PAYCE Foundation joins forces with the Institute of Global Homelessness to End Street Sleeping
- PAYCE Head Office, Sydney NSW.
As premier apartment developers in and around Sydney’s inner City, in a Landmark philanthropic move PAYCE Foundation have been addressing contributing factors to homelessness since 2015.
Mr Brian Boyd, Managing Director of PAYCE, one of Sydney’s most prolific apartment development companies began the PAYCE Foundation in 2016 as part of a concerted effort to address the issues affecting the wider community.
After a number of years contributing and donating to local charity and community initiatives Mr Boyd and the PAYCE board of directors determined that a wider course of action was required in order to create positive change in the community around developing residential apartment complexes.
Thus, the PAYCE Foundation was created in 2016 with a view to encouraging as many other major Sydney businesses and corporations to similarly engage in community based philanthropic activities.
PAYCE Foundation set about breaking the chains of disadvantage that lead to homelessness
Mr Brian Boyd and the PAYCE Foundation have been working with charitable not-for-profit organisations, counsellors and community initiatives for the past five years and much experience has been gained enabling focus on the main contributing factors to Sydney’s growing homelessness problem.
Mr Brian Boyd said, “The 5 main factors that contribute to social isolation seem to centre around the issues of addiction, domestic or family violence, mental health, disability as well as factors that put youth at risk such as disempowerment through limited social mobility and economic or work opportunities. All these factors put stress on families and contribute to social disadvantage frequently leading to homelessness”.
“These factors are very often inextricably linked and interconnected by a complex social matrix of cyclic and systemic disadvantages that permeate our society”.
“Therefore, depth of understanding is crucial to our key strategic objectives of building capabilities into our charity partners in order to help them grow”, noted Mr Boyd.
The aim of PAYCE Foundation is to support evidence-based programs utilising the latest scientific literature while working with existing service providers who use best practices in relation to the demand for their services, as we consider systemic, policy and departmental limitations relevant to each area of focus.
Through establishing a solid foundation of understanding in each of the five focus areas, the PAYCE Foundation has developed a cohesive and inclusive philanthropic strategy that aims to bring significant and sustainable change to the lives of those suffering disadvantage and misfortune.
“It has allowed us to understand ‘what works’ and ensure that the projects we are involved in have the best possible chance of success”, said Brian Boyd.
Brian Boyd and PAYCE Foundation working toward rehabilitation of drug and alcohol addiction
The social impact of addiction is one of the most significant areas of focus. Substance abuse has been linked to the breakdown of the family structure, domestic violence, family violence and family impoverishment to the estimated cost to the Australian economy to the tune of $55.2 million a year.
Mr Boyd noted that “the problems of drug and alcohol addiction have many detrimental side effects frequently leading to illegal and/or criminal activities, frequently a second wave of counselling and crisis accommodation is required to encourage rehabilitation. The latest research shows that recovery from drug and alcohol addiction conducted over a prolonged (twelve month) period is the best way to improve outcomes.
“There is also increasing research and evidence that suggests - for every $1 invested into drug and alcohol rehabilitation, society gains $7, which a very good investment indeed. PAYCE Foundation are very proud of their significant contribution to drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs which totals in excess of $11 million to date throughout New South Wales” said Mr Boyd.
PAYCE Foundation are key supporters of Adele House which provides residential rehabilitation programs. Over the past four years Adele House has become the second largest provider of rehabilitation accommodation in NSW, their program is an abstinence-based recovery designed to promote health and well-being as well as provide residents with job training and independent life skills with a focus on returning residents well equipped to reintegrate into society.
Earlier in 2019, PAYCE Foundation committed $5.6 million donation to Adele House for new accommodation facilities. Adele House also runs Adele Training Farm which is a commercial blueberry farm which provides Adele House with some moderate funding as well as a place where residents can upskill, gaining experience and dignity from training and work opportunities as part of a working community in a beautiful tranquil setting.
Mr Boyd and PAYCE Foundation support Kitchen and Food program for the homeless
The St. Merkorious Charity runs a kitchen and food program committed to helping individuals and families experiencing social isolation poverty or homelessness providing direct assistance to those struggling to put food on the table.
The St. Merkorious Charity program began in a home kitchen but with support has grown rapidly. With to the acquisition of a commercial kitchen and refrigerated food van the capacity and ability to get out onto the streets to those in need is expanding rapidly, affording them dignity and security as well as vital nutrition and sustenance.
The St. Merkorious Charity services provides food deliveries to individual houses as well as community halls, allowing the volunteers to build genuine relationships with the people that they serve.
