Anna MacKlin

Our vision is for a community where everyone has the opportunity to thrive, and prison truly is the last resort. Our purpose is to strengthen the wellbeing of communities by advocating for and delivering services which divert people away from the justice system. Our ethos is "Create another chance"​ ACSO was founded in 1983 by a man named Stan McCormack, who served a number of years in Pentridge Prison for armed robbery. While Stan was in prison, he underwent a spiritual conversion. There were always people in his cell wanting to talk, or needing advice. When he was released, he created the Epistle Centre; later The Victorian Offender Support Agency for ex-prisoners who were highly disadvantaged. Our founders established support programs and a halfway house (McCormack House) which still remains in operation today. ACSO has expanded over 35 years to deliver services across the eastern seaboard for the intellectually disabled, peopling with mental illness, alcohol and other drug problems, offenders and people with long term unemployment. With a staff of over 440 and an annual turnover of approximately $50m in 2019, ACSO is now a leading Australian NFP, delivering more than 20 life changing programs to approximately 20,000 people a year "It was the sheer determination and drive of founder Stan and his supporters that got ACSO through, even when the foundations seemed to disappear. He was willing, and things happening so fast. There was a lot of help from a lot of people, but the brains and inspiration came from Stan. The best thing was that he took all those blokes in on face value without worrying about their pasts"​