Coen, in the centre of Cape York, is home to around 400 people, including Umpila or Kaanju as well as descendants of the Umpithamu, Umbuygamu, Ayapathu, Olkolo and Lama Lama groups.
Overall, 313 community members have now signed up to one or more Opportunity Products through the Coen O-Hub; 58% are members of two or more Products. These community members are seeking support and empowerment to improve their knowledge and skills across parenting, financial management, home maintenance, and educational engagement.
Community members are demonstrating increased capabilities and confidence in managing their own financial affairs – evinced by the fact that more than half of the 978 MPower activities undertaking between January and June 2018 were unassisted self-service sessions. The other sessions mostly relate to budgeting, money management support and assisting members to make informed purchasing decisions.
Coen families continue to prioritise their children’s education with $27,242 worth of school items purchased at SET Fairs, CYAAA’s Education Days, and through other suppliers. Average school attendance at the CYAAA Coen campus sits at 91% — on par with the Queensland State average. This is a huge achievement, and demonstrates the value that Coen families place on education. Coen O-Hub works closely with the Coen CYAAA, partnering with the school to identify strategies to constructively manage children’s behaviours in the classroom, and supporting the school’s Adopt-a-Class program, sporting events and family days. Coen O-Hub, Cape York Employment and the Clinic have been working together to promote breakfast as the most important meal of the day to help students remain focused at school.
As a community, Coen is showing particular growth in male participation in the Strong Families program. For example, 20 male community members actively participated in a parenting workshop in January. O-Hub also supported the School’s highly successful Dads 4 Kids activity day, where fathers in the community ran activities including spear making, gardening and creating designs for their own t-shirts.
Coen O-Hub also supports other community services including the Women’s Shelter to combat domestic violence, police workshops on Child Protection and Elder Abuse, and the Clinic’s Sisterhood Health Check. The O-Hub and the Clinic supported Cape York Employment participants to be financially strong through money-management workshops.
Looking ahead, we see a bright future for community members and their families as they avail themselves of the opportunities at hand to further build on their strengths and capabilities.
