Community Partnerships

From three community partners in 2003, we have now developed relationships with over 25 community organisations across the country. The strength of Community Connect reflects the amazing dedication of the community partners with which we work.

The Clayton Utz Foundation provides funding to our community partners, and through our pro bono program, we also often provide pro bono legal services.

In response to the needs of these community partners, our partners and staff have also shown their commitment in a number of ways: by volunteering their time and participating in a range of programs that our community partners deliver, co-ordinating in-kind support, contributing to goods drives across the country and giving generously to fundraising events.

The Daystar Foundation and Our Place are two of the many organisations we are proud to call our community partners.

World Vision Australia
Clayton Utz Foundation Fellows
Our Place
Daystar Foundation

World Vision Australia

World Vision is a relief, development and advocacy organisation dedicated to working with children, families and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential.

Clayton Utz has partnered with World Vision Australia for a number of years to assist with its major fundraising activities. Most recently, we were involved with its appeal for the Haiti earthquake where, in January 2010, over 230,000 people were killed, a further 300,000 injured and at least 1.3 million people displaced.

Clayton Utz staff responded with generous donations which were matched by the Clayton Utz Foundation.

Since January, World Vision has assisted the Haitian communities with food distribution, provision of shelter and household items, drinking water and sanitation facilities, mobile health clinics, and cash-for-work activities, as well as family tracing and reunification.

World Vision has also been a major pro bono client of the firm for a number of years. Clayton Utz has worked on small legal issues such as office leasing, through to significant projects such as an Emissions Reductions Purchase Agreement in Ethiopia, where reforestation of 2,700 hectares provides significant, ongoing economic benefits to seven local communities who sell carbon credits from the forest.

We are proud to have World Vision as one of our community partners.

Clayton Utz Foundation Fellows

As part of our commitment to building capacity in the community legal sector in regional Australia, the Clayton Utz Foundation funds two Foundation Fellows.

In 2007 Paula Glassborow was selected as the first Clayton Utz Foundation Fellow to work with Loddon Campaspe Community Legal Centre (LCCLC) in Bendigo, Victoria. During her fellowship Paula wrote the report Legal Services for Homeless People in Central Victoria April 2008 for LCCLC, which documented its research on the need for targeted legal services for homeless people or those at risk of homelessness in the Loddon Campaspe region.

The report is available here.

In May 2008 Gabrielle Craig became our second Foundation Fellow, with the Hawkesbury-Nepean Community Legal Centre (HNCLC) in Windsor, NSW.

Gabrielle has a background as a tenancy worker and as a volunteer at Wirringa-Baiya Aboriginal Women's Legal Centre. She has been working in an outreach solicitor role to establish legal services in communities with large Indigenous populations and significant levels of public housing, including the Riverstone Neighbourhood Centre, Bligh Park Neighbourhood Centre, Wisemans Ferry Community Centre, St Albans and North Richmond Neighbourhood Centre.

Our Place

Our Place, in Sydney's inner-west suburb of Enmore, is a support centre which provides meals, counselling, welfare, advocacy, referral, outreach services and companionship to some of Sydney's most disadvantaged and isolated citizens - many of whom are homeless, suffer from serious addictions, mental illness, abusive home environments or are simply lonely and down on their luck.

Since opening its doors in October 2006, Our Place is now visited by around 270 people a week.  In August 2007 we opened a weekly legal clinic at Our Place, which is staffed each week by Clayton Utz lawyers.

Our Place is working to reduce some of the problems which can come with poverty, including marginalisation, victimisation and physical abuse.

Our Place is run predominantly by volunteers and receives no government funding. The support centre provides a free breakfast and lunch, daily newspapers, television, art classes and space to rest, read or play games. Most importantly, it provides a sense of community in a non-judgemental environment.

Clayton Utz Foundation grants have contributed to running costs in many ways:  fees for a supervising psychologist for staff; festive food for Our Place's client Christmas party; rent for office & storage space; a new commercial freezer (enabling Our Place to accept large donations of frozen food) and the purchase of new computer equipment.

Daystar Foundation

Daystar is a community-based organisation with strong links to the Macarthur district in South West Sydney, which the NSW Government has identified as having critical educational needs. Daystar provides a number of in-school programs which become part of the school's curriculum, each one designed to engage young people with their education, encourage them to stay at school longer and ultimately increase their life opportunities.

Clayton Utz' involvement with Daystar is focused on the Literacy Buddies program, with over 245 Clayton Utz staff exchanging letters each month with their student buddy. Staff act as corporate mentors, through the writing of letters and an end-of-year party, and engage them in a creative and meaningful program aimed at enhancing their literacy skills.

We also provide volunteer assistance from time to time at Daystar's Breakfast Club, a program which provides breakfast at school for students. Daystar says participating schools have noticed a significant improvement in student attendance since the Breakfast Club commenced.  The schools attribute this to the Breakfast Club, saying that many students wake up to little food in their home and so by coming to school on time they know they will receive a healthy meal to start the day.

Regular grants from the Clayton Utz Foundation provide funding to operate Daystar's school-based programs, and additional funding has supported activities such as a school camp to the snow in 2008.  We also provide Daystar with pro bono legal assistance and other forms of support as needs arise.

Daystar's website is available here.