Access to legal support can be a key gateway to safety, stability, and long-term wellbeing for women, their children and communities. At Southside Justice, a staggering 82% of clients are women. Of these women, 80% are facing family violence. 73% are struggling with financial hardship. 35% are living with a disability or mental illness. 29% ...
Southside Justice
Women’s Equality in Law (WEL)
GOAL
$1,600,000
Australia > VIC > Metro and Regional
Field of Interest
- Individual/family services and support
- Social inclusion and justice
Target Population
- People impacted by the legal system
- Women and girls
Southside Justice
Southside Justice (formerly St Kilda Legal Service) is a place-based community legal centre. For over 50yrs, we have played a unique role in advancing social justice, including championing the rights of sex workers and the LGBTIQA+ community, among other key areas.
Our place-based model prioritises long-term collaboration with other social service organisations, ensuring those with the most need have access to free legal support.
Our local efforts allow for flexibility and innovation, laying strong foundations for initiatives that can be embedded and scaled. A recent example of this is our partnership with the Salvation Army and Victoria Police, where we are integrating legal support into the award-winning Alexis Family Violence Response Model.
Our service data and local community engagement highlight three key priority areas:
– Women’s Equality in Law (WEL): We are interested in funding support that is untied and trust-based, enabling us to flexibly respond to women in our community. Please see our Project page for more information.
– Public and community housing: We are seeking support to enhance our engagement and advocacy with residents living in social housing, who are experiencing unprecedented challenges to their right to live in safe, secure and affordable homes.
– Sex Worker Legal Program – As the only specialised legal service that champions the rights and safety of sex workers in Victoria, we are seeking funding to continue this unique program beyond 2025.
We welcome conversations with funders who see alignment with our organisation or priorities. Please contact CEO Mel Dye [email protected].
Project Summary
Access to legal support can be a key gateway to safety, stability, and long-term wellbeing for women, their children and communities.
At Southside Justice, a staggering 82% of clients are women.
Of these women, 80% are facing family violence. 73% are struggling with financial hardship. 35% are living with a disability or mental illness. 29% are at risk of or already experiencing homelessness.
We know that when women experience multiple, intersecting issues they are more likely to have unmet legal need, and these needs multiply over time. Without legal assistance, many women are left without the tools to navigate their safety, security and independence during critical times of life.
Responding to this is complex.
Traditional project-based funding, while valuable, can inadvertently limit the impact of the support we can provide.
That is why we are seeking trust-based funding, an approach that values the capacity and expertise of Southside Justice to identify and respond to issues in our community.
Through trust-based funding, we will be able to shape our services with flexibility and foresight, delivering responsive, trauma-aware assistance that better meets the diverse needs of the women we support.
Project Outcomes
Trust-based funding will:
– Enable us to respond to emerging needs with the flexibility to adapt and evolve our service where we deem necessary. This may include expanding our service to integrate non-legal support, such as financial counselling and social work.
– Support the sustainability of our integrated model, allowing us to deepen collaborations with local partners and expand our impact, while maintaining the high standards of service delivery that our community has come to expect.
– Empower us to innovate, creating the space to pilot new initiatives or refine existing ones in response to feedback from the women we serve, without being limited by the restrictions of traditional funding.
This is an invitation to work alongside Southside Justice as we seek to catalyse meaningful, long-term outcomes for women.
We invite funders who are interested in learning more about being a supporter of WEL to connect with CEO Mel Dye at [email protected].
Budget Breakdown
TOTAL BUDGET: $2,000,000
FUNDING
| Funding source | Amount |
|---|---|
| Southisde Justice | $400,000 |
| Funding Gap | $1,600,000 |
EXPENSES
| Expense item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Employment costs | $1,520,000 |
| Management fee | $480,000 |
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