April 2017

22 APAC / April 2017 , 1704AP09 Helping People Achieve (HPA) – ‘Creating Steps to Capability’ There is no disguising the intense passion, dedication and inspiration that HPA’s CEO Tony Burns brings to his life, his CEO role and to the Northern Territory community. His passion for the disability sector is both legendary and ‘infectious’ and the outcomes he has achieved in the last 30 months, in this role, have been highly significant and have resulted in quantifiable and impactful outcomes for HPA, its clients, employees and all stakeholders. “On coming to the role as CEO I was surprised how many people in the community had never heard of HPA - despite the organisation having been in existence since 1963. The branding was around ‘handicapped people’ and one of my first actions was to ‘re-brand’ the organisation into ‘Helping People Achieve’ said CEO Tony Burns. “The current strength of HPA as an organisation, and the impactful success of our community outcomes, has been a re-focus on ‘ability and possibility’ not ‘disability’. This has allowed our clients, our employees and the wider community to see the mutual opportunities that can be achieved.” In the last 12-months a measure of our achievement has been HPA’s success in being acknowledged with a range of community awards. On June 12th 2016 HPA made Australian history by becoming the first ‘Not for Profit’ (NFP) charity business to win not only the inaugural ‘Charity Award Telstra Business of the Year for the Northern Territory’ but also the overall ‘Telstra Business of the Year for the Northern Territory’. In winning the award HPA became the first charity to win the overall Award for any State or Territory in the Telstra Business Awards in 24 years. HPA was also acknowledged by the NT disability sector through its success in winning two categories in the ‘2016 Northern Territory Disability Services Awards’ including: ‘Outstanding Business and Community Initiative’ and ‘Excellence in Promoting Community Awareness’ “The results have been inspiring for HPA and in the last 2-3 years there has been a vast increase in the awareness and profile of HPA’s impactful resourcing of the disability sector, which in turn has created unprecedented demand for our services and products” reflects Tony. As a Northern Territory initiative ‘Helping People Achieve’ (HPA) has proudly provided supported employment and accommodation to Territorians with disabilities since 1963. HPA currently provides highly effective ‘on the job training’ to 68 employees with moderate disabilities. The aim of HPA’s employment service is to benefit individuals and the community through the creation and development of employment opportunities for people with disabilities in integrated settings, and provide them with training and ongoing support necessary to enable their success in ‘open employment’. HPA has a strong record of achieving success in this role resulting in ongoing opportunity to the individuals and benefit to the community through sustained employment. HPA currently has two business enterprises, Kokoda Industries and Ausdesigns that produce excellent local products and services. Kokoda Industries trains and upskills employees in a vast array of tasks and manufactures a range of high quality timber, steel and aluminium products. These include trailers, parkland and recreation furniture, grandstand seating, pallets, lattice, survey pegs, sprinkler stands, army targets and a wide range of other products as commissioned. Ausdesigns also has a diverse range of competencies and skills for its employees to learn. It is an industrial sewing business specialising in the manufacture of indigenous print conference bags, promotional bags and a wide range of gift and souvenir products. Employees at Ausdesigns provide high quality screen printing, digital printing and embroidery. A valued division of Ausdesigns is the confidential document shredding service which is also undertaken at this facility. DAS Support Services is the supported accommodation division of HPA. DAS aims