THE Ballarat Regional Multicultural Centre hosted several special guests last Friday.<\/p>\n
Groups from eight Victorian regions took part in an annual forum of the Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria, which represents over 200 of the state\u2019s multicultural organisations.<\/p>\n
\u201c[We are] swapping information, developing strategies and learning from each other,\u201d said ECCV board chair Eddie Micallef.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the major takeaway is that a lot of the good work that\u2019s being done can be built on in response to things like COVID and the integration of our multicultural communities.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a great centre here in Ballarat. They\u2019ve got a great facility and they should be very proud of what they\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
BRMC chair Joy Juma said lessons learned from other councils would benefit Ballarat\u2019s multicultural community.<\/p>\n
\u201cGetting to hear what the other ethnic communities are doing is so important with regards to how we could be doing better here,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs much as we all have different things for different communities, everyone has something that we can all learn from each other.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor us, that means enhancing our support for our different cultures especially in terms of bridging skill and language barriers, and our aging migrant communities have come to our attention more as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ballarat previously hosted the ECCV as part of their state conference in 2019, and Ms Juma said she is happy to show the other councils how things are done in the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are very privileged for them to come here,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve come to have a taste of Ballarat and our hospitality so we\u2019re privileged to show them how hospitable, multicultural and inclusive we are.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
THE Ballarat Regional Multicultural Centre hosted several special guests last Friday. Groups from eight Victorian regions took part in an annual forum of the Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria, which represents over 200 of the state\u2019s multicultural organisations. \u201c[We are] swapping information, developing strategies and learning from each other,\u201d said ECCV board chair Eddie Micallef. […]<\/p>\n