Q&A with Jena Clarke – the new face on the policy and advocacy team
- 3 hours ago
- 3 min read
The Salvation Army’s Policy and Advocacy team recently welcomed another staff member, Support Coordinator Jena Clarke. The Policy and Advocacy team is part of The Salvation Army’s newly formed Centre for Mission Impact, and advocates to influence key decision makers and those who have the power to implement social policy change across state and federal jurisdictions in Australia. Salvos Online journalist KIRRALEE NICOLLE recently caught up with Jena to find out about her background, her passions, and why she loves what The Salvation Army does.
Can you tell me a little bit about your background and how you ended up here at the Salvos?
Sure. I graduated from my undergraduate in 2024, having studied social justice and creative writing. I really loved my time at uni, and I learned a lot about the world, its need for justice and ways of achieving justice and equity through that process. In 2025, I spent time volunteering with refugees and asylum seekers around Sydney, and that was a really rewarding experience and something that I still do currently. I loved those connections, but I knew that I wanted a role where I could use my gifts in writing and language to make change. So, I joined Policy and Advocacy in November as a volunteer to learn about what the team did, and it quickly became clear that I wanted to further dedicate myself to the incredible work the Policy and Advocacy team was doing.
That's a really interesting combination – social justice and creative writing. What are some ways that you've used that already, in either in this role or previously?
I think the strengths of that combination came to the fore at uni. All of my creative writing assignments had a bit of a social justice twist to them, and I felt like I was using writing and stories to talk about society and about what was going on for real people. Then as I've come into this team, I use the same skills to edit work or to analyse it. I'm learning a lot from the team because it’s a different kind of writing, but I have a deep appreciation of language as something so powerful and so I'm so glad I can bring that appreciation into this role.
You've already mentioned that you've done some volunteering with refugees and asylum seekers, but I’m curious about what specifically draws you about this work and about the work of the Salvos?
I think it's pretty clear that the Salvos have such a big reach around Australia and have been making changes for people on an individual level, on a community level and on a wider level for a long time. As someone who wanted to use my skills to help make change, I was really keen to get on board with Policy and Advocacy and to see what their work was doing for people in Australia. Since volunteering with the team and now being on staff, I’m seeing that we take what we see in Salvos services and we share that with state and Commonwealth and say, ‘Hey, this is what people really need, and this is what this is what will be beneficial for the people that we are interacting with’. I sometimes found that when you study and think about all the difficult things that we face in society, it can feel like there's no hope, but I feel like Salvos has this real hopefulness about it as an organisation. And that comes through in this kind of advocacy work, because we're having the real conversations and we're trying to make change for people in a really structural way.
Outside of work, what are your interests and hobbies?
I love words. I love to write, and I love to read. I’m always reading short stories. While our personalities don’t align, I love the way Hemingway wrote! I have a great appreciation for the way he used setting to tell the whole story and get a deeper point across.
What are your hopes for this role going forward, and what are some of the things that you're looking forward to?
I’m excited to grow in this role. I’ve got a lot of passion and to be able to learn from the expertise of the team is unreal. I'm looking forward to supporting the team in the work that they do, and I'm also keen to use my gifts to benefit others.
