Our VisionTo empower individuals and communities to reach their full potential.

Our MissionBuilding on our proud history of migrant services, Diversitat aspires to provide an innovative and high quality response to the changing needs of a culturally diverse community.

Annual Report 2015 Contents

President Report 2

Executive Committee, Management Team & Affiliated Ethnic Community Groups 3

CEO Report 4

Settlement Services & Community Programs 6

Human Resources 13

Arts & Events 14

Aged Support 17

Training & Education 20

94.7 The Pulse 26

Wholefoods 28

Youth 30

Corporate Projects 34

Finance Report 35

Media Articles 36

AGM Award Recipients 37

Thank You 38

Diversitat Services & Sites 40

President Report

Dear Friends of Diversitat,

According to James Cash Penney, the founder of the JC Penney chain of department stores in

Texas, “growth is never by mere chance; it is the result of forces working together.” And so it is

for Diversitat – an organisation that has experienced unprecedented growth and development

over the past year.

It is the hard work, commitment and compassion of our staff, managers, volunteers and

Council members, all of these forces working together, that has contributed to the success

that is Diversitat. The Diversitat name enjoys the respect of many corporate, philanthropic,

community and government bodies and organisations, all of whom support and believe in the

value of the work that Diversitat does within Geelong and the broader community. It would

be remiss of me not to express my gratitude and that of the Executive to all of these groups

of people, staff and supporters, for their efforts, especially to our CEO Michael Martinez and

Financial Controller Brian McMahon.

Growth within an organisation should always serve as a reminder that great things are

accomplished only with years of passionate practice and learning. For almost 40 years, from

very humble beginnings, Diversitat has consistently endeavoured to empower individuals

to reach their full potential. In an ever changing world, we need to maintain a positive

growth mind-set. It should give rise to the notion and confidence to maintain positive and

encouraging relationships, face any challenges that are thrown our way and not shy away from

diversifying activities. All of this should be done without losing sight of our core values and

mission – building on the proud history of services to migrants and treating those individuals

and communities with dignity, respect and acceptance.

To all of those Council members who have been passionate about their communities and

worked so tirelessly, I say thank you. Thank you for continuously dedicating your time to your

communities as well as helping to build and support Diversitat in its efforts to help others. To

my fellow Executive members, thank you for your unwavering support and dedication. Your

commitment to this Organisation is steadfast and I look forward to continuing our ongoing

relationship.

As this year starts to wind down and a new one beckons on our doorstep, we look forward to

a year of celebration and appreciation – a celebration of Diversitat’s 40 years of service to the

Geelong community and appreciation of the hard work and dedication of all those individuals

who have helped shape Diversitat into the organisation that it is today.

Dr. Linda Sydor Petkovic

President

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Afghan Austrian Bosnian Bulgarian Cameroon Chinese Congolese Croatian Dutch Fijian Filipino

French Geelong Maitri IncGerman Greek Hazara Hungarian Indian Indonesian Iranian Irish Italian

Karen Karenni Latvian Liberian Lithuanian Macedonian Malay Maltese Maori Mexican Nepalese

Polish Portuguese RussianScottish Serbian Sikh Slovenian Spanish Sri Lankan Sudanese South Sudanese

South Sudanese Language SchoolSwedishThai Turkish Ukrainian Venezuelan Vietnamese Wathaurong Welsh94.7 The Pulse

Affiliated Ethnic Community Groups

Executive CommitteePresident Dr. Linda Sydor PetkovicVice-President vacantSecretary Mr. Zoran Dimovski Treasurer Mr. Wally Scharf Assistant Secretary Mrs. Fely Spikers Assistant Treasurer Ms. Sophia Shen

Ordinary Member Mr. James Matueny Ordinary Member Mr. Rumen Ginev Ordinary Member Mr. Milovan ArandjelovicOrdinary Member Mr. Mohammad Ali HeydariOrdinary Member Dr. John Lamp

Polish community members with decorated parade structure at Pako festa

Chief Executive Officer Michael MartinezFinancial Controller Brian McMahonDep Financial Controller Paul BrooksAged Support Lynne ShanahanArts & Events Luisa La FornaraEmployment Kirsten HargreavesTraining Garry Gow

Management TeamSettlement Maureen O’Keeffe & Community Support 94.7 The Pulse Leo RenkinWholefoods Luisa La FornaraYouth Barry Hocking Human Resources Shaun TreffryCorporate Projects Bridgette Carey

3Annual Report 2014 - 2015

CEO ReportOur model of integrated service delivery has enabled us to achieve excellent results over many years and the past 12 months has been no exception. In this annual report you will see a snapshot of our services which reveal some very telling stories and data about our active service models.

We work with over 2,000 individuals in our Settlement Services, almost 3,000 enrolments in our courses, more than 400 clients quarterly through our Aged Support services with 182 over 90 years of age, and broadcast nearly 80 different programs through the Pulse Radio touching the lives of thousands. In addition to this we engage with over 300 young people per annum in education and life changing activities and programs, we have over 600 registered volunteers, 220 full and part-time staff and over 180 casuals, and these figures will undoubtedly grow over the coming 12 months.

The migration story is often one of hard work, struggle and commitment and we see this reflected in the lives of our clients and communities on a daily basis. Our communities represent the Australia of the past, present and future and their belief is that Australia should be and is a welcoming country with opportunities for all. From the dynamism of our young refugees to the vibrancy of Pako Festa we are an exciting organisation which harnesses people’s potential within a strong service framework.

