No-one knows more about the barriers people with disability face every day than someone with a lifetime of first-hand experience. But what can apparently be a drawback has been used by Yagoona resident Quang Nyugen as a drive to establish his own business, while also finding a way to help the community.

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.

The NSW Government has recently awarded SSI with a grant to expand Cumberland Council’s Friendship Garden. The grant stems from the NSW Community Building Partnership program that awards grants for community infrastructure projects and will go towards the installation of an accessible children’s sensory garden for culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) families and children of all abilities.

The opportunity to provide a more holistic housing service to people at risk of homelessness is greatly welcomed by Settlement Services International (SSI), after the announcement today by Minister for Family and Community Services and Minister for Social Housing Pru Goward that SSI has been selected to provide Supported Temporary Accommodation (STA) in the Illawarra. SSI CEO Violet Roumeliotis said the decision by NSW Department of Family and Community Services (FACS) to move away from using low cost motels and caravan parks for temporary accommodation was a great step toward achieving better social outcomes for vulnerable people.

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.

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.

SSI observed the 2017 International Day of People with Disability (IDPwD) by celebrating community organisations, local governments, businesses and community members working towards disability inclusion.

Settlement Services International (SSI) CEO Violet Roumeliotis has described Allianz Australia winning the annual Human Rights Business Award as a triumph for partnerships between business and humanitarian organisations seeking to support vulnerable members of the community. The Human Rights Awards, presented by the Australian Human Rights Commission at an event in Sydney on December 8, is the pinnacle of human rights recognition in Australia.

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.

Hundreds of Sydneysiders showed their support for refugees when an eclectic group of Sydney’s newest community members took centre stage at Darling Harbour on November 18.

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.

2017 NSW Telstra Business Women’s Award winner calls for corporate Australia to look to the not-for-profit sector to find the innovative solutions it needs to address workforce shortages and inspire entrepreneurial thinking.  Violet Roumeliotis, CEO of Settlement Services International (SSI), who won the 2017 Telstra NSW for Purpose and Social Enterprise Award, said her organisation, which she has grown in revenue from $9m to $110m in only four years, is built on an entrepreneurial spirit that has led to innovative approaches to supporting migrants, people seeking asylum and refugees start businesses, join large corporations and fill important gaps in the workforce.