Photo by Mat Amp Instagram @matamp67
As this project has gathered speed and reports have started to come in more regularly, reporters have, understandably, been asking about the impact of their reports. While it’s not always easy to quantify impact it’s important that we try.
The experience of being homeless often makes you feel invisible, like nobody is taking any notice and that you have no place in the world. As the Victorian top down model of charity provision has given way to a more holistic model of care, some people experiencing homelessness are finding more of platform to express their voice. But to be able to speak is only a part of the equation. Talking on its own changes nothing without someone listening.
Last week Olivia Butterworth spoke to our community reporters about how the information from their reports is disseminated and acted upon. Although she was asked at short notice, Olivia found an hour to talk about the journey of reports from the front line to her desk and on to her colleagues It was immediately evident just how galvanising that was for reporters because it was for me. I think we should always remember just how important it is to let people know how their words are being used to impact policy.
[Mat Amp Groundswell’s Point of Contact for this community journalism project]
Transcription.
Hi, this is Mat Amp. This Is a very short message to talk about the importance of feeding back to reporters or basically anyone experiencing homelessness involved in research. But in this case, I’m talking about our community journalism project run between On Our Radar and Groundswell. And what I really want to talk about is the importance of feeding back to the reporters, the impact of their work and their words and their videos and so on – all reports. Last week, we got Olivia Butterworth to come in and talk to reporters and tell them exactly what happens to their reports, you know, how they land on her desk, how she disseminates that information and how it gets fed back into the way everyone works. One of the quotes she made was ‘you are being heard and you are being heard in an authentic way.’ And what she was really talking about, that was the fact that this news is unfiltered. It’s straight from the heart, straight from the soul, and it’s straight from the front line and how that is being passed very quickly and undiluted to policy makers. So the policy is change and something is done and the people are actually heard and their words are acted upon. You know, I think as an industry this this sector has to take a bit of time to feed back to the people on the frontline doing the work, whether it’s research or whatever, just the importance of telling those people how their words are heard and how they’re acted upon. And it can be a difficult thing to do to, you know, list every single way in which someone’s words are acted upon. But it’s important that we try, it really is, and the impact of Olivia Butterworth coming in last week and talking to our reporters has been amazing. It really has. You know, it’s it’s just had a real galvanizing effect on people. It has on me. And I knew this stuff anyway. But just to listen to it straight from her mouth. It’s been you know, it was incredible. It really was. And, you know, I think there’s a lesson to learn from that. You know, like I said, we need to take the time to let people know. So thanks. [00:00:03][0.0]