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Welcome to our October 2022 newsletter!
These past couple of months have flown by and we are now nearing the end of October. From events surrounding mental health, to consultations and winning good practice on youth engagement in COVID-19 response, MYAN has been staying engaged in the sector and with young people. Read on for more information on our recent activities and opportunities!
Thanks for supporting our work!
The MYAN team.
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The Award Winning “Day in our life” Series: An Example of Good Practice.
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YAN at the launch of Mental Health Month
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For the launch of National Mental Health Month this year, our Youth Ambassadors were invited by the Mental Health Foundation Australia (MHFA) to give their perspective on mental health as young people from multicultural backgrounds. The MHFA leads the National Mental Health Month to “advocate for and raise awareness of Australian mental health”.
In their speeches, MYAN Youth Ambassadors Mimona, Nayonika, Sadeqa and Hanienah spoke about their lived experience and their mental health as CaLD young people living in Australia.
To watch snippets from their speech, click here.
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YCDC Attends Disability Royal Commission Hearing
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Youth CALD Disability Collective (YCDC) members Cindy and Ash attended the October Disability Royal Commission (DRC) public hearings which focused on the experiences of violence against, abuse, neglect and exploitation of people with disability from culturally and linguistically diverse communities. Cindy highlighted the the intersection between ableism and racism in her lived experience, particularly in education. Ash says "people think the concept of 'functioning' and 'good and bad students' are objective, when in reality they are affected by cultural attitudes as well as environments" hence they felt the need to exaggerate their disability to access the necessary support.
Find out more about the DRC here.
Reach out and find out more about YCDC here.
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YAN Alumni Zahra is the 2022 WA young person of the year
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MYAN’s team would like to congratulate Zahra, our Western Australian 2021 YAN alumni, for being recognised as 2022 WA Young Person of the Year for her advocacy on gender equality, migrants and refugees. Youth Minister Dave Kelly shared these comments on the occasion: "Zahra is an inspiring young leader whose advocacy for gender equality, migrants and refugees and intersectional representation has made waves across the world…Beyond her impressive resume, Zahra is committed to supporting her peers, uplifting the voices of the voiceless and striving for equality and justice at every turn.”
Zahra will receive $10,000 in funding, supported through Lotterywest, to deliver an impact-focused project for young people in Western Australia.
Find out more from this media statement from the Government of Western Australia.
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YAN at the African Community Reception in Queensland
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The Queensland government hosted the African Community Reception on Tuesday the 11th of October at the Parliament House. Present were MYAN’s Youth Ambassador Darcy, Youth Reference Group member Grace, and YCDC member Zaheera.
It was an evening that strongly showcased and celebrated the enormous positive contributions of the leaders from across the African community and CALD and indigenous leaders and elder to Queensland and Australia.
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Darcy shared his thoughts about the event:
“It was a great honour to be invited for this event that happened for the first time. We had a chance to meet and discuss with the Queensland members of the parliament. Queensland is a growing state and it is beautiful to see how the premier is bringing all communities together and recognising them for their contribution to this state. ”
Click here to watch a snippet of the event.
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Mental Wellbeing and Multicultural Communities Forum
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On the 17th of October, the Manningham Council held a Mental well-being and Multicultural Communities Forum as part of the National Mental Health week. The purpose of the forum was to highlight the importance of looking after your mental health and well-being, and the support that is available in your local community.
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Our National Youth Leadership & Advocacy Officer, Martika Shakoor attended the event and spoke about the challenges and barriers of young multicultural people accessing support and certain measures that services can implement to improved our experiences with the mental health system.
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Our Volunteer in Research
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MYAN is proud to share that our current volunteer Hemanvarni Doma has published a paper on “Understanding the relationship between social support and mental health of humanitarian migrants resettled in Australia” in the journal of BMC Public Health.
Varni joined the team in June after completing her Master's in Public Health in 2021 at Monash university. Her contributions to multiple MYAN projects have been invaluable. We would like to thank Varni for volunteering her time, resources and expertise to the team and congratulate her on publishing her research project.
You can read the article here!
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On the occasion of International Youth Day, Multicultural Youth Advocacy Network and Monash University had a soft launch of FIVE amazing projects with Dr. Mugdha Rai’s students of Master of Strategic Communication Management.
They have worked closely with MYAN’s young people and all of these projects were youth-led.
Stay tuned for updates on this partnership.
