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About

UnitingCare Kippax exists to support people who may be facing a significant life change or challenges. We provide wraparound community services to deliver genuinely holistic support to locals.

We play an integral part in working with people in our West Belconnen local community who need additional support to live a decent life. For over a decade, we have focused our energy on creating spaces that accommodate all who want an opportunity to participate in our community.

Why we are needed

38,300

People in In the ACT are living in poverty of whom 8,000 are children

25,000

people in low-income households are experiencing food stress in the ACT

$

Canberra is the most expensive capital city in which to rent and we have a shortfall in social housing

117%

% increase in UnitingCare Kippax Emergency Material and Financial Aid services since the beginning of the pandemic

We exist because our services continue to be needed in our community and our outcomes demonstrate that we make a difference to those seeking assistance.

To make change, we need to focus on services that break the cycle of poverty and UnitingCare Kippax considers education and employment opportunities crucial to empowering people to change their circumstances.

“Thank you very much for the kindness of your organisation, as I’ve always been helped whenever I am in need of assistance. You all are doing a fantastic job that benefits the needy.”

Partner organisation


Our
structure

UnitingCare Kippax employs more than 30 staff and we regularly support student placements. We are governed by a Board of Directors.

We rely on hundreds of volunteers in our local communities. From the first supports offered to families 50 years ago through to today, volunteers from the Kippax Uniting Church congregation and businesses across Canberra have created and sustained the programs and social enterprises that make up UnitingCare Kippax now.

We are proudly affiliated with Kippax Uniting Church.


Our
vision

Our vision is to create a more empowered and equitable community, in which people and the community have robust human, social, economic, spiritual and cultural capital, and social platforms to maintain that robustness.

This is a vision that can only be achieved by many people working together. We accept that we have a particular role to play in this process and that role determines our mission.


Our
mission

Our mission is to foster wellbeing, inclusion and empowerment.

For us, this means that we will work in a collaborative, nurturing and engaging way to create a community that is inclusive, resilient and connected. We deliberately choose to be an organisational size that has low levels of bureaucracy in order to maintain responsiveness and flexibility within our person-centred operations.

Our values

Integrity and trust

Equity of opportunity and justice for all people

Empowerment

Creative achievement of our purpose

Compassion and relationships


Our
outcomes

At a local level, we aim for:
  • people to have resources they need to live,
    including work they want and need
  • the community to share the desire for
    greater equity
  • more seamlesssocial services systems
  • children and young people to receive support that builds their confidence in their own capability
  • strong and responsive natural networks 
  • help-seeking behaviour to be normalised
    and valued
  • a physical environment that supports
    community-positive decisions
  • people to be more connected