A community program to support people in Queensland from diverse backgrounds to participate in mainstream social and employment opportunities has grants available for local providers.
Grants via the Community Action for a Multicultural Society (CAMS) will fund providers in 17 local government areas to support members of the culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) community find work.
Each yearly funding round awards $2.5 million in grants to up to 21 providers to deliver job support initiatives in their local communities.
In a statement published on Monday, multicultural affairs minister Leanne Linard said the program would help to build economic and social inclusion for CALD employees. She added that the program would focus on connecting participants with broader community, services and industry connections.
“Successful organisations will work with local services, community groups and industry, as well as individuals and groups from culturally diverse backgrounds, to plan and deliver a range of projects, activities and initiatives that build sustainable opportunities for inclusion in local employment, services, networks and industries,” Linnard said.
“By doing this they will be able to achieve their ambitions in terms of employment, training pathways and social activities.”
Over a million people in Queensland are born overseas and more than one in 10 speak a language other than English at home. The minister said that the government has been backing the efforts of groups like CAMS to assist this group of Queenslanders with their employment prospects and inclusion in the community for a number of years.
“We have such a rich diversity in our population and I’m so proud of our CAMS program which has been supporting people from culturally diverse backgrounds across the state since 1999,” she said.
Grant applications for this round will close on July 2, 2021. Successful applicants will be expected to deliver their program from 1 January, 2022.
This article was first published by The Mandarin.
News editor
Melissa Coade is The Mandarin’s news editor based in Canberra’s parliamentary press gallery. She has had various government, communications and legal roles, and has written for the Law Society of NSW journal (LSJ) and Lawyers Weekly.