Geelong is undergoing much change, and as it has always been, migrants and their stories are at the centre of this change. Our thanks go out to all the wonderful volunteers who contribute so much for our clients and programs. We are blessed with a very caring and supportive community with our volunteering numbers at an all-time high. All these activities and initiatives however must be funded and managed and we have a dedicated team of managers, team leaders and broader staff who are

committed to the organisation and our clients and we thank them all. Thank you also to our executive committee present and past and to our president Dr Linda Sydor Petkovic. We wish also to thank all our corporate, philanthropic, community and government partners and funding bodies.

After 12 years, Diversitat Employment Services closed its doors with 20 staff having to say goodbye. This was an extremely sad time for our Employment staff and clients and very disappointing for our employers. The decision by the federal government to not fund specialist providers saw many organisations like ours close their Employment services. We commend our great Employment staff for their professional and caring attitudes in delivering high standard employment services over the years. We will continue to explore alternative ways to deliver employment support for our clients both in the youth and multicultural areas, this is not the end of our tailored employment assistance for the Geelong community.

Over the coming 12 months we will commence the building of our healthy living centre at the Hub which will provide a new home to our growing aged support programs and consolidate our master plan for the site. We will strive to provide new and improved services for our newly established Disability services (Diversability), aim to broaden training programs across Victoria, and in 2016 commence our international students program.

As we prepare to celebrate 40 years in 2016 we are respectful of our history and the traditions of our past whilst excited and energised about the prospects for the future and the next 40 years for the organisation.

Michael Martinez

Chief Executive Officer

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Diversitat 2015 Pako Festa: Premier Daniel Andrews, ‘Carmen Miranda (Jessica Costa), CEO Michael Martinez Image: Matt Smith

5Annual Report 2014 - 2015

A very exciting year for our Division with the launch of Diversability, our Disability Services program late in 2014. This enables us to provide a culturally appropriate support service for people with a Disability.

We were also pleased to be re-funded for our Settlement Services and Emergency Relief programs for a further three years and Problem Gambling Financial Counselling Service for a further year.

We also commenced delivery of tailored Cultural Awareness Training to agencies across South West Victoria and expanded our Migration Advice Service into Werribee and Colac.

We have been wonderfully supported by a range of funding bodies, service organisations and volunteers, without whom we would not be able to deliver the services we do to almost 2000 clients annually. On behalf of all our clients a big thank you for your support.

Here is a brief summary of a sample of our programs run throughout the year.

Diversitat Financial Counselling Service This service completed over 4600 hours of casework with people facing financial crisis and was comprised of clients who, due to poverty, unemployment, separation, injury or some other serious event, find themselves unable to manage their financial position.

Services for the 2014 -15 financial year were funded by the Victorian State Government through Consumer Affairs Victoria and the Federal Government, funding Generalist Financial Counselling, Gambling Financial Counselling and Emergency Relief.

Significant changes to funding and staffing occurred over the year. Colac Area Health entered into partnership with Diversitat operating the State funded Financial Counselling service across the Barwon Region. Jocelyn McMillan retired from her position as Financial Counsellor with Diversitat after 20 years of service. Jocelyn was highly recognised across the State for her technical knowledge and skills.

Cuts in Federal programs saw losses of over $200,000 to Emergency Relief across the city of Geelong, and one full time Financial Counselling position. Staff at Diversitat collaborated on how these cuts would impact the service and agreed on a range of part time positions that has meant we have held on to the valuable experience, skills and knowledge of all staff. It is a credit to our team Rene Ploegmakers, Anna Dooland, Kaye Norris, Linda Walker and Julie Barrow.

Migration Services Diversitat Migration Services have had a productive year responding to 259 telephone enquiries, conducting 148 initial consultations that resulted in 98 contracts of service being signed.

The demand for Diversitat’s highly discounted “fee for service” Migration Services increases year on year. In our fee for service program 83% of our clients have sought assistance with family visas, consisting of 41% partner, 28% Special Humanitarian, 10% family sponsored visitor visas, and 4% child/orphan relative/parent. The remaining 17% were a mixture of non-family visitor visas, skilled migration visas, student visas, and citizenship applications. This year saw the expansion of our service to Colac and Werribee, with continued service to Ballarat. Diversitat has had a consistently high success rate with all visa applications which has this year seen the reunification of many families, some who have waited several years for this moment.

Settlement volunteer and client

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Mental Health & Wellbeing Mental Health & Wellbeing continues as a major issue faced by all new arrival communities. Our program has a focus on prevention and wellbeing, promoting the importance of drawing on culture when working with new arrival communities. The number of individuals and organisations offering friendship, social and recreational support continues to grow with opportunities for social inclusion, which strengthens mental wellbeing.

Mental Health literacy is key if communities are to respond to pre arrival experiences, as is the necessity for service providers to look for common understandings and accommodate individual beliefs and cultural concepts. Requests for access to Cultural Competency training for service providers and secondary consultations regarding culture and attitudes to mental health continue to rise. 10 sessions on high prevalence

mental health problems were offered across the Karen, Karenni, and Iranian and Afghan community and 12 bilingual workers completed the Mental Health First Aid Course.

Problem Gambling Prevention This year has seen a team approach between Bethany and Diversitat to promote the signing up of Sports clubs to the Responsible Gambling Charter. Deakin University’s MIBT which supports International students has been active in both promoting the Charter and also hosting soccer matches with new arrival communities.

