Chin Say No to Crime Youth Program

Chin Say No to Crime Youth Program - a crime prevention program targeting young people aged 15-30 years from Chin backgrounds living in the East.

The program will run over 4 days in January (23rd, 24th and 25th Jan 10.30am-4.30pm and January 28th 1pm-4pm) and will be held at the Mitcham Baptist Church.

Over the first three days, young people will participate in a range of crime prevention workshops facilitated by local service providers including the Eastern Drug and Alcohol Service, Eastern Community Legal Service, Police, MIC and TAC trainers, as well as music and dance workshops and indoor soccer. On the fourth day (Saturday 28th January 2012) participants will participate in a talent contest - Chin Idol - to showcase their dance and music skills gained throughout the program. This will be a whole community event where participants will be encouraged to invite their friends and families.

To RSVP or for more information about the project, please contact Jessica Bishop (Monday to Wednesday) at the MIC ph: 9285 4888, email: jbishop@miceastmelb.com.au.

Safe Swimining

During January 2012 the MIC, in partnership with Life Saving Victoria, will be holding a number of excursions to Edithvale Beach. Life Saving Victoria Staff will teach partipants how to be safe in the water.

The sessions are funded by the Australian Government Department of Immigration and Citizenship under the Settlement Grants Program funding program.

For more information, please contact Judy McDougall on 9285 4888 or Email jmcdougall@miceastmelb.com.au.

Information Sessions for the Karen Community

The Migrant Information Centre is facilitating information sessions for the Karen community to increase their understanding of services and how they can assist them. Sessions will be held fortnightly in 2012 commencing Wednesday 8th February.

The sessions will be from 5.00 to 7.00pm at the Ringwood Uniting Church (corner Bedford Road and Greenwood Avenue Ringwood)

The sessions are funded by the Australian Government Department of Immigration and Citizenship under the Settlement Grants Program funding program.

For further information, please call Esera Maung on telephone 9285 4888 or Email emaung@miceastmelb.com.au .

"Starting Out with Computers" Program

The "Starting Out with Computers" Program is a computer course for people whose first language is not English. The courses are designed to meet the needs of participants and increase their computer skills and confidence to use different computer programs.

Programs currently being offered include: a beginners course for young people in years 7 and 8 and two intermediate courses for people from the Karen community and people from the Zomi community. The Karen and Zomi courses are taught in English with a bilingual assistant.

All courses are held at the Central Ringwood Community Centre, Bedford park, Bedford Road, Ringwood. The program for youth is free and the program for the Karen and Zomi communities cost $20 per participant.

The program is funded by the City of Maroondah Community Grants Program.

For more information, please contact Niquita Meyers on 9285 4888 or Email nmeyers@miceastmelb.com.au.

Playgroup

The Migrant Information Centre is facilitating the "Come and Play" playgroup for newly arrived mothers and children from refugee and family migration backgrounds. The aim of the playgroup is to bring isolated mothers with young children together, enable mothers to understand how children learn through play and provide a forum for increasing mother's understanding and access to early childhood services that are available to them.

The play group will re commence in February 2012.

For further information or to make a referral, contact Niquita Meyers on telephone 9285 4888 or Email: nmeyers@miceastmelb.com.au.

GreenTown Burmese Project

The Migrant Information Centre is working with Environment Victoria as part of the Sustainable Living Program funded by the Victorian Government Sustainability Fund to implement an environmental education project with the Burmese communities of Ringwood in 2011/12.
The GreenTown program aims to develop skills and expertise around environmental issues in multicultural communities. GreenTown also assists local residents to reduce their energy bills and achieve reductions in energy use, water use and waste going to landfill.

A central component of the project involves recruiting and training local members of Ringwood's Burmese communities to carry out environmental assessments with local households. GreenTown assessors will also learn how to deliver community workshops and presentations.

Assessments usually take about one hour and provide an opportunity for local households to get tailored information about how they can make changes around their home. Through making simple changes and planning for larger changes, households can save on their bills, make their homes more comfortable to live in and also help the environment.

For further informaiton please contact Rebecca Dunsdon on 9285 4888 or email rdunsdon@miceastmelb.com.au.

The following cultural profiles were updated from the 2004 Home and Personal Care Kit to assist aged care workers in providing culturally sensitive care and effective communication for their CALD clients: Arabic, Cambodian, Chinese, Dutch, Greek, Hungarian, Indian, Italian, Polish, Sri Lankan, and Vietnamese.

The Migrant Information Centre facilitates two homework support programs for migrant and refugee secondary school students. Volunteer tutors, specialising in a variety of secondary school subjects, are at hand to help students. The program offers assistance with homework, accessing computers and internet, language difficulties, research assignments, meeting other students and connecting with other agencies and support services.

The programs run weekly during school terms at 4pm to 6pm. On Tuesdays the program is held at the Croydon library, Civic Square, Croydon and on Wednesdays at the Knox Library, Knox City Shopping Centre, Wantirna South.

The Migrant Information Centre has a produced a 44 page pictorial guide to living healthy in Australia. The booklet has been designed as a guide to assist people living in Australia lead a healthy lifestyle. This resource is based on foods readily available in Australia to assist newly arrived community members as well as the broader community, make healthy food choices in the Australian context. The resource or sections of the resource can easily be adapted by professionals to include cultural foods of individual communities that also provide healthy food choices. The guide covers a range of topics including breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, dental care, physical activity and much more. The booklet is available is in Arabic, Chin (Hakha), Chinese, English and Karen.

A5 copies of the booklet can be order for $3.30 each. Plus an additional $8.50 for postage of the package. The English copy of the booklet can be downloaded on the MIC's website http://www.miceastmelb.com.au/research.htm. Translated copies of the booklet will be available on the website from the middle April.

The Migrant Settlement Committee (Eastern Region) which is convened by the Communities Council on Ethnic Issues (Eastern Region) meets monthly (on the first Friday of the month) to discuss and identify settlement issues that impact on newly arrived migrants and refugees settling in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne.

The committee has working groups that plan and facilitate activities for service providers and CALD communities on employment, family violence, youth issues and refugee week. As part of the meetings, guest speakers are invited to make presentations and topics are highlighted for discussion.