Program

Muriel Bamblett, a Yorta Yorta woman, has been employed as CEO of the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency since 1999. From 1997 -1999 Muriel was the Chairperson of VACCA. Muriel is active on many boards concerning children, families and the Indigenous community. Muriel is the current Chairperson of Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care - the peak agency representing Indigenous Child and Family Services; Chairperson of the Victorian Ministerial Advisory Council for Child and Family Support. Muriel is the recipient of a number of awards including Robin Clarke Memorial Awards for inspirational Leadership in the field of Child and Family Welfare 2003 and was awarded an AM (Membership in the General Division) in the Australia Day Honours 2004 for her services to the community, particularly through leadership in the provision of services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families.

Today Brian Dowd stands before as a very strong young Gamilaraay man from the North West NSW township of Coonabarabran. Brian is the founder and general manager of his Aboriginal owned and Aboriginal operated business "Black on Track Consultants" which is based in the city of Lake Macquarie, near Newcastle, NSW.

After twenty three years of growing up in the small country town of Coonabarabran, Brian left to begin his very own journey towards self-discovery, self-identity and ultimatly self-empowerment. At the age of twenty-six Brian found himself at the cross roads of life declaring himself bankrupt, unemployed, facing incarceration and contemplating suicide.

Brian called on his family to gather around him and help him find the power to go on. Brian found the strength to look deep inside himself for the very first time in his life and decided to stop casting the finger of blame and placed his own hand up to take responsibility of his own life.

Brian sat down and started to design a way to assist himself to create change in his own life and ultimately design a program that has not only saved his life, but the lives of many Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander men and women who participate in the Black on Track dream made reality.

Brian's programs have been successfully running for four years and have expanded to encompass national Australia locations.

Now at the age of thirty-four Brian not only talks the talk but walks the walk and proudly runs seven highly successful programs in the Hunter and twelve other outreach programmes across NSW & across Australia. The programmes deal with healing, health, employment, educational and motivational programmes.

Brian's business has developed from being a one man show to now currently contracting up to eight former participants to help drive his vision of a united Aboriginal Australia.

Susan Gair has worked at James Cook University since 1991. During that last decade she has undertaken research, published in national and international journals, and lobbied with colleagues and community members nationally regarding the need for change in social work education for increased numbers of Indigenous students and increased Indigenous graduates entering the social welfare profession. Susan has visited universities in Canada and New Zealand seeking information and talking to Indigenous scholars regarding social work curriculum inclusive of and relevant to First Nations peoples. Susan’s primary areas of teaching include research methods, antiracist practice and interpersonal skills.

Lorraine Muller is an Indigenous Australian Grandmother, who was born on Kalkadoon country, raised in the Torres Strait and lives on Girramay country (Cardwell, North Queensland). She completed her BSoc-BSWHons by distance education, James Cook University, and is currently doing her Phd on Indigenous Australian Social-Health Theory.

Lorraine is using a uniquely Australian research methodology, Aboriginal Grounded Research, with a panel of Indigenous experts to ensure accuracy, cultural integrity and to ensure that only appropriate knowledge is shared. Indigenous Australian Social-Health Theory is not a new theory: it is a translation of oral Indigenous knowledge into an academic theory format that can inform tertiary education and influence social work and helping professional’s practice. By collecting and collating the theory that informs Indigenous helping methods, this research intends to make Indigenous knowledge accessible and meaningful for Indigenous students and their colleagues.

Education, particularly Indigenous participation in education, is seen as a vital part of any proposed solution to rectify the continued marginalisation and horrific statistics of Indigenous Australians. Education, however, is not benign: when curricula represent only one world view, it can be used as a tool of oppression and colonisation and in Australia it remains informed by academic theories that are sited in a Western framework: Indigenous knowledge is not adequately represented. There is a clear intention in Lorraine’s research to provide Indigenous knowledge at a level where it can inform and educate from the top, bypassing the filters that hinder knowledge transfer from the ‘bottom up’ approach. Lorraine’s research offers resistance to the euro-centric nature of academic literature by privileging Indigenous voices so that Indigenous knowledge is available and accessible for Indigenous students and their colleagues.

Wheturangi Walsh-Tapiata comes from the tribes of Ngarauru, Te Atihaunui-a-Paparangi, Ngati Raukawa and Te Ati Awa in Aoteroa/New Zealand.

She is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Health and Social Services at Massey University, Palmerston North, and lectures in the area of community development, Maori development and social work practice. She also teaches at Te Wananga o Raukawa which is one of three indigenous universities in New Zealand.

Her writing and research has been primarily in the development of tribal social services, indigenous models of practice and participatory research with Maori youth.

Her practice has focussed on the development of indigenous groups and organisations at both a community and national level. She is particularly passionate about the use of Maori language in education and her four children have been totally educated in immersion Maori schools.

Professor Michael Yellow Bird is a citizen of the Sahnish and Hidatsa First Nations. He is a professor of Indigenous Nations Studies and served as director for two and a half years. He has held faculty appointments at the University of British Columbia, Arizona State University, and in the School of Social Welfare at the University of Kansas. He is currently co-editing, with Dr. Angela Cavender Wilson, For Indigenous Eyes Only: The Decolonization Workbook and Social Work Practice with First Nations Peoples: Systems of Helping in the next Millennium, with Drs. Hilary Weaver and Charlotte Goodluck. His research interests focus on Indigenous Peoples, U.S. foreign policy, oral histories of Native Vietnam combat veterans, the effects of colonialism and methods of decolonization, Indigenous men, human rights, and Indigenous political prisoners and prisoner rights. He has conducted research that has supported the empowerment of numerous tribal communities, served as a rapporteur for the health and human rights working group during the Indigenous Peoples International Day at the United Nations, and has been a featured speaker, both nationally and internationally, on topics important to the well being of Indigenous communities.

