About RAW

Helping our community since 1984.

Our Organisation

Regional Alliance West commenced operations in 1984 as the Geraldton Emergency Relief Organisation (GERO) and at that time GERO provided:

A low cost food centre.

A low cost furniture centre.

Emergency relief funding.

In 1991 GERO having expanded its services was renamed the Geraldton Resource Centre Inc. GRC relocated to Lotteries House, Geraldton and has remained a tenant at Lotteries House.

Geraldton Resource Centre changed our name to better reflect the area in which we operate on the 12^th May 2017 to Regional Alliance West, (RAW).

Today RAW remains a non-profit organisation providing services to people experiencing disadvantage in the Mid West, Murchison and Gascoyne regions of WA. Towns within these regions experience hardship due to long term drought, lack of employment opportunities, housing shortages and the rising costs of living such as basic food items and fuel prices. Most communities within our service area have a regional price index between 4 – 8% higher than that of the Perth metropolitan area, a situation that is generating increased strain on families and communities already experiencing hardship.

Our organisation has expanded rapidly since 1998 and today includes 11 individual and diverse services with up to 33 full time staff and volunteers working to provide our community with access to information, advice and support. RAW’s outreach service area extends from Geraldton north to Exmouth (838kms), south to Leeman (153kms) and east to Wiluna (717kms). This area is about the size of the United Kingdom in terms of land mass.

We have a strong history of advocacy and law reform and we are or have been participants within several associations and networks including;

National Association of Community Legal Centres

Financial Counsellors Association

Financial Counsellors Association of WA

National Network of Indigenous Women’s Legal Services

Women’s Legal Services Network

WA Tenancy Network

Mid West Emergency Relief Network

Western Australia Council of Social Services (WACOSS)

Mid West Community Services Network (MWCSN)

RAW/GRC has also been recognised for its commitment and high standard of service delivery to clients by winning several awards 2 of which are the;

Australian Training Awards 2005