The Ethnic Communities’ Council of Victoria (ECCV) welcomed the recent funding boost to eleven peak multicultural organisations across Victoria as part of the Victorian Coalition Government’s Peak Multicultural Organisations Grants Program.
ECCV Chairperson Eddie Micallef acknowledged the funding and the role of these organisations in promoting social cohesion:
“We welcome the funding as recognition of the difficult work done by these organisations. With very little resources and relying mainly on the goodwill of volunteers they are still able to punch above their weight in supporting settlement and social cohesion.”
Most of the newly funded organisations are rural and regional ethnic communities’ councils who have been struggling to cope with increasing numbers of arrivals from culturally diverse backgrounds.
In consultations with these organisations ECCV identified some of the main challenges: lack of core funding, lack of housing and culturally competent health services, poor infrastructure, ageing ethnic communities and the need to support local communities and service providers to connect with new arrivals.
The 2013/14 Peak Multicultural Organisations Grants Program awarded $1.45 million over two years with grants ranging from $75,000 to $150,000.
“This funding will enable grant recipients to better support ethnic communities in the long term and reach out to more community groups,” said Mr Micallef.