About us
Our vision
A Hunter community where everyone matters, where everyone belongs and where people can be the fullest versions of themselves as citizens.
Our mission
To build person-to-person connections so that people with disability can take their rightful place in the heart of community.
Our Values
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Belonging
A sense of belonging - a connection to people and places that help us feel like we belong - is a fundamental human need. We want to create a world where everyone belongs - where everyone is respected as equal, different and unique. We want to build small, warm communities of people that care about each other and feel they belong together.
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Community
We have some serious intentions to build community through building relationships. With love as our ethos, we are inviting our community to find connection, to walk towards one another. With connection comes solidarity – the commitment to stand shoulder to shoulder, united in the belief that everyone has the right to personhood and citizenhood.
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Justice
We strive for justice. We take responsibility for the respect and dignity of others. We take action against the inhumane treatment, systems, policies and attitudes that harm people. We use our relationships to take action and make action possible so that everyone can enjoy the same rights, freedom and equality.
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Integrity
To create real change, we must always act with integrity. We won’t make promises that we can’t honour and we will always be honest, open, transparent and accountable in how we work so that mutual trust and long-term relationships can be built.
Meet the Board
We are a bunch of people with a deep commitment to social justice, human rights, inclusion and our local communities.
Each of us has been involved in some way with a Circle of Support and have all seen first-hand how Circles can transform lives. We are super keen to expand their impact across the Hunter – we want Circles to be available to anyone who wants one.
Jess Watkins
Debbie Hamilton
Cayt Weir
Jo Watson
Sally Coddington
Mitchell Jones
Meet the team
Jen Cush
Both Jen and Lucy have a passion for their local community and the connections, love and sense of belonging that can be fostered when people come together to make change. Harnessing the power of our local communities and people is our purpose at Hunter Circles.
With over 35 years combined experience working towards social justice, mostly in community development and advocacy alongside people with disability, Lucy and Jen are passionate about human rights and deeply committed to shifting power to people with disability and their families.