Symposium 2021 – wrap-up and presentations

Sebastian GeersBlog

The 2021 Welcoming Cities Symposium was a great success, the first in-person Symposium in two years, it was exciting to feel the buzz of ideas and new connections in the room. A packed program featured Professor Megan Davis delivering the First Nations keynote, Tim Dixon (International keynote), George Megalogenis (National … Read More

Putting out the Welcome Mat

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Bringing The Standard to life by celebrating and sharing a snapshot of the exceptional work delivered by local councils and their communities Putting out the welcome mat supports you to develop successful plans, initiatives, policy documents, partnerships and ideas that will advance welcoming work in your local council and community. … Read More

Stories of Welcome – Volume 2

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Strategies and case studies for building a Welcoming City Stories of Welcome is a growing collection of case studies from some of Welcoming Cities’ member councils, offering a brief example of some of the great work that is happening in communities across Australia. Volume 2 shares 15 case studies across … Read More

City of Greater Bendigo becomes the first accredited Welcoming City

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Welcoming Cities celebrates the City of Greater Bendigo as the first local government in Australia to achieve accreditation as a ‘Welcoming City’. Successful accreditation acknowledges the significant work of Council to make the City more welcoming and inclusive.   The City of Greater Bendigo’s application was externally assessed by Monash University who considered the City’s policy and practice against all six categories of the Welcoming Cities Standard.   Steven Abbott, Manager, Community Partnerships at the City of Greater … Read More

Stronger together: 50th Local Council joins Welcoming Cities

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Network now represents more than 30 per cent of Australia’s population South Australia’s City of Playford has joined the national Welcoming Cities network, making it the 50th local Council to sign on. As COVID-19 puts pressure on communities, this growing group is leveraging multiculturalism and migration to keep everyone together. Welcoming … Read More

Help Your Neighbour

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The City of Greater Bendigo, VicApproximate population 116,000. 7% overseas born. 1.7% Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. The ‘Help Your Neighbour’ campaign is a community led response to help vulnerable people during the Covid-19 pandemic. During the Covid-19 pandemic, staff at The City of Greater Bendigo and Bendigo Foodshare saw … Read More

Virtual Welcoming Cities Symposium 2020

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Due to COVID-19, Welcoming Cities hosted a virtual Symposium. The virtual symposium will consist of weekly webinars sharing all of the presentations from the original Symposium program. The “Virtual” Welcoming Cities Symposium features all of the presenters, from the cancelled Symposium in weekly sessions. The Welcoming Cities Symposium brings together … Read More

Stories of Welcome – Volume 1

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Strategies and case studies for building a Welcoming City Stories of Welcome is a collection of nine case studies, from some of Welcoming Cities’ member councils, showcasing a small sample of the great work that is happening in communities across Australia. Our members recognise the value of diversity to the … Read More

Cancellation of the 2020 Welcoming Cities Symposium due to COVID-19

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We have made the extremely difficult decision to cancel the 2020 Welcoming Cities Symposium. We have been actively monitoring the situation with the COVID-19 pandemic; and, after conversations with our event partners – Scanlon Foundation, ACT Government and Department of Home Affairs – we believe this is the correct course … Read More

Planning for Welcoming & Inclusive Communities

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Guidelines for regional growth Regional councils looking to attract, retain and support migrants and refugees to thrive in their communities now have a resource to help them plan and assess their readiness with the launch of Planning for Welcoming and Inclusive Communities: Guidelines for Regional Growth. The Guidelines, funded by the … Read More

Not all children can see themselves in a blonde Barbie

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Diversity is a case of child’s play In the 1940s, psychologists Mammie and Kenneth Clark conducted a test using toy dolls to study young children’s racial perceptions. The study, colloquially known as The Doll Test used four dolls, identical except for their colour. The children, all African-American, were asked to identify which … Read More

Australian Migration and Settlement Awards

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Congratulation to the shortlisted councils in the Welcoming Communities Award for Excellence in Local Government. We are proud that all of the shortlisted candidates are members of the Welcoming Cities Network. Winner City of Stirling City of Stirling Multicultural Framework The City of Stirling developed its Multicultural Framework to build on what … Read More

City of Melbourne commits to inclusion for all

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The City of Melbourne has become the 36th local council and the 6th Australian capital city to join the Welcoming Cities network. Lord Mayor Sally Capp formally signed the commitment form surrounded by Councillors holding various statements of welcome and affirming their commitment to ensuring that the City’s policies, programs … Read More

Steps to Settlement Success

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A Toolkit for Rural and Regional Communities The Regional Australia Institute has developed a toolkit to respond to the information needs of rural and regional communities looking to settle migrants locally, be they migrants coming in from big Australian cities or overseas, entrants to Australia on skilled working visas or … Read More

Diversity is More Than a Quota

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3 steps to help address bias and increase inclusion within your organisation As the benefits for diversity within organisations become better understood, companies are quickly scrambling to rebrand their organisations to create an inclusive and diverse workforce. However, many companies still fail to attract interest from diverse candidates, or they … Read More

Symposium 2019 – wrap-up and presentations

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By all accounts, the 2019 Welcoming Cities Symposium was our most successful yet. A packed program featured Professor Anita Heiss delivering the inaugural First Nations keynote, Kenan Malik (International keynote), Abul Rizvi (National keynote) and an exceptional line-up of community practitioners, Local Government representatives, researchers, and community leaders. From First … Read More

An Evidence-Based Approach to Migration in Regional Queensland

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The Queensland Government, through the Department of Local Government, Racing and Multicultural Affairs (DLGRMA) is working with Welcoming Cities to explore leading practice to support interested regional councils in attracting, growing and retaining diversity. Under the banner of Welcoming and Inclusive Communities, Welcoming Cities has delivered an initial research project … Read More