Events And Opportunities

The nominations for the 2019 Telstra Business Women's Awards are now open! In 2018, Violet Roumeliotis, CEO of SCoA Member Settlement Services International, was awarded the National prize, in recognition of her amazing work in the sector. SCoA Board Member and CEO of Access Community Services, Gail Ker, was awarded the Queensland For Purpose and Social Enterprise Award. We know the sector is full of amazing business women, all of whom deserve recognition for the work they do. If you would like to nominate a colleague or friend, you can nominate here. Nominations close in November 2018.

Families and Communities Program - Financial Wellbeing and Capability grants - open for application The Australian Government is inviting organisations to apply in an open selection process to deliver services under the Families and Communities Program - Financial Wellbeing and Capability. This will include activities across Australia from 1 January 2019 to 30 June 2023. The Families and Communities Program aims to:

• strengthen relationships
• improve the wellbeing of children and young people
• reduce the cost of family breakdown
• strengthen family and community functioning, and
• facilitate the settlement of migrants and humanitarian entrants in the community.
• Applications close at 2:00 pm AEST on 22 August 2018 For further information about eligibility and how to apply, go to the Funding Round Application page. Information about applying for this funding round can also be found on GrantConnect.

Three world-renowned experts will talk about their experience from the front lines of research and policymaking in contentious areas – climate change, refugees and, where the two meet, climate change- and disaster-related displacement. The event will be held at Allens, Deutsche Bank Place 126 Phillip St, Sydney NSW 2000. Fore more information and to register click here.     

NSW Service for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors (STARTTS) is holding a forum on Refugee Communities in Cultural Transition (CiCT) Forum 2018, on Thursday 23 and Friday 24th of August 2018, from 9:30am to 3:00pm at Fairfield RSL Club, 14 Anzac Avenue, Fairfield. The forum's theme is 'Sharing Our Stories.' For more information and to share your success stories please contact David Ajak Ajang, e: ajang@health.nsw.gov.au or m: 0422 882 060 / 0422 394 513. Register here.

The Australian Migrant Resource Centre (AMRC), Northern Futures, Disability Workforce Hub and the Department for Industry and Skills invite you to the Launch of f NDIS Training Resource, Culturally Responsive Service provision. A resource for NDIS Service Providers. Speakers include:

• Ms Christa Christaki (Director, Operations and Stakeholder Management, Department for Industry and Skills)
• Ms Eugenia Tsoulis OAM (CEO, Australian Migrant Resource Centre, AMRC)

RSVP to admin@amrc.org.au by Monday 27 August 2018. Click here for more information.      

Creativity Australia and the With One Voice Program had announced 5 New Choirs awarded up to $10,000. Round 7 of the With One Voice Community Choir Social Franchise Start-up fund is open until 31 August for more people to give grants of up to $10,000. For more information, click here.

The New Beginnings Festival in Spring 2018 is an opportunity for people from refugee and migrant backgrounds to showcase their creativity through cultural expressions such as dance, music, art and food. Artists wishing to participate in the New Beginnings Festival in Spring are invited to lodge an Expression of Interest (EOI) with the festival organiser. Please let us know if you require language assistance by contacting the SSI Arts & Culture Team on (02) 8799 6700 or newbeginningsfestival@ssi.org.au The deadline for Expressions of Interest is 8 September, 2018. We encourage EOIs to be submitted as soon as possible. Outcomes of applications will be advised from the 31st of August, 2018. For more information click here.   

• Employability skills: Job Search, interview skills, resume writing
• The know-how of Dressing for Success
• Connections and Networking
• Financial Literacy
• Resilience Skills
• Communications Skills
• Positivity via Inspirational Migrant Women Success Stories

Workshops will be held between 10.00am and 3.00pm on 15th and 22nd of September 2018 at Granville Diggers Club, 5 Memorial Drive, Granville NSW 2142. Applications close on 7th September 2018.

Cities remain at the centre of global migration flows and challenges of diversity – as the principal destination for migrant settlement, as the localised site for national anxieties, as the space where human mobilities, rights and citizenship are facilitated or constrained, and as the everyday mediating ground for both racial and ethnic tensions and cosmopolitan futures.

