A GIRRAWHEEN shopping centre hosted a community leadership program to support migrants from culturally and linguistically diverse (CaLD) backgrounds recently.
Hawaiian-owned Newpark Shopping Centre supported Auspire – Australia Day Council of WA to deliver a free community leadership forum on October 5 to support migrants from CaLD backgrounds living within the Girrawheen community.
More than 20 registered participants attended, including guest speakers Australia Day ambassador and youth advocate Steph Jackson and the 2019 WA Young Australian of the Year Noelle Martin.
Get in front of tomorrow's news for FREE
Journalism for the curious Australian across politics, business, culture and opinion.
READ NOWThe forum aimed to help build confidence and provide knowledge about how to be an active citizen and get involved in the local community, as well as provide an understanding of Australian values such as everyone getting a fair go and mateship.
Auspire’s civics and citizenship program manager Kirsten Larkin said the programs provided real benefits to the local community.
“We know when people come to Australia, they come for a different, better life but often as new Australians, especially those in middle-age, they face huge challenges,” said Ms Larkin.
“These challenges are things such as English being a second language, lack of recognition of overseas qualifications and lack of work experience but, on top of all this, simply feeling a connection to a new community can be the hardest.”
For more information, visit www.auspire.org.au or www.hawaiian.com.au.