought rostering of staff and filling vacancies when support staff are unable to work could be better handled and needed improvement.

We have already made some changes based on this feedback. We have recently streamlined our complaint and feedback process to make it easier for staff and service users. We have built in an acknowledgement process and have started analyzing our complaints to highlight areas of improvements so we can continually improve service delivery. We have been working on a number of strategies over the past 6 months to improve our rostering systems including reorganising workloads, implementing customer service processes to service delivery and streamlining processes to clarify job roles. Improvements in this area will continue to be the focus in the coming year. We will continue to work to improve these areas, and we thank everyone for their feedback. We have started our survey process for 2010. Due to the growth in the number and diversity of the services we deliver, we will be trialing a staged approach to obtaining feedback in 2010. We will target groups of people who receive similar services rather than everyone at once. We also aim to hold discussions with a number of small focus groups as part of the survey process to gather more feedback to assist us with our continuous improvement program. We hope that this new process will provide us with even more feedback. Feedback can be provided anonymously. We hope that everyone will take the time to give us their feedback about how they feel about their services. This is very important to us. If you have any questions, please contact us at info@tipping.org.au or 03 9564 1000.