Project Reconnect 2022: A Homelessness Services Fair in Victoria

I’m continually ranting about how society and the government are picking on marginalised people; today I’m writing about the people who mean to help instead.

Proejct Reconnect: A one-day, one-stop annual service fair that provides community members experiencing homelessness and poverty with access to free services, resources, and referrals.

I’ve just attended an annual fair that was suspended during the pandemic, and brought back under the name Project Reconnect. In their own words:

A one-day, one-stop annual service fair that provides community members experiencing homelessness and poverty with access to free services, resources, and referrals.

Project Reconnect 2022

About three dozen organisations set up a stand advertising various services, like shelters, harm reduction services, government services, access to housing and employment, an ID clinic, even hepatitis C testing (I got tested; it was negative). The breadth of it was impressive; I spent years volunteering for Our Place Society and yet I knew of only roughly half of them, so it was a good opportunity to keep up. Among the participants:

And I’m leaving some out; even our local MLA had a stand. The homeless may feel underwhelmed by society’s response to their plight and overwhelmed by the difficulties in navigating the system, but there’s actually a lot of help available to those who know where to find it. I just wish the fair lasted all year round.


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