Authors:
Jo Fletcher & Garth Alperstein

Jo Fletcher is the facilitator at the Connect Redfern Community Centre.
Garth Alperstein is the Community Paediatrician at Central Sydney Area Health Service and a member of the Connect Redfern Management Committee.

Introduction

It has been long recognised that health outcomes have multiple determinants and that improvement in health requires policies, strategies and interventions by health and non-health organisations and services, such as education, housing, community services and government.

There are limited examples of health and non-health agencies working collaboratively to improve not only the health outcomes of disadvantaged children and families, but also their educational and social outcomes. The Connect Redfern School Community Centre illustrates how these aims can be successfully achieved.

Background

In 1995 the NSW Departments of Education and Training, Community Services, Health and Housing collaborated to fund six interagency school community centres. The program was developed by the Inter-departmental Group on Early Childhood following publication of the Review of New South Wales Schools in 1989 1, which emphasised:

· the importance of early childhood as the foundation for education
· the importance of parenting as the greatest environmental influence on children
· the significant influence of the family on educational outcomes
· the need for education programs for all children in family day care, long day care, and pre-school
· the need for co-operation between agencies providing early childhood services.

The program represented a whole-of -government response to the range of problems that parents face in the early years of their children's lives, particularly when they are isolated from their extended family and the community in which they live, and are unaware of the services available to support them. The program aimed to support families with children five years of age and under, with a view to minimising disadvantage at school entry.

From the program's inception the State Steering Committee provided flexibility in its development in order for each community centre to be reflective of the community which it serviced. Each site was given the time and the funding to appropriately establish itself within its community. The Schools as Community Centres were established at Chertsey (Central Coast), Coonamble, Curran (Macquarie Fields), Kelso (Bathurst), Kempsey West and Redfern Public Schools.

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