Working in the dynamic and diverse environment of the Huon LINC is enormously rewarding. It’s great to be able to work with your own community, providing them with opportunities to get what they want out of life.
To me, our core business is re-engaging people with education and training and allowing them to discover how it can make a difference in their lives. The key is getting people to believe in themselves, and to do that we must be approachable and welcoming. The results so far, such as the increase in students using introductory courses as a pathway to other courses, show that we are really starting to make a difference to the people in this community.
We are of course, a multi-purpose centre, with a range of valuable community services located in an attractive, flexible building. As well as tenants, like Centrelink and Service Tasmania, there is the Library+Online, and there are tremendous advantages in so many services being on the one site. I love the fact that our co-location with the library gives us the opportunity to engage families in early literacy programs such as Rock and Rhyme and Reading Together.
But it’s more than just locating many services under one roof. A core part of my role as Coordinator, working with a Program Support Officer, is to get the very best out of this co-location, developing ways of bringing people, groups and services together. And I can spot opportunities as they come up. I might steer a client who comes in for one purpose – say, some basic computer skills – into a literacy course, or a VET course run by another provider such as STEPS or TAFE.
Huon LINC’s Advisory Board offers ideas and support, and our meetings are a good way for me to reflect on what we offer and whether certain programs are working well, or whether they need a rethink.
In the future, I see the Huon LINC acting as a hub for learning opportunities within the whole of the Huon Valley, working closely with satellite centres in Geeveston, Dover and Cygnet to combine resources and continue to build a learning community network. I hope we can build our role as a support base for trainers and facilities offering education in the community, and offer an ever-increasing range of courses, matching those in metropolitan centres but also meeting local needs.
I see the Huon LINC as a place where we guide and help adults continue their education or take that first, vital step towards a learning pathway and where they find information and support in a truly comfortable, welcoming environment. This way, we can make a real difference in helping the people of our community change their lives, through opening up their prospects for work and study.
Pip Hankin
Co-ordinator
November 2007
I feel like part of a big family at the Huon LINC.
- Volunteer
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