This symposium invites academics, government and NGOs, community practitioners and industry, to network and come together for collaborative discussion on how we can build more inclusive cities. For more information click here.  

The Scanlon Foundation’s annual community grants round for 2018 will fund projects that either support the transition of migrants into employment or support practical English literacy. Projects should consider the experience of migrants and of receiving communities and aim to nurture positive outcomes. All submissions are expected to also empower new arrival communities and develop cross cultural connections. This year’s community grants will provide funding up to a maximum of $25,000. For more information or to apply now, click here.

The annual STARTTS Refugee Ball has established itself over the past nine years as a key event in the social calendar of the community services sector in Australia, every year raising vital funds for and awareness of the work that STARTTS does to assist people who have survived torture and trauma. Award-winning comedian, journalist and blog writer, David Smiedt will host the 10th Anniversary Refugee Ball and fundraiser this year. Friday 26 October 2018, 6pm at Hyatt Regency Sydney Ballroom | 161 Sussex St, Sydney For more information click here . To book click here.     

The Australian Government is inviting applications via an open process to apply for funding to support volunteers under the Volunteer Grants Activity. Volunteer Grants aim to support the efforts of Australia’s volunteers. The grants provide small amounts of money that organisations and community groups can use to help their volunteers. The grants form part of the Government’s work to support the volunteers who help disadvantaged Australian communities and encourage inclusion of vulnerable people in community life. Volunteer Grants aim to support the efforts of Australia’s volunteers by:

• providing small amounts of money that organisations and community groups can use to help their volunteers
• forming part of the Government’s work to support the volunteers who help disadvantaged Australian communities and encourage inclusion of vulnerable people in community life.

For more information click here.  

Commissioner for Children and Youth People of SA is partnership with the Australian Migrant Resource Centre (AMRC) invite you to a 'Youth Symposium, Leading for our Future' on Friday 12 October 2018 from 9:30am to 3:30pm at the Adelaide Festival Centre, King William Street, Adelaide. For more information, click here.

The 9^th International Conference on Human Rights Education (9^th ICHRE) will  be held at WSU Parramatta South Campus on 26-28 November 2018.

This year’s 9^th ICHRE is looking to be Australia’s largest celebration of two significant international events: the 70^th anniversary of the UN Declaration of Human Rights and the 25^th anniversary of the education-orientated Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action. These important events are both cause for celebration and a call for ongoing human rights work, both internationally and at home. This year’s conference is entitled ‘Unleashing the Full Potential of Civil Society’,  the Conference will cover a range of HRE issues such as national and international curricula, pedagogy and best practices, including in the context of discrimination faced by the First Nations, women, persons with disabilities, the LGBTIQ communities and those of refugee and minority cultural and religious backgrounds. Contemporary challenges to Human Rights Education and how to address them will also be a major focus. The 9^th ICHRE is expected to be attended by over 400 Australia and international HRE (Human Rights Education) experts, practitioners, decision makers and thought leaders from government, civil society, academia and the private sector.This event offers a rare and timely platform to engage in a dialogue on human rights that is truly international and multi-disciplinary in scope and focus. The Conference will feature a number of high-profile speakers (already confirmed), including Hon Julie Bishop MP, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Emeritus Professor Rosalind Croucher AM, (President, Australian Human Rights Commission),Shadow Attorney General Hon. Mark Dreyfus QC MP, Ms Marie Louise Høj Johannessen,(Director,The Danish Institute for Human Rights), Mr Steve Killelea AM, (Founder, Institute for Economics and Peace and Global Peace Index), Hon Michael Kirby AC CMG, (Former Judge of the High Court of Australia), Prof Peter G. Kirchschläger, (Director of the Institute of Social Ethics ISE, University of Lucerne, Switzerland), Prof Morten Kjaerum, (Director, Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights, Sweden), Barrister Julian McMahon AC SC, Professor Peter Shergold AC, (Chancellor, Western Sydney University), Ms Barbara Weber, (Global Director, Human Rights Education, Amnesty International, UK,) Professor Paul Weller, (Research Fellow in Religion and Society, Oxford University), and many others. For more information about the conference click here. For more information about the sponsorship prospectus, click here.