The continuation of the SIGling (Sports instead of Gambling) program has also proved to be well supported particularly by new refugee communities who are often unaware of, and vulnerable to, the impacts of gambling related harm. Participation in a range of sports such as volleyball, beach soccer, and intercommunity traditional games has seen the promotional messages carried across a wide area of Victoria by our competing teams.

Community events have played a significant role as venues for connecting with new arrivals and the broader community. These have included the Karenni Dee Ku gathering, Liberian Liberation Day, Congolese Okapi Day, and the Afghan Communities Moharam event.

We are Geelong!

Soccer excitement

7Annual Report 2014 - 2015

Humanitarian Settlement Service

During this year we welcomed 205 refugees to our community made up of 28 singles, 7 couples and 30 families. Most of the clients were from Afghanistan (57 individuals), Burma (21 individuals) and several from Iran. A third of our clients came with the ‘women at risk’ protective visa. We were pleased to welcome a new community of Tibetans to Geelong through this program for the first time.

This year, in conjunction with our community development team we introduced a new orientation program for all new arrivals which has a greater emphasis on taking people to key locations around Geelong. This helped to give context to the theoretical information also learned during the program and has been welcomed by participants.

Settlement CaseworkOur casework team provides an information and referral service to Humanitarian Clients who have arrived within the last 5 years. This year over 350 clients accessed the service with total referrals made to other agencies exceeding 1850.

Assistance was provided for a broad range of daily needs including assistance with documents, housing, utility services, education and health related matters. The casework team also provided more intensive support to 22 clients through the complex case program.

The Refugee Action Project During the second year of RAP families participated in a Surf Awareness program, Australian Law Information, Human Rights workshops, Women’s and Men’s health workshops and the youth have participated in the ‘Sex, Young People and the Law’ program.

The Citizenship program has continued successfully with many participants from the Afghan, Congolese, Karen and Karenni communities becoming Australian citizens.

A twelve week job search program was developed and commenced in 2014. Twenty five Karen, Karenni, Iranian and Afghan community members have participated in the course and now know how to search for a job, write a cover letter, prepare for interviews and all now have a well written resume.

Barwon River bike ride

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The Karenni Parenting program has continued into its second year with the parents involved gaining confidence in all areas of their life. A family camp in the Grampians saw some previously disengaged fathers interacting with their children, helping out in the kitchen and confidently practicing English with staff.

VolunteeringVolunteers are a key part of the delivery of our programs. 1317 hours of volunteering were contributed across five program areas. These included 91 students receiving a home tutor, 166 hours of supervised driving practice, 118 hours of support with our housing program, and year round support for the Northern Bay College Wexford and North Geelong Secondary College Homework Clubs.

We were pleased to see North Geelong Secondary College (NGSC) Homework Club recognised, with NGSC winning nomination for Most Outstanding Regional School with CMY My Education Awards.. A big thank you to all our wonderful volunteers.

The Skills to Empower Driving Program Delivering 968 driving lessons in the 2014-2015 financial year and saw 84 people licenced. There were 11 volunteer driving mentors engaged to provide Diversitat clients with a total of 166 supervised driving experiences.

63 newly arrived refugees participated in classroom-based education on road safety and now have a greater understanding of the role of police, Victorian road rules, basic car maintenance, buying a car, car insurance, child restraint fitting and traffic infringements.

Participants are now better resourced and have greater opportunities to gain employment, have greater independence and are able to participate more widely within the community.

The Afghan Mums Group

Began in Term One of 2015 and has provided a safe space for mums who are new to Australia to explore and learn about parenting in a new and often challenging environment. This program is funded and delivered in partnership with City of Greater Geelong and has supported over 15 women in the program.

Recreation and Sports Program

This program has continued with opportunities for new arrivals to visit the Melbourne Zoo; attend water safety and surfing programs with support from Life Saving Victoria; participate in fun days held at St Joseph’s, Sacred Heart and Clonard; attend holiday camps at Licola and with support from the Lions clubs; and ride bikes throughout the area with support from the community and the Men’s Shed at Queenscliff. These activities offer new experiences but also are the bridge to build friendship and understanding with new arrival communities throughout the broader community.

Barwon River bike ride

Skills to Empower Driving School No. Trained volunteer driving instructors 11

Lessons run by volunteers 968

Newly arrived refugee participants 63

Licenses obtained through the driving school 84

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Youth Development We have had an increased focus on working with young people of diverse ethnic backgrounds with a focus on developing young leaders, finding work and celebrating their culture with the broader community.

Twelve young Afghan woman celebrated and shared their culture through the CHAI KHANA Tea House project at Geelong After Dark. Feedback from those attending the event was very positive and they enjoyed learning about Afghan culture from the young people in a welcoming and interesting space. Forty-three young people attended Job Ready Workshops and follow up support with resumes and job applications and nine young people received education and employment pathway support through Refugee Minor Employment Program (RMEP).

We were very proud to see that two Diversitat youth leaders received Impetus Youth Awards this year for their positive contributions in the community.

Six youth leaders attended the state-wide Centre for Multicultural Youth ‘UnConference’ to contribute ideas to support young people and be inspired by other youth leaders and twenty young people attended Human Rights Workshops run by Centre for Refugee Research. We look forward to building on our work with young people over the next year.

