The Alliance of Philippine Community Organisations Inc (APCO) is partnering with the organisation House of Welcome in a project called Empowerment for Work , designed to facilitate employment of refugees and people seeking asylum with work permits to get into work.
This training project is being held at the Auburn Centre for Community, Auburn from 8th of July 2015 to 22 June 2016.
The expected outcomes of this project is to engage 36 refugees and asylum seekers with work permits in the next 12 months.
It will assist them in gaining a renewed sense of dignity and independence, encourage and assist them in getting into work until they no longer need financial assistance and eventually move them towards greater sustainability, increased engagement of the refugee and asylum seeker community in the workforce, with them eventually contributing to Australian society through payment of taxes and better integration of these communities into Australian society.
According to the partnership agreement, APCO provides a facilitator with JSA training and work experience background, runs and completes 4 modules of 4 or 6 weeks depending on resources and availability, contributes the remaining funding from DOOLEYS Lidcombe Catholic Club towards the payment of the facilitator until it runs out and deliver all the employment modules on time.
The House of Welcome on the other hand, refers refugees and asylum seeker clients to the program, liaises with agencies providing job placements so that suitable referrals can be made to place clients, organises for the use of all facilities required to run the program, provides three volunteer case managers to assist, mentor and assess clients’ skills and needs, pay and print the promotional materials and contribute towards the cost of the APCO facilitator subject to funding availability.
The Empowerment for Work project is kindly supported by the Auburn City Council by providing the venue and the use of their facilities and resources.