Social enterprise café creating job opportunities for people with disability wins state award

Social enterprise café creating job opportunities for people with disability Where Is My Coffee? in Wangaratta bags first place in Victorian Disability Awards for ‘excellence in employment outcomes’ on August 25, 2022. 

The awards focus on recognising and honouring the achievements of individuals and teams that promote the rights and inclusion of people with disability. They are judged by Victoria’s disability community, with recommendations made to the Minister for Disability, Ageing and Carers for final selection. 

Where Is My Coffee?, run by for-purpose organisation VMCH, opened its doors in December last year. Since that time it has mentored 20 trainees, with two going on to find paid employment, over a massive 2,688 hours of service.

“I’m so proud of our dedicated team for their hard work over the past nine months, the outcomes we’ve seen for our trainees have been incredible. To witness their growth in confidence and independence is really encouraging, and this award is a reflection of the real and positive difference the café has made to many lives.” said VMCH General Manager Disability Services, Daniel Carter.

VMCH been around for over a century supporting people and families to live their best lives; providing a place for them to call home with spaces to learn and grow. They also provide a wide range of services such as early learning and therapy, specialist education, disability services, affordable homes, residential aged care, retirement living and at-home aged care.

“Cafés like ours are an important piece of the puzzle to help solve that issue. Here at VMCH our goal is to support 100 people to find and sustain award wage employment by 2025, and we’re well on our way to doing that.” 

VMCH – which also runs several local disability programs – will open a second social enterprise café (yet to be named) at its Star of the Sea Aged Care Residence in Torquay later this year.

Menchie Khairuddin

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Menchie Khairuddin is a writer Deputy Content Manager at Akolade and content producer for Third Sector News. She is passionate about social affairs specifically in mixed, multicultural heritage and not-for-profit organisations.

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