Speakers
Jocelyn Bignold - CEO, McAuley Community Services for Women
Jocelyn Bignold has been the CEO of McAuley Community Services for Women since its formation in 2008. The organisation has a track record of innovation in providing wholistic support for women and their children who are experiencing family violence, and women who are homeless.
With over 25 years’ experience in community services, policy development, management and advocacy, Jocelyn’s work has led to an extensive collaboration with Government and non-Government organisations to improve policy responses and service systems designed to support those in need. She has conducted research into ‘Safe at Home’ approaches to family violence across Australian and international jurisdictions and, under her guidance, McAuley has led the work in the sector to develop a Safe at Home approach for Victoria with plans for a trial beginning in 2024-2025.
Jocelyn was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in the 2020 Australia Day Honours. The Award recognises her service to the community through social welfare organisations and her leadership and commitment to making lives better for women and children who have faced family violence and homelessness.
Hannah Lewis - Manager, Justice Connect Homeless Law
Hannah Lewis (she/her) is the Manager of Justice Connect Homeless Law which for over 20 years has been Victoria’s specialist free legal service for people facing homelessness, and one of the two state-wide, specialist tenancy legal services for Victorian renters. Hannah has been with Homeless Law since 2020 including as the Principal Lawyer of the service. Prior to joining Homeless Law, Hannah worked as a community outreach lawyer for St Kilda Legal Service (now Southside Justice) and was collocated at two specialist services for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness. Prior to joining the community legal sector, Hannah worked at a leading plaintiff law firm where she specialised in public interest and human rights class actions and litigation. Before qualifying as a lawyer, Hannah spent half a decade working at Amnesty Australia and Oxfam Australia in campaigns and advocacy roles. Together with Homeless Law’s Head of Community Programs, Cameron Lavery, Hannah is responsible for managing a high-impact multi-disciplinary team of lawyers, social workers and digital innovators to prevent homelessness by increasing access to multi-channel, multi-intensity legal support as well as through making laws and practice fairer by stopping homelessness before it starts and preventing the criminalisation of homelessness.
Funders network chair
Erin Dolan – Senior Program Manager - Homelessness and Affordable Housing, Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation
Erin is an experienced grants program manager, with nearly twenty years’ working in the industry. Her role entails developing and managing granting programs using best practice philanthropy and a focus on systemic change. She is the Chair of Philanthropy Australia’s Affordable Housing Funders Network and writes on issues relating to homelessness and affordable housing:
The Lord Mayor's Charitable Foundation is an independent community foundation that has supported Melbourne’s charities and the critical issues facing Melbourne since 1923.
The Foundation has worked on addressing homelessness as a priority for over a decade and recognises that the supply of affordable housing is one of the primary causes of homelessness.
