AMES engaging with communities
It’s been a busy month for AMES Australia in terms of our strategic engagement with partners, stakeholders, government and communities.
We have been staging events that enhance our profile as a key multicultural organisation and improve our connections with the communities with whom we work.
We recently launched our innovative new indigenous employment service in Western Sydney.
The Blacktown-based Workforce Australia First Nation Services at AMES Australia is supporting indigenous jobseekers across Western Sydney to find rewarding and sustainable employment.
The service, launched by the local state MP Steve Bali and which sits under the new federal Workforce Australia program, follows on from our successful Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mentoring Program.
It has already achieved some great results in delivering employment opportunities for first nations’ people.
Last weekend AMES staged a multicultural soccer tournament in Mildura as part of our work to bring diverse communities together and promoting our service offerings.
About a dozen teams and 300 players and spectators attended the event at which the special guest was former Socceroo captain and human rights advocate Craig Foster. Craig was very generous with his time, playing two matches, speaking at the tournament dinner, posing for hundreds of selfies and inspiring dozens of kids.
We held a similar event in Keysborough the week before, bringing together soccer teams from Melbourne’s diverse communities in the south east. The tournament trophies were handed out by new local federal MP Cassandra Fernando.
Community sport is a fantastic way for newcomers to make connections into the broader Australian community and both these events had a significant impact.
Another event AMES event staged recently was the launch of ‘Refugee Heroes’ a book that tells the inspirational and heart-wrenching stories of refugees who have found safety and new a life in Australia.
Launched by Immigration Minister Andrew Giles at the Melbourne Multicultural Hub, the book is a collection of the personal stories of people who have fled situations of conflict and violence from more than a dozen countries.
It puts a human face to the conflicts tensions and repressive regimes and explains the political and social factors that have contributed to the unprecedented number of conflict and humanitarian emergencies around the world.
The book is aimed at building awareness about the reasons refugees come to Australia and the contributions they make as well as the fact there are now an unprecedented 100 million displaced people across the globe.
All of these activities align with our strategic priorities of strengthening our sector leadership, focusing, influencing and partnering as well as building organisational capability and skills.
Cath Scarth, AMES Australia CEO
21 October 2022