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Understanding COVID-19 Vaccines for Children
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Understanding COVID-19 vaccines for children is an online information session cum consultation to support families to be more empowered and informed about their children’s vaccine. Parents will have the opportunity to ask questions and a doctor from the DOH will help answer questions. The session aims to be fun, interactive, and relaxed. The talk is free and supported by the Multicultural Youth Advocacy Network (MYAN). The information session will be held online for 1.5 hours.
The time and date will be announced closer to the date.
One parent from each family will receive a gift card!
Click below to register
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Registration closes on 3rd November 2022.
For any further details contact Dr.Ali Saha, Communication and Engagement Officer
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Sector Consultation on Vaccine Intake in CALD Communities
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MYAN recently held a sector consultation to better understand how the members from the sectors across Australia disseminated information about the COVID-19 vaccine to members of multicultural communities. The conversation gave MYAN an insight into the barriers that the sector was experiencing such as faith based hesitancy, concerns with fertility and general mistrust in Australian authorities.
Some of the strategies that were highlighted included providing multilingual information, legitimising the message by involving medical professionals and focusing on grassroots initiatives. MYAN would like to thank all the organisations that participated in the consultation and offered to share their knowledge and expertise. This will support MYAN’s work in vaccine intake and advocacy.
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Online Consultations on Inquiry into the Extent and Nature of Poverty in Australia
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MYAN and its state and territory partners will be conducting consultations to inform and prepare a submission into the inquiry into the extent and nature of poverty in Australia. We aim to include the experiences and reflections of young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds from across Australia. Click on the links below for more information.
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Click here to register for the online South Australia and Victoria on the on 9th November 2022 at 6 pm AEDT
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Click here to register for the online Western Australia consultation on the 10th November 2022 at 5pm AEDT
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2023 Queer Displacements Conference - Forcibly Displaced People's Network
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The Forcibly Displaced Peoples Network has announced the 2023 Queer Displacements Conference – the second Asia-Pacific conference to cover LGBTIQ+ asylum and migration! The Queer Displacements is the first and only conference in the Asia Pacific designed to comprehensibly foreground protection and settlement challenges of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ+) forcibly displaced people.
The 2023 Queer Displacements is organised in partnership with Equal Asia Foundation.
Find out more here.
Click below to attend the 2023 Queer Displacements conference. Applications closes on November 1, 2022
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Young people remain among the most in need as we begin the recovery from COVID-19, in particular those facing structural barriers to economic and social participation, including young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds who make up almost half of Australia’s youth population. The Federal Budget’s plans to invest in young people and their futures (and by extension, the future of Australia), is indicative of how the government is listening to and responding to the voices of young people in this country.
We are pleased to see the budget responds to a number of initiatives we have long advocated for and are optimistic at plans to create new employment and education opportunities. However, we are concerned that this budget falls short of addressing a number of issues of key importance to young people, including income support, housing and increased support for refugees and asylum seekers.
Read more on MYAN's response to the federal budget 2022.
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Data Snapshot: Multicultural Youth in Australia
MYAN recently developed a Youth Data Snapshot. This infographic captures data on young people based on information from the most recent Census along with some other resources.
Click here to see it.
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The #RaisetheAge Campaign
The Northern Territory government has announced that it will be introducing new legislation to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 12 years old. Although raising the age to 12 is a step in the right direction, the consensus among the proponents of raising the age insist that anything less than 14 is not good enough. Change the record continues to advocate for the age to be raised to at least 14 years old.
The #RaiseTheAge campaign maintains that when children are forced through a criminal legal process, at such a formative time in their development, they can suffer lifelong harm to their health, wellbeing and future.
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Information Pack for Multicultural Communities about COVID-19
Need some Covid-19 resources for your multicultural community? This information pack includes resources on health and safety tips to protect yourself against COVID-19, rapid antigen tests, what to do if you test positive for COVID-19, and oral treatments that are available for some people after they test positive. What's even better is that this pack is available in up to 63 languages!
Click here for more information.
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Information Pack for Multicultural Communities about COVID-19 Vaccines
Check out this resource on the Covid-19 vaccines. This information pack includes resources on the benefits of vaccination against COVID-19, vaccination for children and people who are pregnant and breastfeeding, COVID-19 vaccine doses, and why you should keep up to date with your vaccinations after testing positive. This information pack is also translated in 63 languages!
Click here for more information.
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What more would you like to hear from MYAN?
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