Accounts of newcomers & community in regional Australia.

Telstra Australian Business Women of the Year, SSI CEO Violet Roumeliotis, recently contributed to the 2018 Telstra International Women’s Day panel discussion, reflecting on challenges and offering her three most valuable business tips.

Bassam Maaliki, a 14-year-old student at Homebush Bay High School and founder of the social change campaign #uBelong, was announced winner of the Youth Medal at the NSW Premier’s Harmony Dinner on March 21.

Harmony Day, March 21, has become a significant day of the year when Australians are encouraged to celebrate the cultural diversity of our country.

Discussions about levels of immigration following ABC TV’s Four Corners and Q&A last night are essential in an inclusive and democratic country like Australia, however we do not want to compromise our successful multicultural cohesion by focusing only on impacts to planning and infrastructure, according to Violet Roumeliotis, CEO of Settlement Services International (SSI).

Swimming is a big part of life in Australia and newly arrived refugees are now getting the opportunity to safely enjoy the water thanks to a new SSI partnership.

SSI’s social enterprise The Staples Bag had an inaugural launch in Baulkham Hills in February, hosted by Hills Community Aid. The launch was paired with a local book fair and a long queue of enthusiastic grocery shoppers.

Learning English, connecting with the community, and finding employment and housing will be the key priorities for refugee families arriving in Armidale in the coming months, according to a leading settlement expert. Yamamah Agha, the Humanitarian Settlement Program (HSP) Manager for community organisation and social business Settlement Services International (SSI), said in the 16 years she had been working with refugees, those areas consistently rated among new arrivals’ top goals for life in Australia.

Australia has always had a mixed relationship with its multicultural identity. On one hand, we embrace multiculturalism through national celebrations like Harmony Day and take great pride in the diversity of cultural expressions like food.

Six projects supporting refugee communities in south-west Sydney have today received a boost from not-for-profit Settlement Services International’s $50,000 Community Innovation Fund. SSI announced today the first six recipients of grants from the ground-breaking fund, which honours the unsung heroes who contribute to Australian society by offering grassroots support to newly arrived members of the community.

Refugee communities in south-west Sydney will benefit from a spate of innovative new projects when Settlement Services International (SSI) unveils the recipients of its Community Innovation Fund on Australia Day 2018. SSI opened the first round of applications for the $50,000 fund in September 2017 to celebrate the strength and resilience of the community of south-west Sydney and to encourage innovative ideas to support newly arrived refugees.

SSI is working hand-in-hand with local communities to resettle refugees in regional NSW, including through a new Coffs Harbour office launched in December.

Ania Kebabjian fled Syria via Lebanon and arrived to Australia in 2016 as a refugee. She admits that starting up a new life and settling in takes time - but 2017 was different, Ania explains to Marie Claire magazine, as she finally feels at home.

The Stranger in a Strange Land Conference held at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) was a celebration of Professor Andrew Jakubowicz’s enormous contribution, spanning over fifty years of his career and traversing media studies, multiculturalism, cultural diversity, disability studies, ethnicity and cyber-racism.

Not-for-profit leader and 2017 Telstra Business Woman of the Year Violet Roumeliotis has today been honoured for outstanding service to the community. Ms Roumeliotis, the CEO of Settlement Services International (SSI), received the title of Community Fellow from Western Sydney University in recognition of her contribution to the betterment of society and the eminence she has achieved in her field.

An innovative not-for-profit organisation has today launched in Coffs Harbour, where it will support newly arrived refugees as they begin their lives in Australia. The federal government has selected Settlement Services International (SSI) as the Coffs Harbour provider of the new Humanitarian Settlement Program (HSP), which supports refugees from the moment they arrive at the airport until they are established in the community.

Job seekers from migrant and refugee background, as well as people living with a disability, were at the centre of a recent pilot project organised by SSI Linkers from the Metro North West team and SydWest Multicultural Services in Blacktown.

An eclectic group of Sydney’s newest community members took centre stage at an arts and culture festival in Darling Harbour over the weekend.   On Saturday November 18, Sydney’s iconic Darling Harbour hosted Settlement Services International’s (SSI) New Beginnings Festival in Spring, where thousands of Sydneysiders gathered to enjoy the musical, culinary and artistic talents of people from refugee and migrant backgrounds.  

The 2017 Telstra Australian Business Woman of the Year has urged corporate Australia to partner with their entrepreneurial peers in the not-for-profit sector to address commercial and social challenges. As the CEO of not-for-profit organisation Settlement Services International (SSI), Violet Roumeliotis has overseen innovative diversification leading to more than 1,100 per cent revenue growth to $113 million over five years.

Seven staff from Deutsche Bank who volunteered at SSI’s Armenian-themed Community Kitchen on November 15 were so excited by the experience they have vowed to return with more of their colleagues.