NFP Wins Social Innovation Award
6 December 2012 at 11:28 am
An Australian Not for Profit organisation established to connect the homeless community to the arts as a means of addressing mental health issues has won the Macquarie Group Foundation Australian Social Innovation Award.
Milk Crate Theatre was named the winner of the 2012 Macquarie Social Innovation Award and will receive $100,000 over the next two years to promote the organisation’s activities and fund its theatre rehearsal programs.
The Award recognises and rewards an Australian organisation or program that addresses an unmet community need in Australia.
According to Siena Balakrishnan, General Manager of Milk Crate Theatre, Macquarie’s Australian Social Innovation Award will not only provide for greater flexibility and accessibility to the program but also help to increase audience engagement, which is vital to learning about the complex issues associated with homelessness and/or social marginalisation.
The David Clarke Social Innovation Fellowship, established in memory of the Macquarie Group Foundation founding Chairman, David Clarke AO, was presented to Claire Robbs, Chief Executive Officer of Life Without Barriers.
The award seeks to encourage individual social innovators to visit and research best practice innovation around the world.
Life Without Barriers, one of the largest community-based provider of out-of-home care in Australia, helps people living with a disability and children and young people in crisis.
Robb will receive a grant of up to $20,000 to visit Ireland, Scotland and the United States for research into Youth Advocate Programs Inc (YAP), an international leader in community-based services for children and young people. Robb will assess the feasibility of establishing a pilot YAP initiative in this country.
“Directly researching YAP in context across multiple locations will allow Life Without Barriers to design a program that is best suited to success within an Australian context,” Robbs said.
Richard Sheppard, Chairman of the Macquarie Group Foundation Board, said: “On behalf of the board and our judges, we are very proud of the high calibre of submissions received this year and I would like to commend all the organisations and individuals who participated.
“I personally congratulate Milk Crate Theatre and Claire Robbs as well as all our outstanding finalists for their commitment to continuing to develop innovative programs that address social needs and long-term community problems.”
The Award and Fellowship are presented bi-annually.
