City of Stirling’s Kaleidoscope Initiative to help newly-arrived migrants gain employment

NEWLY-arrived migrants will gain access to a network of employers as part of the City of Stirling’s Kaleidoscope Initiative in 2018.

The initiative, which aims to help migrants find employment in their area of expertise, received $250,000 from the State Government to deliver phase one of a four-stream program.

Phase one features an employer partnership program, professional immigrant and independent stakeholder partner networks and the development of an online resource hub.

Phase two of the project will include the development of a mentoring program to match skilled migrants with mentors in their field.

The City worked with the Toronto Region Immigrant Employment Council to develop the initiative as part of the City’s Multicultural Framework.

Stirling acting community services manager Sarah Janali said activities and networking opportunities were based in Mirrabooka.

“We will be doing direct engagement of employers and we are hoping to get on board some corporate partners, so we have had expressions of interest from Commonwealth Bank,” she said.

“We also want to get out there and engage with Stirling local businesses.

“I think the key point to make is that for a lot of newcomers; they do not have access to the professional or social network.”

Ms Janali said it was important to acknowledge that other groups in the community also faced employment barriers.

She said the City would be applying for funding to roll-out phase two of the project.

As of the September quarter in 2017, the current rate of unemployment was 7 per cent for the entire City and 23 per cent for the Balga-Mirrabooka area.

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