Important milestones such as SSI’s 20th anniversary motivate me to pause from the present and reflect. Looking back over the past 20 years, I cannot help but be amazed at how SSI has both evolved as an organisation and solidified our core mission and values since our founding in early 2000.

Eve is the mother of three adult children with intellectual, social, and behavioural disabilities. She and her husband have uprooted their lives to ensure they can raise her daughter and two sons with the knowledge that their disability does not define them.

Partnership and collaboration have been in SSI’s DNA since its formation with member organisations two decades ago. It continues today with partnerships with community and corporate organisations, and SSI’s leadership in the NSW Settlement Partnership.

In 2018, SSI merged with Access Community Services, one of Queensland’s leading organisations in settlement and transition, employment and training, social enterprise and youth service. This merger marked the beginning of a new chapter for the two organisations, enabling both to enhance operations and combine services across two states.

SSI Youth Collective steering committee member and refugee advocate Arash Bordbar was elected Chair of the Asia Pacific Refugee Rights Network (APRRN)  in June 2019.

SSI’s history is inextricably linked to its membership base.

SSI has a rich history of providing support to and advocating for the rights of people with disability from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds.

Over four years of nurturing and growth, the Friendship Garden at the Auburn Centre for Community blossomed from a community engagement initiative owned and run by SSI to a community-run project.

The Minister for Gaming and Liquor Regulation, Melissa Horne, yesterday announced Settlement Services International (SSI) would deliver a new state-wide gambling harm prevention and counselling service for migrant and refugee communities. 

Settlement Services International is dismayed that Australia’s 2020-21 Budget has delivered stimulus and incentives to businesses and those on high incomes by sacrificing those most vulnerable — in Australia and overseas – to a future of destitution.

Settlement Services International welcomes the Federal Government’s announcement today that it will expand access to the Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP).

Shines a light on aspects of integration that are overlooked.

When Abdallah Al Tibi and his family had packed their belongings in 2012 to seek temporary refuge from Syria in bordering Jordan, they did not anticipate that they’d never return, and packed for only two weeks. 

Iraqi refugee and PhD student of astronomy Rami Alsaberi arrived in Australia in December 2016 with his parents, brothers and sister as a family unit of seven from Iraq after spending three years in Jordan.

New research by Settlement Services International and the Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University, challenges narrow economic definitions of successful refugee settlement and, instead, suggests social and civic dimensions are equally valid markers of refugee integration.

Dates allocated to celebrate particular causes and communities can sometimes risk ending in token celebrations that are quickly forgotten as we prepare for the next occasion. In Australia, we’ve always endeavoured to ensure that Refugee Week in June is about more than just ‘food, festivals and fashion’, but this year brought a whole new challenge thanks to COVID-19.

Like many individuals working in the creative sector, Damon, a talented photographer and artist has been greatly impacted by COVID-19 restrictions.

Settlement Services International (SSI) is collaborating with the University of Wollongong (UOW) in a research project to identify and address domestic violence experienced by newly arrived refugee women.

In response to overwhelming demand, SSI is distributing donated food packages to individuals and families from asylum seeker backgrounds.