Connecting Youth Services
An OnSide Victoria Initiative
During Refugee Week 2010, OnSide Victoria connected 130 community service providers at the inaugural Connecting Youth Services Forum. The message from the expert panel representing the not-for-profit, education, private, local and State Government and corporate sectors was clear - ‘to be connected with Melbourne’s multicultural youth you must involve the family.’
As MC for the day, Former Australian Cricketer, Melanie Jones has represented Australia at two World Cup Championships and shared in the experience of two winning Ashes tours. More recently, in her capacity as an ambassador for Red Dust she has engaged with Australia's indigenous communities. Melanie was an obvious choice to be OnSide for the Connecting Youth Services Forum. Melanie's experiences provided a unique platform to guide Melbourne's service providers through a journey of positive engagement and interaction with OnSide Victoria's expert guest panellists leading the discussions.
OnSide Victoria’s Chair Patrizia Torelli opened the forum announcing that ‘service providers significantly benefit from working together to provide sustainable, meaningful and relevant interactions for culturally and linguistically diverse communities.’
It is the initiative of OnSide Victoria; a not-for-profit agency which has been connecting CALD and disadvantaged communities for ten years; which presented the forum aimed at connecting agencies within the Melbourne’s south east corridor and beyond to understand and provide the much needed cross-agency support in the form of education, workplace opportunities and resources. Patricia pointed out ’it can be the simple things like human connection and friendship that go a long way to giving our newest Australians that much needed sense of belonging.’
The collaboration of the expert panel represented the many faces of the cultural, social and economic hardship amongst the many newly arrived people to Victoria and how their positive engagement demonstrates the need for agencies and individuals to be community champions.
To hear what the expert panel said click here.