Mr Brian Boyd and the PAYCE Foundation have been working with the St Merkorious Charity since 2013 lending support and assistance and professional know how to expand their community reach. The PAYCE Foundation contributed donations toward a refrigerated food van as well as assisting with a fully equipped kitchen. Then in 2019 PAYCE Foundation sourced through their professional network 1200 hours of top-grade consultancy from a notable chef with considerable expertise in commercial kitchens to streamline their food production program and menu planning. St Merkorious in collaboration with the PAYCE Foundation have developed a training program which can provide their volunteers with qualifications in hospitality.
The St Merkorious Charity were instrumental in delivering the recent Sydney Street Feast which was sponsored by Mr Boyd and the PAYCE Foundation as a not-for-profit event to promote meals and conversations for Sydney's socially disadvantaged.
With Help and support from the PAYCE Foundation, the St Merkorious Charity does far more than provide vital sustenance and nutrition – it restores hope and builds deep ties into the community.
Brian Boyd and the PAYCE Foundation’s collaboration with the Cana Communities
The Cana Community operates a farming community in Orchard Hills in the Sydney hinterland and their core mission is to provide a pleasant and tranquil relief for societies most excluded and marginalised citizens.
The Cana Community aim to provide relief from poverty, suffering and disempowerment for those struggling with mental illness, addiction, homelessness and loneliness, relief from those factors that marginalise them from the rest of society.
The Cana Community began in 1975 as the De Porres House working in Sydney’s inner-city providing support for the homeless through a network of overnight shelters and homes. Then in 2011 the Cana Community left the city now provides therapeutic and employment opportunities for their community members in the tranquil and peaceful surrounds of their Orchard Hills farm.
Mr Boyd and the PAYCE Foundation have been working with the Cana Community to increase the capacity of their community through a series of strategic planning workshops and the inclusion of a commercial kitchen in collaboration with the St Merkorious Charity Kitchen. PAYCE Foundation also facilitate food and goods grown on the Cana Community farm to go into production through St Merkorious’ Kitchen for distribution through the Kick Start Cafe.
Between the Cana Community farm, the St Merkorious Kitchen and Food Program and the Kick Start Café – these social initiatives are now empowered with a full round robin strategy that sees food grown by the socially disadvantaged right through to distributed through kitchens and Cafes to the homeless. This is what PAYCE Foundation mean by a strategic and systemic solution to the problems that afflict the homeless. To reference another PAYCE Foundation initiative – this is food production from Seed through Harvest to Spoon.
Mr Brian Boyd and PAYCE Foundations involvement with the Sydney Street Choir
The Sydney Street Choir are well known around the streets of Sydney and have provided much entertainment and character to many PAYCE Foundation sponsored events. The Sydney Street Choir began in 2001 to assist men and women living with homelessness, addiction, depression, mental illness, social isolation and disadvantage to improve personal self-esteem and social inclusivity through the healing properties of music and song within a supportive community. Today the Sydney Street Choir works to inspire and empower their participants and provide a place of belonging.
The Sydney Street Choir have a burgeoning profile and a rather busy performance schedule including shows at the Tamworth Country Music Festival and the Cygnet Folk Festival.
Mr Brian Boyd and the PAYCE Foundation have been instrumental in major fundraising efforts through their extensive network of professional connections with the Sydney Street Choir Corporate Challenge which involved many of the major Sydney Companies and Corporations likewise lend sponsorship and join the Choirs program.
Virgin Australia, Colin Biggers & Paisley, AMP, APA, MinterEllison, PWC, Macquarie Bank and TOGA have all contributed to the Choirs charitable effort raising more than $65,000 since 2017. PAYCE Foundation have contributed $93,000 to the Choir to date with a further $60,000 donated over the next two years to see the Choir sing their way to Bluer Skies.
About PAYCE
Founded in 1978, PAYCE has many years of experience in using a process of urban renewal and innovation to design and create communities which are both functional and aesthetically pleasing. The company has built up a reputation for building apartment developments and commercial precincts which integrate retail, residential and commercial developments within one area, transforming the way people use spaces to interact with the environment and each other. PAYCE is 100% committed to social equity and demonstrates this by providing sponsorship and other resources to industry initiatives, awards and local community groups.
- Brian Boyd – Managing Director of PAYCE Consolidated Limited Sydney NSW
- Brian Boyd – PAYCE Consolidated Limited, Sydney Property Development Company
- Brian Boyd –Apartment Developments in Sydney
- Property development companies in Sydney