Brophy Family and Youth Services
Education
A collaborative response to youth disengagement in regional Victoria
ProjectThe Asylum Seeker Centre for Employment and Enterprise Dandenong
Amount$280,000 total
Date2013 & 2015
ProgramEducation
TRUST OBJECTIVES | PROJECT OBJECTIVES |
---|---|
These grants were approved under our previous grants policy | |
Building capacity | Build employment pathways for asylum seekers. Evolve the Centres’ own practices to establish the most effective service delivery systems |
Extending opportunity | Deliver critical education and employment services that support asylum seekers’ rights to work |
Collaboration and partnership | Partnerships established with City of Greater Dandenong, Chisholm & Holmesglen TAFEs, Dandenong Library, Monash Health, Foundation House, Victoria Police and many others |
Supporting asylum seekers living in south eastern Melbourne to be active participants in our community
Melbourne’s suburbs are experiencing a significant rise in the number of asylum seekers, 60 per cent of whom are settling in the Dandenong region. Many are in desperate circumstances, eager to work, but unable to find jobs because they have limited English, no education pathway or no access to employment services. In September 2013, the Asylum Seeker Centre Dandenong launched the region’s first accessible training and employment service.
The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) is the largest asylum seeker assistance organisation in Australia. There are an estimated 10,000 asylum seekers living in Victoria and over 2,000 of these in Dandenong alone. With 30 specialised programs and services, the ASRC gives asylum seekers the tools they need to thrive in an Australian setting.
ASRC’s Dandenong employment service was launched in 2013, after local Hazara and Tamil community representatives reported an increasing number of male asylum seekers arriving in desperate circumstances but, despite their eagerness to use skills ranging from farming labour to civil engineering, unable to find jobs.
HMSTrust provided a grant of $80,000 for the first year of this innovative employment pathways pilot. The pilot was an outstanding success with more than double the number of 360 anticipated clients through the doors in its first year. In 2015, HMSTrust approved a second grant of $200,000 for a further two years to take the program beyond pilot stage.
Snapshot:
“Through the generosity of the Trust, ASRC Dandenong it is now a reality and so is our vision and purpose to transform the lives of asylum seekers by moving them from poverty to self-reliance,” says the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre’s CEO, Kon Karapanagiotidis.
Education
A collaborative response to youth disengagement in regional Victoria
Community
Supporting the long term recovery of bushfire affected communities in Rural and Regional Victoria
Past Programs | Arts and Culture
Enabling artists to rebuild after natural disaster
Past Programs | Environment
Protecting endangered species and habitats across South Gippsland
Past Programs | Health
Building organisational capacity to enable sustainable growth
Our grants matrix is a graphical representation of our matched objectives. Each column of circles represents one of the funding criteria, and the colour coded central row represents the program that funding was received in.
Use the interactive example below to see whether your project ticks at least 3 of the 5 objectives.