DiversabilityOur Diversability program was established this year and we quickly developed from an initial two clients with NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme) plans, to 13 clients. We were also supporting several other clients through the registration and planning process. Our clients come from a diverse range of backgrounds, representing 8 different countries of birth and 10 different first languages. Some of our clients are Australian born, others have been here for 20 years, whilst others arrived in Australia during the 2014/15 financial year. The range of disabilities supported is equally as wide, including physical and intellectual disabilities and mental health issues. Our clients range in age from 3 to 60.

In October 2014 the Diversitat Disability Finding report was published. This report has been distributed to the NDIS and many other disability agencies as well as the wider community services sector across the country. This report provides important information for the sector about the barriers faced by CALD clients accessing disability services.

At present we are focussing on providing support coordination to people, of any background, with NDIS plans and supporting people from CALD and Refugee backgrounds to gain access to the NDIS. Over the coming 12 months we plan to continue to grow our services and investigate other areas of NDIS funded supports we can provide.

SRSS – Status Resolution Support Services The Department of Immigration and Border Protection (DIBP) has continued to fund services for Asylum Seekers. Since January 2015, the SRSS program brought existing programs such as Community Detention program, CAS (Community Assistance Support) and ASAS (Asylum Seeker Assistance Services) together into a single program to deliver support services to asylum seekers while their immigration status is being resolved.

Afghan Teahouse at Geelong After Dark

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The services to approximately 200 clients are delivered from Diversitat’s Belmont office where eligible clients receive basic case management and assistance depending on their needs. Upon receiving Bridging Visa E, the clients receive intensive supports for the first six weeks, sourcing long term accommodation and some basic home packages along with necessary registration with Centrelink, Medicare and school enrolment.

We would like to thank Belmont Rotary club and Thornton Industry for the financial support. The funds enable us to run a computer class, English class and Job club. Recently South Valley Baptist church came on board to run a play group for our clients. The play group gives them a safe environment to play and interact with other children who are yet to go to school. Food donations from Second Bite, City of Grater Geelong and individuals from the community make Diversitat Food Bank shelves always full of stock. Geelong Mums provided a variety of children’s items, especially helpful when the families are about to have a newborn.

Last but not least our clients are also receiving kind and generous support from local churches as well as from the general community at an individual level. This can’t be possible without generous support and understanding of their needs from the community.

South West Victoria The Diversitat Colac office moved to be co-located with Colac Area Health in June 2015, which has allowed Diversitat to form greater links to the hospital and other community groups, best shown by the Colac Multicultural Network, whose first meeting was held in July 2015. Diversitat Colac also has its own Facebook page, allowing more effective publicity for events such as the Road Rules information session for Lamb Factory workers, Community Consultations, Multicultural

Women’s Group, and, in the upcoming months sporting, cultural and educational events. A main success has been creating links between the Afghan community and the local police force, first by welcoming police to the Nowruz BBQ, and now by the police welcoming the Afghan community to a Tolerance BBQ in November. Diversitat Colac continues to help asylum seekers access work, with all asylum seekers with the right work currently having at least one family member engaged in working.

Cultural Competency TrainingDiversitat embarked on its first year of conducting Cultural Awareness training to educate individuals and organisations about valuing cultural diversity. Diversitat proudly conducted Cultural Diversity Sessions across Victoria with lots of positive feedback. Over the year 11 sessions were conducted in Geelong, 3 sessions in Colac, and 4 in Warrnambool. Diversitat also delivered 9 sessions to Health and Community Care (HACC) staff on behalf of Chisolm Institute in various locations across Victoria.

In June we hosted a corporate Dinner to celebrate “Refugee Week”. The event was a huge success and highlighted the talent of young people from refugee backgrounds. Events such as this are designed to educate and bring awareness to the greater public regarding cultural diversity. We are excited about continuing to spread this message and are now expanding new workshops to build on this work.

Point Lonsdale Lighthouse Trip

Dinner celebrating Refugee Week

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U SaveAnother new program introduced this year is U-SAVE. The aim of the U-SAVE program is to educate and empower our clients to make informed decisions regarding domestic energy consumption, reduce energy bills and increase client independence when interacting with energy retailers.

In its first year seven community leaders have been trained to conduct home energy audits by Environment Victoria. EnviroVic then employed them to conduct 52 home energy audits. 12 seminars were conducted with seminar education materials developed and translated into Karen, Karenni, Swahili, Dari and Farsi, and finally a 30 page booklet outlining energy efficiency ideas has been developed and translated into 5 languages.

Highlights of the program to date include a strong relationship with Environment Victoria; client’s growing awareness of their ability to control energy usage, and individual outcomes such as one family reducing their showering time from an average of 40 min per member to 10 min each. We look forward to continuing this program over the next year.

ConclusionIt has certainly been a busy year as we continue to strive to improve settlement outcomes and the general health and wellbeing of all our clients.

Maureen O’KeeffeCommunity and Settlement Support Manager

Fun in the snow

Karen & Karenni group visit Halls Gap

Pt. Lonsdale Lighthouse trip

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Human ResourcesHR Projects Undertaken The first quarter of 2015 was allocated for special Health and Wellbeing events, aimed at building and enhancing our organisational culture. These included:

Bring a Child to Work Day In January, the purpose of this event was not only to support working parents during the school holidays but also to allow for children to ‘have a taste’ of what mum’s or dad’s day of work looks like.

February Healthy Challenge Employees were encouraged to get active and get healthy at their workplace. HR appointed, supported and encouraged twenty Health Ambassadors from the different sites, who used their creativity and initiative to organise and run health activities with their teams, competing against each other. Each of the participating departments was a winner under one or more nominated health categories.

The Diversitat Big Day Out This event in February was initiated and encouraged by the HR Manager, Shaun Treffry, as part of the Healthy Challenge. The four activities that took place (including soccer, pottery, gardening and surfing) were voluntarily coordinated by qualified and competent staff members: Hemraz Bhoolah (as soccer facilitator), David Copeland (as surfing facilitator), Polly Musgrove (as gardening facilitator) and Dani Salvo (as pottery facilitator), and involved more than 60 staff.

The Diversitat 2nd Big Day Out This was scheduled for April due to the popularity of the first Big Day Out and allowed other staff to participate, particularly our Aged Support department. In addition to the previous activities, the Fun Yoga activity was introduced and became the winning activity of the day.

At the completion of the February Healthy Challenge all participants were invited to celebrate the initiative with a free dinner with the CEO at the Croatian Community Club. More than 50 people attended.

Bring a Pet to Work Day This ran in March and gave an opportunity for our pet lovers to share their loved companions with the rest of the Diversitat community.

Looking ForwardAfter three and a half years of service at Diversitat, HR Manager Shaun Treffry decided to continue his career elsewhere and resigned from his position in May 2015. We would like to thank Shaun for his contribution.

The HR department is now looking forward to new directions under the leadership of the newly appointed manager Marie O’Dell commencing August 2015.

Veselina KostadinovHR Officer on behalf of the HR team

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Pako festa

community events

harmony day

refugee week

short courses

tell me a story

arte dalla Australia

musical morning

Diversitat Arts & Events is a key program in strengthening art linkages in Geelong to ensure people from diverse communities are able to participate as arts makers and audiences. With the arrival of new CALD communities to our region, the Arts program has had a year of dynamic and inspiring projects. Initiatives continue to be developed to ensure cultural groups are supported and have the capacity to showcase their own cultural identity.

Diversitat Pako Festa – A Celebration of Cultural Diversity On February 26 Pako Festa celebrated its 33rd event with a full day of fantastic fun, music, dance and food. Once again, police estimated attendance numbers to be in excess of 100,000 people. The event organisers, Diversitat, thank all the event staff, sponsors, and event contractors, hardworking volunteers, Pakington Street traders, the Geelong community and all the people from far and wide who joined us in this extraordinary celebration of our cultural diversity.

Most of all, a million thanks to the following hard working, passionate and tired local cultural community groups that paraded down the street, cooked delicious food and performed their hearts out. Afghan, Bosnian, Chinese, Croatian, Congolese, Dutch, Filipino, French, Greek, Hazara, Hungarian, Indonesian, Iranian, Irish, Italian, Indian, Karen, Karenni, Liberian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malay, Maori, Nepalese, Polish, Scottish, Serbian, Slovenian, Spanish, Sudanese, Ukrainian and Wathaurong Communities - together in harmony.

In these troubled times Pako Festa encourages us to appreciate the growth and richness of our multicultural community and acknowledge the social capital built by the event which gives us

direction to develop those strengths even further in the future.

On behalf of Diversitat and the Pako Festa Event Team we look forward to seeing you all again next year!

2015 Event Sponsors: Office of Multicultural Affairs & Citizenship (OMAC), City of Greater Geelong, Channel 7, Music Workshop, 94.7 the Pulse, Deakin University, Occasions Party Hire, Energy Safe Victoria, O’Brien Property Group, Codeacious, Telstra, Barwon Youth, Geelong Mini Garage, McHarry’s Buslines, Geelong Regional Library Corporation, Viatek, Victoria Police, Pakington Strand, Dept of Social Services, Generator Rentals Australia, Premiers Active April, Courthouse Youth Arts, Cotton On Foundation, Newgrove Benchtops, Christine Couzens MP Member for Geelong, Slater and Gordon, Furphy, Clyde Park, Goodway Print Group, Camilo Oilves, The Weekly Review, Hume Security, National Wool Museum and Pakington Street traders.

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Geelong After Dark The City of Greater Geelong initiated GAD as a flagship event for M~M2014: Geelong’s Extreme Arts Walk. Diversitat continues to partner with CoGG as Creative Producers of GAD. This year’s event was a huge success with over 10,000 people attending resulting in 19,500 visits to individual GAD locations in Central Geelong. The program involved a total of 247 artists, and around 95 new art works were created specifically for the 2015 event, guiding audiences on a creative discovery of the CBD. Important partnerships continue to be fostered and based on the success of the inaugural event in 2014. We had support from 37 venues in the CBD ranging from cultural venues to cafes and local businesses. (2014 - 30 venues).

“Loved the general positivity and friendliness created by the event - strangers talking comfortably on the street to one another” Audience member

“Thank you SO much for creating this opportunity it was one of the best nights of my life!”

Audience member“I felt safe and somewhat humbled to bear witness

to this event.” An artist

The following supporters also contributed to GAD: Deakin University, Geelong Gallery, National Wool Museum, Geelong Performing Arts Centre, Geelong Regional Library Corporation, Beavs Bar, Batman Investing, Art Is, Back to Back Theatre, Courthouse Youth Arts, Music Workshop, Fuel, Etch Gallery, Metropolis Gallery, Codeacious, Qwertytshirt, Pistol Pete’s, Sailors

Rest, Market Square, Westfield Geelong, Waterfront Kitchen, Central Geelong Marketing, Open 4 and Analogue Café.

Refugee Week 2015The Art Exhibition ‘Inspiring a new way forward: Identity & the joint image display’ presented cultural craft in a contemporary way. A display of over 30 art works was exhibited across three library sites in celebration of Refugee Week.

Mirjana Margetic, a local artist, guided cultural participants to utilise their migration/resettlement experiences as the basis for their artwork. She led them through a process of deconstruction and then reconstruction of identity, synthesised in a fresh new way through art.

Food of the WorldWholefoods Food of the World Festival on Friday the 5th of December, again transformed a CBD alleyway into a global treasure, creating a new alfresco cafe/dining experience. A diversity of fine cuisine from around the world, plus live music and dance brought the laneway alive, alongside stunning displays of local fresh produce and art and craft from participating communities. Wholefoods Food of the World Festival 2014 is supported by City of Greater Geelong through the Festival Grants Program.

Performer Tim Hulsman Image: Courtesy of Up Creative

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Diversitat Arts Diversitat Arts proudly blends Community, Art and Culture and continues to contributed to the vibrancy of our region. We have programs that service many areas of our community including specialised short courses, arts based projects with cultural communities, and the development of a social enterprise that supports local artisans/makers and members from our ethnic communities to sell their products.

Our specialised art short courses and one off craft workshops offer a high level of expertise, and student works are of an exceptional quality. Popular classes include Life Drawing, Ceramics, Felting and Basket Weaving, and After School Art Club for young and upcoming artists.

Community Art Programs Sewing Program @ the HUB and StitchThis cross-cultural group of women welcome the opportunity to participate, and are the main beneficiaries of the program which promotes cultural craft, sewing and altering culturally infused and general clothing. The sewing program attracted over 60 women over the past twelve months.

Stitch, which is the enterprise side of the program, allows us to sell products created out of the program with proceeds going directly to the women involved.

Thank you to the following business and individuals for your important donations during the year:

Spotlight Geelong, Heights Sewing Centre, Denise Welsh, Yvonne Lyons, Anne Thomas, Ms Zampatti, Jill Giles, Margery Anderson, Mary Taylor, Trina Secen, Mali Khoo Mortezaie, Beryl Goddard, Liz Sinkinson, An Heremans, Jacqueline Jarvis, Linda Quelch, Katherine Kelly, Laura Beveridge, Vicky McElligott, Heather Reynolds-Edsall, Allison Lewis-Nicholson, Karri Fd, Claire Anne, Ocean Grove Barwon Heads Secondhand and free Facebook pages, Brenda Caesar, Lorraine Dundas , Merryn Tune, Kellie Spiteri, Joan Clarke, Charlotte Malone, OG PS fair opshop stall, Ocean Grove View club, Geelong Quilters’ Guild and Ruth Trethewie.

Craft CircleThe Women’s Craft Circle meets every Saturday from 1-3pm at Wholefoods, 37 Baylie Place, Geelong. Specialist workshops are held every third Saturday of the month. The Craft Circle is for anyone enthusiastic about handcrafts such as crochet, knitting, weaving, beading, sewing and embroidery. They find a common bond in creating, learning and sharing hints and tips from each other.

Karen Weavers : PiPi in partnership with Diversitat Aged Support ServicesA small group of Karen and Karenni women, known as the ‘PiPi’ group, the grandmothers, are keeping their weaving tradition alive here in Geelong. Through the support of Diversitat, weaving cotton has been sourced from Thailand and backstrap looms and equipment have been made for the group with the assistance of the Geelong Men’s Shed.

Items such as traditional bags, scarves and wraps can be purchased through Diversitat Arts. We often attend local markets and a small range of products can be found on sale at Wholefoods.

Seniors Life Time Totem ProjectStories can be recorded in many ways. We engaged our CALD Senior groups in activities developed around storytelling, and the telling of one’s own story in clay. It was a wonderful experience as some had never touched clay or painted a picture before. The final work stands as a series of colourful Totems in our ‘Hope’ Garden at the Northern Community Hub. The final piece is a celebration of the groups that helped make it, and worth a visit. The project was funded by a City of Greater Geelong Community Arts Grant and by the Department of Health and Human Services.

Luisa La Fornara Arts & Events Manager

Pako festa

community events

harmony day

refugee week

short courses

tell me a story

arte dalla Australia

musical morning

Facebook: DiversitatArts

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Many heartfelt thanks to clients, families, communities, volunteers and our fabulous staff for all their efforts, support and laughs. Thanks to the Department of Health and Human Services Victoria for their years of continued support and excellent customer service. Particular thanks to Tom Van Ettan our outgoing faithful PASA, Diversity specialist (and culinary master). Many thanks also to Gary Windgrove and Amy Waters, St. Laurence Outreach and Housing Services, and Ben Costanza, our resident musician.

Highlights Totem – Many clients took part in the decorating of ceramic totem poles. The pieces of the totems depict individual expressions of culture and also personal identity.

KuLoo Arts – Karen/Karenni traditional basket weaving, fabric weaving and innovative sustainable weaving – a new program combining the PiPi group with Karen/Karenni Men exploring indigenous arts.

Thanks to Hee Gay Paw Htoo, Caroline Hawkins, Luisa La Fornara and Baw Mu Daw Gay (Mu Mu), Chrimoo Yohellaymusaw and the generous sharing of all participants.

