S4: Addressing the barriers to authentic engagement involving vulnerable community groups

Time: 11:00am – 11:50am
Location: King Room
Facilitator: Melissa Monteiro, Chief Executive Officer, Community Migrant Resource Centre

4.1 Developing a community engagement plan through preliminary engagement with service providers for Wollongong City Libraries’ Learning City Project 

Lara Pugh
Wollongong City Council 

About the presentation

What is the best way for Council to communicate and engage with the communities you work with? This one of the key questions service providers and community groups were asked during an 8-week preliminary engagement period for the Learning City Project. In February-March 2022, over 40 briefings were delivered to networks, service providers and community groups, and mapped against a community segmentation tool to ensure that there was fair representation from the diverse members of the Wollongong community. The findings from preliminary engagement shaped the development of a community engagement plan that took steps to overcome the barriers to engagement for the ‘hardly reached’ residents of Wollongong such as our multicultural communities

About the presenter

Lara Pugh is the Project Leader Learning City at Wollongong City Libraries. With 10 years’ experience teaching English as a Second or Other Language to adult migrants, she has a strong understanding of how to effectively communicate and engage with multicultural communities.

4.2 Practical guidance for engaging culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) carers in research, consultations, and capacity building 

Grace Cherrington
Carers NSW 

About the presentation

Approximately 854,300 people in NSW provide care for a family member or friend who lives with a disability, mental illness, or health condition. Caring is even more common in culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities. Despite the considerable contributions of carers to families, communities, and the Australian economy, carers often report that their efforts go unrecognised, leaving them with inadequate support. Increased inclusion of CALD carers in carer-focused services and activities and broader CALD-focused services and activities is critical to better understanding and responding to the experiences and support needs of CALD carers. The Engaging with CALD carers toolkit includes an evidence-based guide to engaging with CALD carers, based focus groups conducted with CALD carers in 2018 and expert input. An overview sheet and checklist were developed to help operationalise these learnings for Carers NSW staff and other stakeholders. The focus of the toolkit is on increasing CALD carers' involvement in research, consultation and capacity-building activities conducted by governments, carer-focused, or CALD-focused organisations. This presentation will outline the development and content of the Engaging with CALD carers toolkit, highlighting opportunities for the public and private sectors to improve their recognition and inclusion of carers.

About the presenter

Grace Cherrington is a policy officer working within the Policy and Research Team at Carers NSW. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Science majoring in Gender Studies from Macquarie University. She has an interest in gender theory, social policy and family and friend carers.

4.3 CULTURAL PARADIGM:  Issues and Barriers faced by people with disability from CALD and NES backgrounds and Solutions 

Bharat Rai & Mely Mackey
Multicultural Disability Advocacy Association 

About the presentation 

MDAA is a state-wide disability advocacy service, providing services for all people with a disability, and their families in NSW, with expertise in supporting people from CALD and Non-English-Speaking backgrounds. One of the projects MDAA is currently running is Community Voices (CV), which helps to build the capacity of people with disabilities and their carers from CALD backgrounds, as well as raise awareness of disabilities and diversity through sharing their stories. The presenters will outline some issues and barriers faced by people with disabilities from CALD backgrounds as well as share experiences on how MDAA addressed those issues. 

About the presenters

Bharat Rai 

Bharat is the Manager of Multicultural Disability Advocacy Association (MDAA) of NSW and manages DCJ funded Disability Advocacy Futures Program. 

Mely Mackey 

Mely is a Member of MDAA’s Community Voices Program

4.4 Money Matters: Using communication tools to combat financial abuse in diverse communities

Shannon Wright
Seniors Rights Service

About the presentation

Seniors Rights Service delivers legal, aged care advocacy, and information services to seniors across NSW. We ensure our services are both accessible to, and appropriate for, people from all backgrounds. Older women from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds suffering elder abuse often live with few supports or avenues to leave an abusive relationship. There can be significant cultural, linguistic and family barriers to recognising elder abuse and raising concerns. Collaborating with representative community organisations, we have produced a range of videos in community languages that tell stories of elder abuse in families. Part funded by a grant from Multicultural NSW these resources raise awareness of these issues involved and can be used as discussion starters at community events. These resources can help people recognise when abuse may be occurring and provide support and advice to do something about it.

About the presenters

Shannon Wright is the CEO of Seniors Rights Service