Manager's Report

by Phinn Borg

(The Gender Centre advise that this article may not be current and as such certain content, including but not limited to persons, contact details and dates may not apply. Where legal authority or medical related matters are cited, responsibility lies with the reader to obtain the most current relevant legal authority and/or medical publication.)

Hello everyone, well it's time again for the next issue of Polare.

So what's been happening at the Centre?

We were very fortunate in obtaining a grant from the City of Sydney Council, which has enabled us to employ a dedicated caseworker for the Inner City area for a period of twelve months. We welcome Cindy aboard.

The Centre has been busy with the development of policy and procedures for inner city services willing to take transgender clients, and our inner city case worker has been working closely with these services. The development of these policies was funded by the City of Sydney and will soon be available on our website for all services to utilise.

More and more service providers and employers have requested training from the centre, and we have had an increase of students from TAFE and colleges visit the Centre as well as student placements. This year we have had three student placements with further requests for the coming year.

The N.S.W. Police, Program Department, awarded our Case-Manager Elizabeth Ceissman a certificate of appreciation in acknowledgement of our commitment and contribution to the G.L.L.O. program, and for our consistent involvement in training and the related building increasing awareness and understanding of transgender issues. Well done Elizabeth!

Elizabeth has conducted several training events for the police this year and will continue to provide training in 2009.

The Gender Centre has been organising an event for the 2009 Mardi Gras next year. We will be holding a debate which will take a light hearted approach to the topic of "Where do we, the transgender community, fit in the G.L.B.T. community?". Does the T. still fit with G.L. and B.?

This event will take place on the 18th of February 2009 at the Sydney Mechanics School of Arts, 280 Pitt Street Sydney, starting at 7:00pm and hosted by Julie McCrossin. The panel will comprise Katrina Fox, Roberta Perkins, Stevie Clayton, Tracy O'Keefe, Katelund Povey and Rachel Wallbank. This should be a very interesting evening. Hope to see you all there.

This year the Gender Centre will be closed from Christmas day the 25th of December untill the 5th of January. A dedicated staff member will be on call for all our residential clients. I would like to take this time to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Well that's about all from me for this edition and this year. Keep well and safe. See you soon!

Polare is published in Australia by The Gender Centre Inc. which is funded by the Department of Community Services under the S.A.A.P. Program and supported by the N.S.W. Health Department through the AIDS and Infectious Diseases Branch. Polare provides a forum for discussion and debate on gender issues. Advertisers are advised that all advertising is their responsibility under the Trade Practices Act. Unsolicited contributions are welcome, though no guarantee is made by the Editor that they will be published, nor any discussion entered into. The editor reserves the right to edit such contributions without notification. Any submission which appears in Polare may be published on our internet site. Opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of the Editor, The Gender Centre Inc.I, the Department of Community Services or the N.S.W. Department of Health.