Our Purpose

We are here to build a strong and inclusive community in Surry Hills.

Our Centre is a place where people are treated as equal and valued individuals. We encourage people to develop to their full potential and aim to support them to live meaningful fulfilling lives.

The Centre operates according to a philosophy of open management and aims to reflect the local community by encouraging participation and discussion about all issues relevant to the community and to the running of the Centre.

Our Values

We value diversity, respect difference, recognise the whole person and encourage inclusiveness.

We recognise and seek to build on strengths – individual strengths, community strengths and our own strengths.

We value and offer hospitality, warmth and welcome.

We recognise the whole person and work with people ‘where they are at’.

We value people looking out for each other, and community connectedness.

We value and apply evidence-based and theory-informed practice.

We value collaboration and working in partnership with the community.

We value innovation, creativity, learning and growth.

Our Objectives and Philosophies:

• Listen to and respond to our community
• Work alongside the community to develop our existing programs and to develop new programs and services
• Play an active role in the community by building relationships with other community organizations
• For the Surry Hills Neighbourhood Centre to be a welcoming service to all that are involved
• Value all individuals within our organisation, from those who use the services to staff and volunteers
• We respect difference and diversity within the community and respect people equally inclusive of all gender, age, race, religion, sexuality, politics, wealth and state of health. We will not accept intolerance of differences in the aforementioned. We require this of all staff, volunteers and from all of our clients and service users.

To find out more about SHNC and our work, we invite you to read SHNC Annual Reports: