Specialist Programs

PCLC’s “This is Not Who I Want to Be” youth theatre project is a preventative community legal education initiative for CALD secondary students that was set up in 2022.

Through our Strengthening Legal Pathways for CALD women program and our family violence services, we noticed that some CALD teenagers were already experiencing controlling relationships and family violence. We also received feedback from our community partners that some young women were going on to forced marriages after leaving school. There were also reports about negative behaviours exhibited by teenage boys, supporting concern about young people participating, perpetuating and experiencing family violence.

The project is conducted in local schools in the City of Casey and uses a highly interactive and participatory theatre performance to increase students’ legal literacy about family violence and forced marriage. In addition to educating young people about their legal rights and responsibilities and how to access legal and other support services, the use of theatre aims to challenge attitudes that downplay or excuse violence by inviting the students to connect with the characters in the story and create longer-term attitudinal change.

The project has been delivered in partnership with Uniting’s KOMAK program, and was funded by the Victoria Law Foundation.

Read more about the project and see Kirsten Young and Engy Abdelsalam from our community legal education team in a VLF Enhancing Engagement webinar here:

https://www.victorialawfoundation.org.au/grant-projects/reducing-family-violence-through-education-for-cald-young-people#case-study

PCLC’s Migration Law Clinic will provide free advice and information on migration matters, however we prioritise CALD clients presenting with family violence issues. Ongoing assistance depends on our advice and casework guidelines and capacity. If we cannot provide ongoing assistance, we will endeavour to provide referrals to other free migration law services or pro-bono services if appropriate.

PCLC has partnered with Homeground Coffee and Social Engine in an exciting new project, the Street Law Coffee Van, the first of its kind in Victoria.

Equal justice before the law is a familiar phrase, but equal justice requires equal access. For those who are geographically or socially isolated or who don’t have the time or money to see a lawyer, the inability to access legal advice can be a barrier to obtaining equal justice.

Our innovative Street Law Coffee Van is working to close this justice gap by bringing the law to the people in local communities that have historically been underserved. Our team will actively seek out people who may need legal support.

Hard-to-reach populations who might not be able to access our offices or who may not even be aware that some of their everyday problems have a legal solution can meet with our Street Law team at convenient community-based locations that they know and trust. Over a free cup of coffee they can have a legal health check to uncover hidden legal issues and receive advice on how to deal with them.

The van visits a mix of public places as well as more traditional fixed locations for community outreach services. Rather than sitting in an office like traditional lawyers, our team goes out on to the streets to engage with people. And as it is mobile, the van can also change where our legal services are provided depending on community need. The Street Law team visits schools, gathering places, libraries, health centres, homeless services, community kitchens, emergency food relief programs, sporting events, markets and drug and alcohol treatment centres.

The project offers free legal advice on most legal matters, including landlord-tenant issues, fines and infringement debt, family law and family violence, criminal law, and other general law issues. It also provides on-going representation in some circumstances. If we think a client might be better served by an outside resource, we’ll refer them to another community legal centre or Victoria Legal Aid, or to appropriate non-legal support organisations.

The Street Law Coffee Van – which is a bold, eye-catching blue – is on the road two to three days a week. No appointments are necessary.

This project is supported by the Victorian Legal Services Board & Commissioner.

PCLC has received funding from the Victorian Legal Services Board to integrate the Work and Development Permit (WDP) Scheme across Melbourne’s Southern region.

The Work and Development Permit (WDP) Scheme allows eligible people to ‘work off’ their unpaid fines by engaging with a range of health, educational and other pro-social activities. A health practitioner or an organisation can become an accredited ‘sponsor’ in the WDP Scheme and provide access to it for the people connected to their services. A sponsor can provide treatment, courses or other activities so that the time a client spends engaged in a sponsor’s service counts towards clearing this debt. Sponsor applications are made through Fines Victoria.

Our WDP Project team work proactively with health and community services providers across multiple sectors to provide assistance in understanding how the initiative can be adapted in their organisations. Through this collaborative work, PCLC has established a number of health-justice relationships with agencies who support vulnerable community members. These relationships build the capacity of these organisations to identify and respond to the legal issues experienced by people connected to their services and to work effectively with our legal practitioners.
Contact the WDP Project Team at PCLC on 9783 3600 or pclc@pclc.org.au if you are interested in knowing more about the WDP scheme.