Support Services

Sydney Women’s Fund’s place-based work began in 2013, a bold pilot for collective impact. The program launched with a first-of-its-kind $500,000 challenge grant from the NSW Department of Family and Community Services (now Department of Communities and Justice), and rapidly raised over $1 million from national philanthropic donors.

Commencing in Warwick Farm in Liverpool, Sydney Women’s Fund partnered with a local neighbourhood centre to focus on a number of key objectives as identified by the community. The initiative created six social enterprises employing dozens of local women, and providing education and work pathways for hundreds of others. The program also incubated eight female-led micro-businesses. These successes paved the way for expansion of the program to new geographies of Fairfield and Claymore. In Warwick Farm, young people in the community drove the appeal for the construction of the Abel Dunn basketball court – a public-private partnership and vibrant space for local youth.

In Fairfield, the Parents’ Café supported refugee families resettling after the Syrian war. Recognised by the UN in 2016 as a global best-practice model, the program built connection, wellbeing, and confidence for newly arrived families.

In Claymore and Campbelltown, the RISE program launched in 2015 to tackle school refusal. What started in one community grew to reach 24 schools across Western Sydney, supporting over 150 young people to re-engage with learning and life.

Across each area, the Foundation’s work is driven by long-term partnerships and local leadership, building stronger communities from the ground up.