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National News
MYAN National Youth Settlement Data Report 2017-18
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MYAN Australia has released a Data Report on Youth Settlement Trends 2017-2018 and an infographic snapshot. This report provides a comprehensive overview of national trends in youth settlement in the Humanitarian and broader Migration Programme, looking at demographic data, state/territory trends, religion, English language and visa sub-classes. Using the latest data from the Department of Social Services the snapshot provides a national overview on youth arrivals from family, skilled and humanitarian programme streams.
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Young People's Plenary at Families Australia ChildAware Conference
MYAN Youth Ambassador (QLD), Grace Edward & FUSE 2019 delegate Mary Harm recently spoke at the Families Australia ChildAware Conference on the Young People’s Plenary on "Keeping Children and Young People Safe from Abuse". Mary and Grace shared their perspectives on how child safe organisations can be more inclusive in a cross-cultural context, what safety means to them and how these concepts can improve outcomes for children and young people. The panel received a standing ovation and organisers have said the young people's perspectives made a strong impact on conference delegates.
Read an Opinion Piece on the plenary by Paris McMahon, Young Thinker in Residence for the ACT Human Rights Commission. Find an archive of child aware resources here.
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On summarising the key takeaways, Mary and Grace said:
Mary: “Don’t underestimate the power of storytelling. How do we encourage young people to show up in places and tell their story. Storytelling humanises us. It’s about people, it’s about love, it’s about belonging.”
Grace: “Make sure the work we are doing is tailored to the individual. We’re all different. Ask young people and their families what they need, don’t tell them.”
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Young Social Enterpriser, Hedayat Oslan making waves
Hedayat Oslan, a young social enterpriser who is a former MYAN NSW Youth Ambassador and FUSE 2014 delegate, was recently featured in SBS News, speaking about his goals to assist refugees and asylum seekers to become independent and empowered through training and employment opportunity. His tiling business, Nick Tiling, employs 15 people from refugee backgrounds.
Hedayat is also blazing trails through his human rights advocacy. He presented a TEDx Sydney talk in May, highlighting the barriers to employment and training faced by people from refugee and asylum seeker background, and the positive contributions they make when provided with opportunities.
Well done, Hedayat and keep up the fantastic work!
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Mental Health National Consultation
On Monday 3rd June, MYAN hosted a national consultation to hear directly from those working with young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds about mental health issues affecting young people and how services can best support their mental health and well-being. Mental health, and the lack of culturally inclusive youth services, is consistently identified by young people and the sector as a priority issue. It was one of MYAN’s 8 policy priorities in our Federal Election Platform. This consultation was part of a research project being conducted by the Centre for Multicultural Youth (CMY) in Victoria, commissioned by the National Centre for Excellence in Youth Mental Health.
Participants from a range of sectors, including education and training, settlement, government and health services came together from across Australia to share valuable insights on current gaps in service provision and examples of good practice in mental health services for young people from refugee and migrant and refugee backgrounds.
Gaps included limited or no availability of interpreting services or services delivered in language; stigma, cultural beliefs and awareness related to mental health, service system eligibility and referrals, and limited resources for regional/rural Australia. Models of good practice were also shared, with co-location services, whole-of-school approaches and outreach highlighted as positive examples, among others.
The project will develop a best practice framework to support the 31 National Primary Health Networks (PHN)s in commissioning effective, high quality programs aimed at improving the mental health and well-being of young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds. MYAN will share the outcomes of the project and continue engaging with the sector to inform our ongoing advocacy in this area.
If you would like to join a google group on this issue, contact MYAN's Policy and Advocacy Officer, Shannon White - shannon@myan.org.au
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News from States and Territories
Youth Matters Forum 2019!
The Youth Matters Forum 2019, led by the MyQ State wide Leadership Council will raise attention and call to action strategies to address matters that are currently affecting young people from migrant and refugee backgrounds in Queensland, with a focus on employment, education and health. Find out more and register to attend here.
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ACT Multicultural Framework Second Action Plan 2019-2020
MYAN welcomes the ACT Multicultural Framework 2015-2020, which details the Government’s vision for an accessible, inclusive and cohesive Canberra. The First Action Plan of the Framework delivered on 28 actions and outcomes in 2015-2018. The Plan communicates the outcomes the ACT Government are committed to, as well as practical actions they will take and how they will measure success.
