Centacare Employment and Training has been awarded a Stronger Communities Grant by Federal Member for Burt Matt Keogh MP and the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science.

Mr Keogh officially presented the grant to Centacare at a morning tea in the form of a giant cheque, to the great excitement of staff and students!

The grant – combined with additional financial support from Centacare’s parent organisation, the Catholic Archdiocese of Perth – will allow us to purchase a new suite of laptops for our Gosnells training site, offering students increased access to computers, internet and digital skills training.

Upon awarding the grant, Mr Keogh said the laptops will allow Centacare to offer programs to more people within the wider community of Burt and therefore improve community participation, education and employment prospects.

“We have a diverse community with a high rate of unemployment – by providing the funds they will now have the opportunity to be in a better position to look after their families and become more vibrant contributors to society,” he said.

“Centacare are definitely excellent and worthy recipients of this grant,” he added.

Centacare’s CEO, Lee-Anne Phillips, says that many of our students have very low digital literacy because they are highly disadvantaged and do not have access to the technology required to develop their skills.

“Computer skills are essential for most workplaces and this is often a barrier to employment for our students,” she said. “Through improved access to computers, Centacare students will be better prepared to achieve their employment goals and build a more sustainable economic future for themselves.”

The new laptops will allow Centacare to expand our popular Computer Skills for Work course to Gosnells in April 2019. The 10-week basic digital literacy course piloted in Cannington in 2018 and allows participants to develop their computer skills and gain confidence with new technology.

Centacare student, Glen Cowley, finished the Computer Skills for Work course in December 2018 and says the program helped him a lot.

“I really enjoyed it,” Mr Cowley said. “It’s given me more confidence using a computer and I’ve learned how to do lots of things that I couldn’t before, like downloading and using apps, using Google Drive and I loved the Microsoft stuff.”

The laptops will also be used to deliver the new Parents Back to Work course – a short 5-week program for ParentsNext participants to help them learn the skills they need to find a job and get prepared for employment. Parents Back to Work commences on 12th February, 2019.