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 July 2011
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NEWS AND VIEWS
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Being Recognised – Sinke's journey
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| | Sinke Wesho is an Oromo refugee who migrated to Australia at the end of 2007. Her story shows what can happen when young people from migrant backgrounds are given the support to overcome the barriers thrown up in front of them as they attempt to settle in Australia.
| My people come from the horn of Africa and their reason of migrating has been due to a brutal government regime. We have been driven out of our country because we are what we are, Oromos. Although we are about 45 million in Oromia, we have been forced to be called Ethiopians and refused the opportunity to call ourselves Oromo; we had our lands grabbed off us and our families, students and elites have been imprisoned for decades. Mind you, this is still happening!
| Click here to read the rest of Sinke's story.
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YRIPP funding continues
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CMY is pleased that the Baillieu Government has confirmed the continuation of funding for the Youth Referral and Independent Person Program. Click here to read Minister Peter Ryan’s announcement of funding for 2011-12. We are particularly excited about the Minister’s commitment to providing funding for the service beyond the current financial year, which is something for which we have been advocating since the program’s inception in 2003.
So many individuals and organisations have helped over the past few months to raise awareness of the program and its importance in supporting young people at such a crucial time in their lives. It was the incredible support of our many volunteers across Victoria, however, that we believe made the biggest difference. We would like to take the opportunity to acknowledge their fantastic efforts in doing so much to ensure that the program achieved such a significant public profile. It’s great to have such a committed group of volunteers who believe in the importance of YRIPP. Many volunteers wrote letters and emails and/or held phone conversations and meetings with their local members of parliament and relevant Ministers. Many volunteers also appeared in media articles and radio interviews.
CMY would also like to acknowledge the great work of the YRIPP team through times of uncertainty – thanks for hanging in there and for all your work! More YRIPP information available, as ever, at the YRIPP website.
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Law reform commission calls for 'support person' scheme
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The announcement of continued funding for YRIPP comes as the Victorian Law Reform Commission (VLRC) has recommended the establishment of a statewide scheme to support young people in police custody.
The recently-released VLRC report, 'Supporting Young People in Police Interviews', was undertaken by the VLRC at the suggestion of YRIPP, CMY and the Youth Affairs Council of Victoria. It makes 24 recommendations, including:
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- building on the success of the YRIPP pilot program and establishing the scheme statewide with a pool of trained people;
- having the legislation clearly describe the role of the person to inform young people of their legal rights and supporting them when they choose to exercise those rights;
- changing the name from ‘independent person’ to ‘support person’ to better indicate the nature of the role; and
- clearly indicating the consequences of failing to comply with the requirement that a young person be supported by a parent, guardian or support person during police questioning.
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Click here to view the full report at the VLRC website.
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WHAT'S NEW AT CMY?
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Learning Beyond the Bell hosts successful 2011 forum
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On 23 June 2011 the Learning Beyond the Bell (LBB) program held its second statewide forum, Learning Together: Improving Homework Clubs to Realise Student Potential. Over 130 people from community organisations, schools, local and state government, universities and libraries involved with homework programs attended from around Victoria.
The morning sessions gave an overview of LBB and some of its achievements and future directions, including an address by the Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Citizenship, Nicholas Kotsiras.
The Minister expressed his enthusiasm for LBB and made a commitment to advocate to Government for ongoing funding for the program. A particular highlight for many was the student panel that Minister Kotsiras facilitated, whereby current and former students talked about how homework clubs had helped them. Dr Kirsten Hutchison, who will soon be undertaking a new study of homework programs in schools and communities, discussed her research on homework programs through sharing different perspectives on these ‘culturally inclusive sites’.
Coordinators from three homework programs gave a fascinating insight into what makes their programs successful, focusing on volunteer recruitment and management, school-community organisation partnerships and family engagement. The final half of the day centred on practical workshops aimed at those involved in homework programs.
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Participants were overwhelmingly positive about sharing experiences and learning about new strategies for running homework programs and appreciated the opportunity to meet others in the sector.
We thank everybody involved in the forum and we look forward to continuing to facilitate learning and to provide opportunities to share inspiring experiences that engage students in positive learning environments. To access some of the presentations from the day, click here to visit the LBB website.
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Brimbank Young Men’s Project - report now available
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| | Regular readers of CMY e-News my recall an article in the November 2010 edition that took a look at the Brimbank Young Men’s Project, a two year pilot initiative of CMY. The project aims to help young men of African backgrounds who are disengaged (or at high risk of being disengaged) from education, training and employment; have had contact with the police; and are experiencing other difficulties with settlement.
A full report on the project has been prepared on behalf of CMY by Dr Malcolm Turnbull and Dr Helen Stokes of Melbourne University’s Youth Research Centre, and you can download a copy from the link below.
|  download (1MB)
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Multicultural Media Exchange
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A new project aims to give a voice to those from indigenous, refugee and migrant backgrounds who are missing – and at times misrepresented – in the mainstream media.
In what is thought to be a first for both journalism and multiculturalism in Australia, Multicultural Media Exchange links its young reporters with mentors from the mainstream media, engaging both in the art of storytelling from a multicultural point of view.
Stories will be published on the Multicultural Media Exchange website at www.newaustraliamedia.org, and in Leader Community Newspapers.