Geelong Active Diverse Seniors (GADS)Diversitat Aged Support Services, including GADS, promotes independence for older people from culturally diverse backgrounds by providing fantastic support and socialisation opportunities in Geelong.

Over the past year, the daily activities group has been involved in various creative and engaging projects to encourage older people from Geelong to take an active role in the community. Initiatives have included special Easter activities – creating baskets and egg colouring and decorating; special occasion card making and flower arrangements; the celebration of diverse cultural days and cultural cooking; special interest ‘knitting groups’; and the creation of unique ‘Life Story’ books for significant individual birthdays.

Looking forward to the year ahead, there has been interest from clients to host bus trips that will offer an entire day spent out and about. Barbecues in the park are an absolute must, and the opportunity to have one’s portrait painted by an artist seems to be very much sought after.

Key Statistics No.

Countries of Birth of Service Recipients 34

Different First Languages of Recipients 27

Number of clients per quarter receiving a service from Aged Support

400+

High needs clients reporting that they are happier since attending our group

75%

Clients reporting that they are doing things they had never done before

28%

Clients over 90 years of age 182

Ukrainian Independence Day celebrations

17Annual Report 2014 - 2015

More Fun At Aged Support Spaghetti eating Competition – as shown on Pulse TV Vince’s Pig on a spit Day - Thanks Vince! Guru DuDu – Crazy yoga – appearing on Pulse TV Year to Remember – shared with Pulse TV ProjectsThe HACC Diversity Advisor (HDA) role is designed to focus at a systemic, regional level on facilitating the implementation of Diversity Planning and Practice. Diversitat are the auspice agency for this role, which works closely with the Department of Health and Human Services HACC team in the Barwon South Western (BSW) Region and the Person-Centred Care Advisory Committee. A key aspect of diversity planning and practice is building relationships between the various parts of the service system to improve outcomes for people with diverse characteristics.

The year ahead will focus on the concept that Diversity planning and practice and the Active Service Model (ASM) are interrelated as both encompass person-centred practice as a core underpinning of HACC service delivery. Organisations throughout the sector have now embraced the concept of Diversity Planning leading to improved access by marginalised and diverse groups experiencing barriers to access as a result of their diverse characteristics.

The role of Home And Community Care Access and Support worker received ongoing funding to 2018, and achieved excellent individual support outcomes for clients and carers for the year.

Our new project was Café Style Support for clients and carers to gain knowledge and support and share experiences together as a group.

The Men’s Community Kitchen saw global basics to gourmet meals for men of all ages and abilities;

Elena Timpani, Italian, 79 – What I like about the program is the diversity of everyday. Different individuals to talk to and we do different things together. When I first came here I couldn’t speak my Italian language anymore. (Now) I sometimes help interpret for people.

Nazarena Preiato – I like the staff, I’m comfortable. It’s friendly, it’s like home. Play bingo, have a nice cup of coffee, espresso if you can get it! A nice afternoon snack, its lovely.

Bogdan Dimitrovski acka Bill Johnston, Macedonian, aged 79 ½ When I go I feel great. Everyone is happy to come here. Some play cards, some play billiards, and talk – the day goes fast.

Zinka Hace, Slovenian, 84 soon - I’m already here 7 years. We always play dominoes, bingo. I was knitting here. We go on the bus for coffee.

Bon voyage and much appreciation to Lynne Shanahan for her excellent management of our programs. A great loss to our service and we wish her all the best for the future. Goodbye, thanks and good luck to Sal Worland. Hasta luego to Patchouly Patterson and may your career always be as informed and enriched by the time you spent with Aged Support as you have done for us here. Congratulations to Hee Gay Paw Htoo for her Diploma of Community Services in a 2nd Language and new role with Settlement Services.

Kathy Taylor and Robyn Martinez Acting Managers

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Healthy Living Centre For the past two years we have been working towards the construction of the new Healthy Living Centre that will be located on the Northern Community Hub site in Norlane. The new centre will provide a dedicated facility for the ageing Culturally & Linguistically Diverse Community (CALD) who face significant challenges in accessing aged care services due to language and cultural barriers. The centre will be designed for ease of access and mobility, will have a devoted high needs area, Planned Activity Groups (PAG) spaces, and include interpreting services.

The design of the centre will include 5 activity rooms, 2 meeting spaces, 2 internal courtyard/breakout spaces, an open plan kitchen and dining facility with a design to allow for future growth. The centre will have the capacity to run planned activity groups for up to 120+ people per day. As an NDIS provider to the older CALD groups the centre will be purpose built to cater for people with disabilities. Being located on the Northern Community Hub site it will link in with these services sharing resources and increasing capacity for service delivery. The office space allows for additional staff in Home and Community Care (HACC)/aged care workers to keep up with the growing demand for CALD aged care services (expected growth rate for 65+ population currently at 3% per year). The site itself is considered one of the largest Multicultural Hubs in Australia, and with the addition of the Healthy Living Centre will make it unique to the region and continue to add value to the surrounding area.

This is a very exciting project for Diversitat with many fantastic opportunities to come from it, including access to the Mens Shed and Community Garden, and the connection of the older migrant groups to the newer emerging groups such as Afghan, Iranian, Iraq, Karen and Karenni.

Bridgette Carey Corporate Projects Manager

Cooking for Anzac Day

Ukrainian group

Vince’s tomatoes

Artist’s impression: new Healthy Living Centre

Deans Marsh Sculptures

Funding Partner Name Value of Contribution (GST Excl.)

