The State Government’s ongoing investments in Victoria’s diverse communities continues to support multicultural community organisations in order for them to grow, recover and strengthen.
Minister for Multicultural Affairs Ros Spence today announced 77 multicultural and multifaith community organisations will share $2.4 million from the latest round of the Labor Government’s Priority Response to Multicultural Communities program.
“We are supporting our multicultural community organisations with the resources they need to grow and develop a strong workforce,” Minister Ros Spence said.
The funding will be used by community organisations to strengthen workforces, including through professional development programs and jobs training.
The Australian Filipino Community Services (Centre for Philippine Concerns Australia Inc) from Casey and Gawad Kalinga Australia from Melton are two Filipino community organisations that were successful in getting the grant for this round.
The Water Well Project, which provides health and wellbeing support to communities from migrant, refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds, is being funded to develop a mentor program that will help attract, train and retain and volunteers and develop a long-term strategic plan.
Ubuntu Project will use its grant to deliver training and wellbeing programs to support the mental health of staff, volunteers and community leaders in response to the impacts of the pandemic, so they are better able to assist members of the Ethiopian, Somali and Sudanese communities.
The Ethnic Communities’ Council of Victoria and four of its regional partners will share in more than $200,000, which will be used to upskill its community partners, so they are able to provide pandemic recovery services for multicultural communities across Victoria.
The Priority Response to Multicultural Communities program has provided $28.9 million since it began, supporting more than 360 community organisations and one million Victorians.
“We’re proud to support these organisations in delivering training and professional development programs, so that they can continue to support our state’s diverse communities,” Minister Spence said.
To find out more, visit vic.gov.au/priority-response-multicultural-communities-during-coronavirus-covid-19