• OED
• Housing & Municipal
• Family & Youth Services
• Social Services
• Employment & Training
• Finance
• Corporate Services

Community Support Services

Aims

Tangentyere’s community support services provide a range of services to assist in community safety in Alice Springs and works closely with our projects assisting with remote community safety.

Activities

This program operates a referral and support office to explore issues with clients in the greatest need, discuss their specific needs and negotiate solutions in collaboration with the client. The team works with people to identify their support needs, and undertake one or more of the following:

• Provide a ‘Return to Country’ service; a user-pays program that provides up-front financial assistance to people stranded in Alice Springs, enabling them to return to their home community. The cost of the trip is then paid back by clients over time. Given that there is little public transport available in the region, Tangentyere also has its own vehicle with which we are able to provide transport to remote communities for clients with no other transport options.
• Following their release, support prisoners from remote communities to return home. As a part of that we liaise with prisoners’ family and communities in relation to their release date and travel arrangements and any other impediments to their return home. Further support is provided to assist in successful reintegration into the community.
• Provide proof of identification for clients through the issue of a recognised photo identity card.
• Distribute Emergency Relief funds to people in crisis, to assist them with the basic needs of food and shelter. Our integrated programs allow us to refer clients seeking to access these funds regularly to Tangentyere’s Financial Counselling services and other services as required.
• Provide limited on-going case management to identified a sub set of high need clients, to achieve positive outcomes for them, their family and the community.

Partnerships

Tangentyere works closely in partnership with a wide range of other agencies to coordinate support for those in the greatest need, including accommodation services, youth services, Correctional Services, the NT Police and other community and health services in the non-government and government sectors.