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In the Media
South Sudanese youth speaking up about mental health
SBS recently published a news story about a group of South Sudanese-Australian young people in Melbourne who are shining a light on mental health and suicide after rising concerns and tragic deaths in their communities. The group, including Titan Debirioun, a Young Initiator and Shoutout Speaker with the Centre for Multicultural Youth (CMY), are coming together to combat the taboo and stigma around mental health, and to highlight the impact of the current political landscape and dangers of racialised discourse on the mental health of their community.
Non-English speaking families face greater hurdles over mental health care
Read an SBS article about a new report, Use and predictors of health services among Australian children with mental health problems: A national prospective study by Melissa Mulraney and Harriet Hiscock from the Murdoch Children's Research Institute posits that non-English speaking families face greater hurdles over mental health care and found that girls, younger children and families from non-English speaking backgrounds are least likely to access mental health services.
The Line's 'Never Follow' campaign promoting healthier masculinities
The Line's Never Follow campaign was developed to support young men to develop positive personal identities not constrained by gender stereotypes. The campaign focuses on promoting healthier masculinities so that all young men can live free from limiting and rigid stereotypes. Watch a short clip from the campaign below.
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Opportunities
Mission Australia's Youth Survey 2019
Mission Australia's Annual Youth Survey is now open. The Youth Survey is Australia’s largest online youth survey, providing a platform for young people aged 15 to 19 to ‘speak up’ about the issues that really concern them.
The survey closes on the 31st of July 2019, with results to be analysed and released before the end of the year.
FYA's Young Social Pioneers - Applications Open
The Young Social Pioneers program is designed to back and support young people with the initiative, drive and ideas to lead change in their communities and across the planet. In 2019, FYA are supporting a new cohort of social innovators aged 18-29 through the Young Social Pioneers bootcamps. Apply here.
Australian Human Rights Awards 2019- Nominations Open
The Human Rights Awards recognise and celebrate the extraordinary contributions of individuals, organisations and businesses to the field of human rights each year. Nominations can be submitted under nine categories: the Human Rights Medal, the Young People’s Human Rights Medal, Law Award, Business Award, ‘Racism. It Stops With Me’ Award, Government Award, Community Organisation Award, Tony Fitzgerald Memorial Community Individual Award and the Media Award.
Nominations are open until Monday 15 July 2019. Find more information here.
FECCA 2019 National Biennial Conference Scholarships
The Federation of Ethnic Communities’ Councils of Australia (FECCA) is seeking applications for the Scholarship Program to attend, and actively participate in, the FECCA 2019 National Biennial Conference – Purpose. Leadership. Progress: FECCA: 40 years and beyond – in Hobart, TAS, on 9-11 October 2019.
Applications close 21 July. Find out more here.
Melbourne Create Change Fellowship
Democracy in Colour is partnering with cohealth to deliver a Melbourne-based program which trains young people of colour (aged 18-35) in all aspects of social change – everything from strategy, leadership and political engagement to digital, communications and fundraising. Find out more here.
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Continuities and Change: Some reflections on 21 years of anti-racist youth work is a recent article by Rick Bowler and Amina Razak from the University of Sunderland in Youth & Policy which considers the positive impact of anti-racist youth work provisions in Sunderland. Drawing on research, Bowler and Razak share their reflections on how the multicultural youth work approach adopted by Young Asian Voices provides a counter narrative that seeks to challenge xeno-racist assumptions.
A new report published by Australian Red Cross Forced Marriage: Community Voices, Stories and Strategies informed by a series of consultations highlights a number of community-identified methods of addressing forced marriage.
Let's talk race: A guide on how to conduct a conversation about racism is a guide by The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) to assist Australian organisations in conducting meaningful and productive conversations about racism. It can be used in conventional workplaces, community groups, faith organisations, sporting clubs as well as other organisations. While it is designed to be useful as a ‘proactive’ document, it can also be used to assist in facilitating conversations about racism after an incident has occurred.
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A final report on an independent review by the University of NSW, Is headpsace Making a Difference to Young People's Lives? evaluates the effectiveness of headspace in provision on mental health support and services for young people. The evaluation includes important findings about the engagement of CALD young people and their families, particularly with regards to the low usage of headspace amongst young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds.
Ethnic divides in schooling is a discussion paper examining the impact of increasing cultural diversity on our education system in two main arenas: firstly, variation of educational outcomes of LBOTE students and, secondly, enrolment in schools. Using My School data, the analysis shows varying educational outcomes of students from a language background other than English (LBOTE).
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