Ethnic Communities' Council of Victoria

ECCV is pleased to invite you to our 2024 Annual General Meeting on Thursday, 5 December. It will be a special evening, where we will also commemorate ECCV's 50th anniversary milestone and celebrate the achievements of multicultural Victoria over the past half-century. We hope you can join us at Fitzroy Town Hall next month to hear from distinguished guest speakers Ingrid Stitt MP, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, and Dr Hass Dellal AO, Executive Director of the Australian Multicultural Foundation. 📅 Thursday, 5 December 2024 ⏰ 6:00pm - 8:30pm 🏛️ Fitzroy Town Hall | 201 Napier St, Fitzroy Find out more and register here: bit.ly/eccv24agm

Racism has no place in our society, whether it's in Parliament, on public transport or at the pub.

🪔 Happy Diwali to all the diverse communities across Victoria celebrating the Festival of Lights! Diwali is an important religious and cultural holiday for Hindu, Jain, Sikh and Buddhist communities among others, and we hope this Diwali is a beautiful, light-filled one for all.

👏🏾 Congratulations to the new Board members of FECCA (Federation of Ethnic Communities' Councils of Australia), who were appointed earlier this month at the FECCA Conference 2024. The new FECCA Board is made up of 11 members, including ECCV Deputy Chair Jill Morgan AM who was appointed as Senior Deputy Chair - Women and Sunraysia Mallee Ethnic Communities Council CEO Akesa Kei who was appointed as Regional Chair. Eddie Micallef continues to represent Victoria as ECCV Chairperson. We look forward to working closely with the new Board, led by Chairperson Peter Doukas OAM of the Ethnic Communities' Council of NSW, to achieve greater outcomes for our diverse multicultural communities and ensure every Australian has the opportunity to thrive.

✨ Congratulations to Wellsprings for Women CEO Dalal Smiley who was inducted into the Victorian Honour Roll for Women this month! Dalal has dedicated decades to serving Victoria's multicultural communities, and migrant women in particular. From driving progressive programs at the City of Darebin to leading the transition of the Victorian Arabic Network to Victorian Arabic Social Services, Dalal has done it all. Since her appointment as Wellsprings CEO in 2017, she has used her leadership and advocacy skills to expand programs and community outreach, ensuring the Dandenong-based organisation can help women to not only overcome family violence and its associated challenges, but to thrive in every aspect of life. ECCV is proud to call Wellsprings for Women one of our members.

🍃 Our new CEO Farah Farouque officially started today! Here she is enjoying a short break on the balcony between meetings. Farah brings with her substantial experience in social policy, advocacy and strategic communications, combined with senior leadership roles in the community sector. Prior to joining ECCV, she was Director of Community Engagement at Tenants Victoria and Principal Advisor for Public Affairs and Policy at the Brotherhood of St Laurence. Farah is the long-standing Chairperson of The Social Studio, a social enterprise tapping into the design talents of young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds. She also serves on the advisory board of the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation.

💙 💙💙 It's National Carers Week, a time to recognise and celebrate our country's 3 million unpaid carers and the incredible contributions they make day in, day out. Did you know that if it weren't for unpaid carers, their equivalent paid services would cost Australia $78 billion a year? This is just one of the many eye-opening statistics gathered as part of Carers Australia's Wellbeing Survey 2024. The survey also found that carers are three times more likely to report high levels of loneliness compared to the average Australian. So much more must be done to support carers. This is especially true for carers from migrant and refugee backgrounds, who face additional barriers like cultural stigma and a lack of culturally and linguistically appropriate services. ECCV is committed to advocating for the rights and needs of carers in our diverse communities. Because everyone deserves to be cared for.

✨ ECCV's Multicultural Young Advocacy Group (MYAG) were excited to meet the good folks at Victorian Health Promotion Foundation (VicHealth) yesterday and deliver a training session on the importance of centering lived experience and intersectionality in multicultural youth mental health. Thank you to everyone who attended and contributed to a thought-provoking discussion, including VicHealth CEO Dr Sandro Demaio who made a surprise appearance! Congratulations to MYAG members Aristidis T, Danica Meas, Simran P. and Dieudonne Etoile who have been hard at work developing the training module over the past few months! We look forward to sharing more about their work soon.

Welcome to Icare Wecare Consultancy, who offer culturally tailored training, assessments, family mediation and consultancy services. The organisation is inspired by the African philosophy of "Ubuntu," which underscores the importance of community and belonging, encapsulating the idea that "we need each other." If your organisation would like to become a member of ECCV, go to: eccv.org.au/membership.

On Saturday, ECCV Partnerships & Engagement Lead Surmeli Yesilyurt and Danica Meas, Simran P. and Aristidis T from our Multicultural Youth Advocacy Group attended the inaugural Multicultural Youth Awards ceremony at Parliament House. The event was a celebration of the incredible talents of young Victorians from migrant and refugee backgrounds, and brought together young changemakers, parliamentarians, and community leaders. We heard a number of inspiring speeches emphasising the importance of resilience and perseverance in driving community change from the Hon Natalie Suleyman MP, Minister for Youth; Liana Buchanan, Principal Commissioner for Children and Young People; Yusuf L., Director of Multicultural Youth Group and Lauren Mullings, CEO of Multicultural Arts Victoria. The event was a brilliant showcase of the achievements of multicultural young people in a variety of fields from sports to the performing arts to academia as well as their contributions to their community and the state through volunteering, leadership and advocacy. We offer our heartfelt congratulations to all finalists and winners! 🥳