Second Chance

Second Chance Programme Fund Raising Group Inc was set up to address the distressing problem of women’s homelessness. Sadly, the need for accommodation and support for homeless women is even greater now than it
was when Second Chance started in 2001. Second Chance does not raise money to buy buildings or pay salaries. As an organisation, Second Chance has no building, and no paid staff. The Second Chance committee is made up of 10 professional women working pro bono. Apart from the fee for public liability insurance, every cent raised by Second Chance is used to ‘get women off the streets’ and to help them take control of the lives.

Second Chance supports a variety of different projects to help homeless women secure a home and return to independent living. The committee assesses and monitors each project through a defined set of criteria. The committee aims to support a range of different projects that can, in their own specific ways, help women to move through at least one of the following three stages towards independent living (some projects support all three):

> off the streets

> support towards independence

> independent living

An example of one of their most successful project partnerships is with Brisbane Housing company. Over 380 women who would otherwise have been sleeping rough have been housed through our partnership with the Brisbane Housing Company through the ‘bridge the gap program’. Second Chance has also supported projects with Bahloo (a young women’s hostel at Buranda), the Anglican Women’s Hostel, Najidah Refuge (that provides accommodation to women and children affected by domestic and family violence) and St Mary’s Support and Accommodation Program that provides housing and support to single, pregnant and parenting women aged 16-25 years with children under the age of four, who
are homeless or at risk of homelessness.