Tim Costello has long been the voice of social conscience for many Australians, having led debates on domestic issues such as gambling, urban poverty, homelessness, reconciliation and substance abuse. Tim is a sought after public speaker and every year addresses thousands of people from diverse backgrounds

Since February 2004, Rev Tim Costello has been the Chief Executive of World Vision, Australia’s largest overseas aid organization. In this current role, Tim has witnessed the worst of humanitarian disasters and seen the most inspiring human responses to suffering. After the Asian Tsunami of Boxing Day 2004, Tim travelled immediately to the disaster area, and his presence and media profile added significant weight to the World Vision appeal, which ultimately raised more than $100 million.

Tim first studied law and education at Monash University, followed by theology at the International Baptist Seminary Rueschlikon, Switzerland, and a Masters in Theology at the Melbourne College of Divinity.

After ordination as a Baptist Minister in 1984, Tim established a vibrant and socially active ministry at St Kilda Baptist Church between 1986 and 1994. In 1993 he demonstrated his commitment to serving the community by successfully running for Mayor of St Kilda.

From 1995 to 2004 Mr Costello was Minister at Collins Street Baptist Church and Executive Director of Urban Seed, a Christian not-for-profit outreach service for the urban poor. In addition, between 1999 and 2002 he was National President of the Baptist Union of Australia

In 2004, Tim was awarded Victorian of the Year, in 2005 was the Victorian Australian of the Year, and also in June 2005 he was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO), for “service to the community through contributions to social justice, health and welfare issues, international development assistance, and to the Baptist Church”.

Tim has written several books including Streets of Hope: Finding God in St Kilda; Tips from a Travelling Soul Searcher and Wanna Bet? Winners and Losers in Gambling’s Luck Myth (which was co-written with Royce Millar).

Mr Costello and his wife, Merridie, have three adult children, Claire, Elliot and Martin.

Paul Ferris is currently the Principal of Kavanagh College, in Dunedin , New Zealand. Kavanagh is the oldest Catholic College in New Zealand and has been Integrated in to the State system since 1989. He has been Principal of this school for 16 years and a further 16years as Principal of four other schools. He has recently spent two years as the President of the Secondary School Principal’s Association of New Zealand. In 2004 he received a Leadership in Education Award from the Secondary Principals of NZ. He has spent many hours working with Government and Professional groups to help shape the future of Secondary schools in New Zealand for the 21st Century.

Paul has a long interest in developing school cultures that continually review their progress and seek the best outcomes for students. As we begin the 21st century he has spent some time considering the changes that need to take place in school organisation and structure so that they meet the challenges and needs of all students.

Professor Barbara A. Holland joined the University of Western Sydney as Pro Vice-Chancellor Engagement in June 2007. She is on leave from her positions as Director of the U.S. National Service-Learning Clearinghouse and as Senior Scholar at Indiana University-Purdue University Centre for Service and Learning. Prior experience includes executive roles at Portland State University, Northern Kentucky University and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Her research focuses on organizational change in higher education with an emphasis on the implementation and assessment of community engagement strategies and community partnerships. In 2006 she received the Research Achievement Award from the International Association for Research on Service-learning and Community Engagement.

Dennis Saleebey, DSW, is Professor Emeritus of Social Welfare at the School of Social Welfare, University of Kansas. He was the Lucy and Henry Moses Distinguished Visiting Professor of Social Work at Hunter College in New York, for the 2002-2003 school year. One of his primary interests has been the development of a more strengths-based approach to social work practice. For the past 20 years he has been involved in a number of strengths-based community building and community outreach projects in Fort Worth, Texas; Kansas City, Missouri; and Kansas City, Kansas. Dennis has written widely and made many presentations nationally and internationally to a variety of social work and human service groups. Professor Saleebey is author and editor of the fourth edition of The Strengths Perspective in Social Work Practice (2006, Longman/Allyn & Bacon: the fifth edition is due out in Spring, 2008). His book, Human Behavior and Social Environments: A Biopyschosocial Approach was published by Columbia University Press in 2001. His latest publications include: D. Saleebey (in press) The Strengths Perspective: Putting possibility and hope to work in practice . In Sowers, Dulmus & White, Comprehensive Handbook of Social Work and Social Welfare; D. Saleebey, The strengths perspective in Lopez, Handbook of Positive Psychology; D. Saleebey (2006). A paradigm shift? The self in context in Lightburn & Sessions (eds.) Handbook of Community-Based Clinical Practice.

Dorothy Scott is the Foundation Chair of Child Protection and the Director of the Australian Centre for Child Protection at the University of South Australia. She began her career as a child care worker in a children’s home and later studied social work, specialising in the fields of child welfare and mental health. Dorothy is excited about innovation in child and family services and how research can be translated into policy and practice.

Lois Smidt is Executive Director and co-founder of the Beyond Welfare project of Story County, Iowa. Beyond Welfare is a community development initiative committed to the empowerment and economic self-sufficiency of people marginalized by poverty, and to the engagement of community members in relationship with families leaving welfare and the working poor.

While a single mother of two children, Lois used public assistance to meet her family’s basic needs. During her time on welfare, she was an active volunteer with the Ames Community Schools, served on the Board of Children Services of Central Iowa, taught parenting classes through a Family Resource Center, and vowed to make something out of the experience of being on public assistance.

Through Beyond Welfare and its Learning Center, Lois is now working to facilitate relationships across class and race lines, building a constituency of caring that addresses both individual and systemic poverty. Under Lois’s leadership, Beyond Welfare has been an active member in the Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) Neighborhood Circle for five years.

Lois teaches Resource Mapping from the ABCD perspective that enlists the gifts and talents of communities and their members in the work of building stronger communities.