The University of New South Wales Social Work (Honours) Program is currently seeking offers from agencies interested in having a Level 3 (third year) social work (hons) student on their first placement. They have approximately 100 students needing placements to start in late January 2018. They are interested in offers including case work, counselling, group work, social research, social policy, community work or a mixture of methods.

Please note that for this placement, there is a preference for the Field Educator (supervisor) to hold a Bachelor of Social Work qualification recognised by the AASW and have two or more years of experience. If this an issue for your agency but you would still like to offer a placement, please get in contact with them to discuss it further.

For more information about the placement offer click here and return it to the Administrative Assistant by email socialwork@unsw.edu.au as soon as possible. For more information about the program click here.

If you have any questions regarding your offer or taking a student on placement, please contact our Work-Integrated Learning Administration Officer, Dalia Pisk on 9385 1838 or d.pisk@unsw.edu.au.

SCoA Member, Communicare is looking for a full time Coordinator A Global Workforce for West Perth. Grants of up to $50,000 are now open for South Australian community organisations. The grants are for projects that improve community participation, wellbeing and quality of life for South Australians, particularly those experiencing disadvantage. Around $3 million in grants will be provided by Grants SA throughout 2018-19. Community organisations only have to apply once to be considered for funding across all available grants programs, including volunteer and multicultural grants. For the opening and closing dates of all Grants SA grants rounds and the funding guidelines, visitwww.dhs.sa.gov.au/grantsSA

The 2018 Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) National Conference will be held in Sydney from 29 - 30 October. ACOSS National Conference has been a key event for civil society in Australia for over six decades. Read more about this event here, as well as the list of speakers. Registration is now open.

Would you like to share your settlement and integration experience in Sydney and contribute to improving support for refugees and migrants? PARTICIPANTS: We are looking for individuals from the Syrian and Iraqi refugee communities in Sydney who arrived during the past five years. RESEARCH PROJECT: Our research aims to reflect on the settlement experience of newly-arrived Syrian and Iraqi refugees in Sydney. In doing so, we would like to inform relevant stakeholders, including governmental and non-governmental service providers about the opportunities, challenges and difficulties of settlement of Syrian and Iraqi refugees. BENEFITS: Refugees’ and migrants’ journeys are full of challenges for both the newly arrived, the communities where they settle, and those providing settlement support. This project is an excellent opportunity to share your settlement experience and make your voice heard. Your participation in the project will help the research team to identify and understand how you can be better supported in this part of your journey. The outcomes of this research could be used to advocate for filling the gaps in service delivery to refugees, including Syrian and Iraqi refugees. The research outcomes could also contribute to the improvement of settlement, employment and education services for all refugees in Sydney. QUESTIONS: You will be asked to share your settlement and integration experience, including your experience of accessing services in the areas of pre-departure experience, immediate settlement, long-term integration, employment support and education opportunities. If you choose to participate you will not be identified in any way from what you tell us. DURATION: Your interview will take approximately 60 minutes. Interviews will be conducted at the Edmund Rice Centre, a public library, or on the premises of one of four schools: Patrician Brothers’ College Fairfield, Mary Immaculate Primary School, St Gertrude's Catholic Primary School, and All Saints Primary Liverpool. RESEARCH TEAM? The research will be conducted by the Edmund Rice Centre for Justice and Community Education (ERC) under the project leadership of Mr Farhad Arian, Senior Research Officer at ERC. ERC is a nongovernment research and advocacy organisation working with those made poor, to promote liberation from poverty and injustice and to work for change in order to enable a world where the fullness of life is realised. The ERC’s vision is of a just world where right relationships ensure that human rights are protected and promoted and social and environmental justice is a reality. ERC works to promote, protect and defend human rights, social justice and eco-justice through research, community education, advocacy and partnerships. The members of the ERC team of researchers all hold post-graduate qualifications in related fields of study (international relations, international development) and/or have experience working with refugees in Australia, and with people affected by conflict in Eastern Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia. The team members are: Mr Farhad Arian, Chief Investigator and Project Manager; Dr Shashi Sharma; Dr Donna Vaughan; Dr Mary Venner; and Ms Monica Vaughan. CONTACT: If you would like to participate in this research, please contact Mr Farhad Arian Research Office and Project Manager Phone: 02 8762 4207 or 02 8762 4200 Email: FArian@edmundrice.org