Engaging Diverse Communities is Everyone’s Job

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The City of Stirling in Australia has a new network of diversity champions. In local government, engaging diverse communities is everyone’s job.  As with many local governments across Australia, the responsibility for engaging and including diverse communities often lies with a stand alone community development department. Generating awareness and sharing … Read More

Courage in the face of complexity

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Welcoming Cities is about to conclude its third calendar year, and we have much to celebrate and consider. A conversation and idea, sparked by the Scanlon Foundation and carried by Welcome to Australia, is now a national network of 26 local councils representing more than 3.5 million people (15 percent … Read More

The Enterprising Program

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The Enterprising Program is a community strengthening and employment generation project piloted in Wyndham City in Melbourne. The program stimulates and nourishes the start-up environment. It unearths business talent, targeting residents with well-developed business ideas or existing early-stage businesses. These emerging entrepreneurs participate in a 14-week Business Start-up Intensive (BSI) … Read More

Register Now for Symposium 2019

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On the 2nd & 3rd of April 2019, the 4th Welcoming Cities Symposium will convene in Brisbane at the redeveloped Howard Smith Wharves. The event will bring together international, national and local practitioners, policy-makers, researchers, business innovators and civic leaders to share and discuss the challenges, benefits and opportunities of … Read More

Home

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Home: right people, right skills, right place, right policy, is a report that includes analysis and commentary on the unintended consequences of the Federal Government’s changes to the immigration programme for Adelaide, regional Australia and their third biggest export market; international students. Home draws from research undertaken by the South … Read More

Murray Bridge

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The aim of this project was to achieve a better understanding of the factors leading to long-term successful settlement outcomes for new migrants in the Rural City of Murray Bridge, with a focus on active citizenship and social participation in community life. The study sought to understand the types and … Read More

Welcoming Cities Symposium 2018

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“Diversity is a reality. Inclusion is a choice.” The bold statement on the Institute for Canadian Citizenship website encapsulates the challenge for policy-makers, civic leaders, governments, businesses and communities both locally and globally. On 23 March 2018, Welcoming Cities will convene its third national symposium in the City of Adelaide. … Read More

Lake Macquarie Joins Welcoming Cities

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Lake Macquarie has reinforced its commitment to being a diverse and inclusive City by becoming the first NSW Council to join the Welcoming Cities network. Mayor of Lake Macquarie, Councillor Kay Fraser, this week signed a formal commitment to Welcoming Cities, a national initiative that promotes social cohesion and the … Read More

Local jobs for local people

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Jobs change lives. They empower individuals, sustain families and strengthen communities. High unemployment levels affect many communities across Australia and the task of tackling this problem has traditionally fallen to the federal and state governments. Local councils are also in an excellent position to understand the changing needs of local … Read More

City of Melton Embraces Welcoming

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Melton City Council has embraced welcoming as one of the key areas of its recently launched Intercultural Plan 2017-2021. A key action of the City’s Intercultural Plan is to join the Welcoming Cities network which Mayor Sophie Ramsey formally endorsed on August 2. The City joins a growing national network … Read More

Darebin joins Welcoming Cities Network

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Darebin Council has officially joined the Welcoming Cities Network to reaffirm and build on its long and proud history of promoting inclusiveness and equality. The City joins a growing national network of local councils who are committed to fostering a sense of community belonging and socioeconomic participation and equality for … Read More

The Art of Welcome

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The idea of welcome as more than a greeting, but as an underpinning of commerce and socioeconomic development, existed centuries before colonial rulers long over-stayed theirs. Richard Trudgen in his seminal work on the Yolŋu outlines the trade practices of the First Nations peoples from what is now known as … Read More

The Role of Local Government in Settlement and Multiculturalism

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“Although settlement planning and multicultural community relations strategies have historically adopted a top-down approach through leadership at federal level, much of the work on the ground has been undertaken at municipal level. What is currently missing in Australia is an agreed and effective inter-governmental strategy that harnesses the potential of … Read More

Building Tomorrow’s Communities

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“That the National General Assembly supports the Welcoming Cities initiative launched by the Scanlon Foundation and Welcome to Australia in March 2016; and the development of The Australian Standard for Welcoming Cities, to support local councils in their work to create more inclusive communities” – Resolution carried at the Australian … Read More

Welcome is Not a Dirty Word

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Current sound bites, headlines and social media diatribe would suggest the life support system has long been turned off on visionary and principled leadership in Australian politics. The daily mantra seems to be – Another day, another opportunity to drive a wedge between ‘us’ and ‘them’. Whether it’s denigrating people … Read More