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What we do:
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- Develop a journalist mentoring program to provide young people from a diverse range of backgrounds with the skills to speak out on behalf of their communities;
- Promote cultural awareness among journalists and thus encourage fairness and respect for new and emerging communities in the media; and
- Create an online multicultural news service at www.newaustraliamedia.org promoting a diverse range of stories and sources for both the mainstream and multicultural media.
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Why we do it:
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- The public - to give all Australians a window into our multicultural society;
- The media - to encourage diversity in the mainstream media and strengthen the multicultural media through engagement and professional development; and
- Young people - to develop the communication and leaderships skills necessary for our young people to speak out on behalf of their communities.
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Download a copy of the brochure for more information, or contact Ilz Aslan at CMY – 9340 3700 or iaslan@cmy.net.au.
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download brochure (216kb)
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SNAPSHOT
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Race Around the City
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The Level 3 Youth Class (YC) at Dandenong AMES recently completed CMY’s Leadership and Project Development Training program. The students really embraced the program and it was amazing to watch the change in their confidence over the weeks! It was a 9 week program where students engaged in one session per week to learn about different leadership styles, practice public speaking, explore issues they care about and work together as a class to organise their own youth-led project. Their project was a huge success and we congratulate Melbourne’s newest young leaders on a job well done!
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- Alice Chew, CMY Project Officer – Youth Participation
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Almost 60 youth students from Dandenong had an excursion to Melbourne city on Wednesday 29 June.
The excursion was a bit different and very special. It was planned and organised by Dandenong AMES YC students who had participated in the CMY Leadership Program. In the program they learned about leadership styles and developed public speaking skills, decision making skills and project planning skills. Students used their knowledge and experience that they had learned to figure out all the problems and arrange every step of the project. They also invited another two classes to join the excursion.
All students were divided into five groups and raced around the city. They tried to accomplish their tasks as soon as possible, starting from Flinders Street, continuing on to Chinatown, passing the State Library, Parliament House and then to other famous scenic spots to Federation Square to get a prize.
The highlights of the day came when they happily celebrated their achievement in the leadership program.
Teachers and students made the following comments:
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"I have been in city before but just shopping or looking around. I am surprised that there are so many beautiful places in Melbourne city that I didn’t know before. We really enjoyed the excursion." Geetha, student
| "It was great fun. I have learnt a lot about Melbourne city. I will visit the city with my friends on the weekend and show them the places that we visited today." Tom, student
| "Before the program I couldn’t imagine I could plan a project and work with other classmates so well, but now we all achieved it and built up our confidence as well. The excursion was a result of our hard work. Awesome!" Feven, student
| "It was wonderful to see Level 1, 2, 3 students working together so harmoniously. YC students really enjoyed the CMY Leadership Program and were great project designers and leaders." James, AMES Teacher
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- Niki Chen, YC student
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WHAT'S NEW IN THE SECTOR
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Details of upcoming events, conferences and new resources in the multicultural youth sector. If you have an event or resource you want promoted through CMY Digest, please send details to info@cmy.net.au
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Youth Law and Juvenile Justice Forum
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CMY is a supporter of the second Annual National Youth Law and Juvenile Justice Forum, which will bring together professionals and representatives from government, social and community organisations working in the area of Juvenile Justice to discuss new approaches and practical solutions in relation to young offenders. The case studies will highlight how leading organisations from across Australia are providing greater support and assistance to at risk youth groups.
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When: 23 and 24 August
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Where: Mantra on Little Bourke (471 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne)
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download flyer (464kb)
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More information is available on the Liquid Learning website.
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A regularly-updated list of new resources and upcoming events in the multicultural youth sector
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IN THE MEDIA
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Multicultural youth issues in the media – what are some of the issues that are making it into the news? If you come across media articles you think should be highlighted in this newsletter, please forward to info@cmy.net.au
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Please note that the views expressed in any articles featured do not necessarily reflect the views of CMY.
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Piecing Australia Together: The Paradox of Cultural Diversity in an Evolving Nation (Walter Lippman Memorial Lecture, 18 July 2011)
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This inaugural lecture at the Wheeler Centre of Books, Writing and Ideas expores issues and ideas about multiculturalism in the contemporary world. Speakers, were Ethnic Communities' Council of Victoria Chairman Sam Afra and Director Ross Barnett, Lippmann’s grandson Matthew Albert, former prime minister Malcolm Fraser, and Tim Costello.
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> view video of the lecture at the Wheeler Centre website
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A few of the more intelligent reactions to SBS' attention-grabbing 'Go Back to Where You Came From' series, which you can still view in full on the SBS website. The website also contains 'The Fact Test', an interactive quiz to test your knowledge of facts around immigration policy. Click here to give it a try.
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The Big Brother Moment (New Matilda, 4 July 2011)
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When reality TV tackles the big issues, it can spark genuine debate in the community. It got big ratings but did 'Go Back...' reach as far as its commercial counterparts?
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> read the article at New Matilda
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Reality TV Gets Real (New Matilda, 22 June 2011)
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'Go Back...' did in one night what television news and current affairs has failed to do in a decade – allowing ordinary Australians to imagine what it’s like to be an asylum seeker.
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> read the article at New Matilda
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In Australia, Reality TV Tackles Immigration (New York Times, 21 June 2011)
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An international perspective on 'Go Back...', courtesy of the New York Times, which also provides some background on the wider issues related to asylum seekers and related media coverage.
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> read the article at the New York Times
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