CMY celebrates at the 2019 Australian Migration & Settlement Awards
Last night, members of CMY staff and the Board were honoured to attend the 2019 Australian Migration and Settlement Awards held by the Migration Council Australia, at Parliament House in Canberra.
CMY was fortunate to be a finalist in two categories this year:
- Girma Seid in the category of Case Worker of the Year
- Welcome Football in the category of Sports Leadership
We’re proud and delighted to share that Girma Seid was announced as the winner, Case Worker of the Year 2019!
This award goes to an individual recognised by their employer and/or community to have performed beyond expectations in the settlement of newly-arrived refugees or migrants.
Girma is known for taking on extremely complex cases with a quiet determination, patience and flexibility. In his role as a Multicultural Youth Worker with CMY, he provides support and guidance for newly-arrived young people from refugee backgrounds – often those who are highly visible, marginalised, and at risk of disengagement. Girma sees it as his role to help these young people feel valued and respected, and to know that there are people who care about them and want to help them create a better life in Australia.
Girma has a very real understanding of where the young people are coming from and engages them from this perspective. Speaking about his approach to working with young people, he said:
“If you want a young person to come to you, you bend over backwards to meet them in the middle. You have to try to speak their language, to gain their acceptance. If you want to defend your ego, do it your way…but if you want to help a young person, you have to do it their way.”
Congratulations on your award Girma, you truly deserve this recognition for your work and we are so fortunate to have you at CMY! Congratulations also to the fellow Finalists for their outstanding passion and dedication, Luba Tanevski from InTouch Multicultural Centre Against Family Violence and Nay Chee Aung from Bendigo Community Health Services.
We’d also like to congratulate Ed Alexander and the Welcome Football crew of Community Champions for being Finalists in the category of Sports Leadership, together with our partners Football Victoria!
This award is for an Australian sports code, organisation or individual that has developed programs or strategies to include new migrants from diverse backgrounds.
Welcome Football uses the world game to promote social cohesion and build connections to the local community for newly-arrived young people and their families, as they are settling in Australia. It’s a tremendous honour to have the program recognised at such a high level. Check out the great work being done through Welcome Football here.
Congratulations to the other finalists in the Sports Leadership category, Multicultural Sports Club and the winner, Football Federation Australia for their ALDI MiniRoos Multicultural Football League.