Young refugees needing help with their school education and adults seeking local recognition for their qualifications will be among those eligible for new scholarships worth more than $90,000.

Young refugees needing help with their school education and adults seeking local recognition for their qualifications will be among those eligible for new scholarships worth more than $90,000.  Allianz Australia and not-for-profit humanitarian organisation Settlement Services International (SSI) are offering the scholarships to help refugees settle in the community.

Foster Care Week shines a public spotlight on what SSI knows only too well – that foster carers play an integral role in the lives of vulnerable children and young people in out-of-home care.

With more than one in four Australians now born overseas, there is an urgent need for greater cultural diversity among the ranks of our country’s business leaders. A new report from the Australian Human Rights Commission, however, has shown that fewer than five per cent of ASX 200 company CEOs come from non-European or Anglo-Celtic backgrounds.

Settlement Services International (SSI) has joined with the NSW Police Force to develop solutions that will help refugees and people seeking asylum connect with police officers on a human level. Representatives from the NSW Police Force, the settlement sector, community associations and leaders, gathered yesterday at SSI’s head office in Sydney for a roundtable event designed to enhance understanding between police officers and the workers who support refugees and people seeking asylum.

Two SSI staff members introduced refugees and people seeking asylum to the versatile cashew nut at a recent SSI Community Kitchen.

SSI has joined with the NSW Police Force to develop solutions that will help refugees and people seeking asylum connect with police officers on a human level.

There are many reasons people cite as their motivation for volunteering. Ignite Resource Team volunteer Yateender Gupta has a deep and personal reason for donating his time and experience to help others.

SSI was pleased to support Western Sydney Homeless Connect in Parramatta Town Hall on Monday 8 August, a unique event in which to assist people experiencing homelessness. 

Leading academics and politicians will come together at an innovative new conference in November, designed to drive change for multicultural women. The National Multicultural Women’s Conference 2016 – Influencing Change: Vision and Impact (NMWC) will create a platform for sharing knowledge and celebrating the outstanding contributions women from diverse backgrounds make to our society.

More than 150 people who work at the intersection of the arts and refugee resettlement gathered from around Australia at the Arts and Refugees Forum at Casula Powerhouse over two days in August.

Participants will seek to drive social and economic change for women in Australia who are from diverse backgrounds at an innovative new conference co-hosted by SSI in November.

Women from multicultural backgrounds need a dedicated platform to amplify voices too often overlooked by mainstream society, said NSW Greens MP Dr Mehreen Faruqi ahead of an upcoming conference that aims to provide just that.

An unprecedented state-wide discussion about refugee-related arts practice will take centre stage at an event that connects practitioners working at the intersection between the arts and refugees. Held from August 19–20 at Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre (CPAC), the inaugural Arts and Refugees Forum will create a space for artists, community development workers, educators, and arts and humanitarian organisations to share their experiences and discuss various aspects of artistic practice by, with and about refugees.

Education is something many Australians take for granted. But not Sajeda Bahadurmia. The young refugee has lacked access to formal education for much of her 29 years – an absence she is quickly making up for, driven by a desire to give her children a better life.

An innovative art therapy exhibition was unveiled at SydWest Multicultural Services in July, showcasing some heartfelt artwork from seniors within the Blacktown community.

A unique support group is giving newly arrived refugee women a relaxed space to develop social networks and become more engaged with their new communities.

Representatives from business, government and the community sector gathered to discuss the crisis in Syria and Australia’s employment strategy for Syrian refugees at a recent Community Migrant Resource Centre (CMRC) event.

The image of a hooded young boy strapped to a chair has burned its way into Australia’s national conscience following last week’s Four Corners exposé into the Northern Territory’s youth justice system.

SSI recently celebrated two years of delivering the Ability Links NSW program with a ‘masquerade’ themed team building day that brought together SSI Linkers from regional areas with other Ability Links and SSI Corporate Services staff.