Dawn Wade Foundation $30,000 Diversitat $301,000 Geelong Community Foundation $35,000 Office of Multicultural Affairs & Citizenship $700,000 Percy Baxter Trust $100,000

Total Value of Contribution total $1,166,000

19Annual Report 2014 - 2015

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The 2014 - 2015 financial year has been very positive for Training and Education. We have seen the growth of many programs and have consolidated our student delivery. This has enabled us to be viewed as the Community Training provider that specialises in educational programs that meet the needs of our students.

It has been a year of highlights at Diversitat Training, where we have:

• achieved significant growth in the majority of our programs resulting in a 30% increase in enrolments

• seen a high percentage of our graduates find employment• been shortlisted as a finalist in the Victorian Training Awards – Community

Training Provider of the year category• implemented a new business structure and strategic direction• invested significantly in improvements to student facilities and services• expanded many of our programs into Melbourne and regional Victoria• participated in the Step to Step volunteer mentor program.

Diploma of Early Childhood Education and Care

100%

90%

Dual Certificate III in Aged Care & Home and Community Care

Certificate III in Health Services Assistance

80%

75%

Certificate IV in Leisure and Health

Employment outcomes for our graduates that are now working in each industry sector.

Snapshot of all our learners 2014 - 15

Education The Education area covers foundation skills which are the core skills needed to engage successfully in work, study and life. The core skills include reading, writing, speaking, listening, learning and employability. Overall the Education programs were very successful. One of the reasons the programs were so successful was because of the hard work and dedication of our staff. The program manager, CALD councellor, team leaders, trainers and admin staff can all see the purpose of their jobs and work really well as a team to support each other to achieve their goals. This is reflected in the quality programs and the growth of the program they deliver to the students.

25%

68%

21%

64%

40% 32%

7%

8%

12%25% of learners are above the age of 44, while 12% are under the age of 18.

68% of learners are female.

64% of learners had not completed year 12, while 7% have never attended school.

40% of learners are born overseas, and 32% of learners speak a language other than English.

21% of learners identify themselves as having a disability,while 8% identify themselves as having a learning or interllectual disability.

Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care

77%

21Annual Report 2014 - 2015

Marjan arrived 5 months ago from Iran and has been studying English with Diversitat since then. Having studied English in Iran, Marjan wants to continue with her English studies at a Cert IV level with her ultimate goal of becoming an English teacher. Marjan completed her Certificate II in English in 2 months and is on track to finish her certificate III by the end of the year. Marjan has recently married and enjoys practicing yoga. When asked how she has found studying

with Diversitat, Marjan replied, ”The teachers have all been very helpful and friendly. The teachers are patient, speak slowly and assist in every way possible”.

EAL and AMEP

Our English as an Additional Language (EAL) and Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP) programs are accredited courses funded by the Federal and Victorian governments that are designed to meet the specific needs of our Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) learners. The ultimate goals of our programs are to assist our learners to achieve successful settlement in Australia and increase English language and literacy skills. The specific dimensions of successful settlement we focus on are social participation, economic wellbeing, personal wellbeing, independence, life satisfaction and being connected to the community.

We have many learners from a variety of backgrounds, ages, and educational experiences. As not all learners will achieve the modules in the same period of time, learners are placed in classes to suit their learning pace. In 2014/15 we had over 700 enrollments into our accredited EAL courses. This was a significant increase in students from 2013/14. Many of our learners are refugees that have resettled in Geelong, looking to gain a fresh start in life after escaping the traumas of their homelands.

We have learners who face challenges that prevent them from attending English classes, so we also have an Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP) funded Volunteer Tutor program. The program enables us to match learners with tutors who work with the learner one-on-one to gain language and literacy skills. We have a highly skilled and dedicated team of volunteers who work closely with the community to build a pathway that is appropriate for the learner, whether it be further study, employment or participation in the community. Another program that was run utilising AMEP funding was The Settlement Language Pathways to Employment/Training Course (SLPET). It was a 10 week course with about 15 students attending. Students learn about working in Australia, developing a resume, cover letters and language of employment. They visited workplaces, including The Pulse, Wholefoods, Diversitat Aged Care program, Hope Garden and a local nursery. Late in 2014 we had an AMEP audit. The auditor was most impressed by our site and our processes, record keeping and documents. We were compliant in all areas with no rectifications to do. She said we should be very proud of the work we are doing here.

60% of learners are refugees

40% of learners are from Afghanistan

45% of learners are men and 55% are

women

26% of learners have no schooling

and 26% of learners have 1-7 years of

schooling

60% of learners are enrolled in a

Course in Spoken and Written English at a Preliminary or Certificate I level

60% 40% 60% 26%26%

Snapshot of our English Language learners (EAL & AMEP)

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ACFE

Adult Community and Further Education (ACFE) funding, provided by the ACFE Board, is a pre- accredited funding source. The programs have been designed to enable learners to learn in an environment that is comfortable and non-threatening to support the learner to overcome their barriers to participation

in education. These programs are provided as an alternative to traditional classroom based programs and are delivered in a manner that engages the learner. The range of programs give our learners essential skills that enable them to enter a pathway into further training and employment.

Stitch is run by Arts and Events. It is a vocational program aimed at engaging women from refugee and migrant backgrounds in all aspects of sewing. It enables the learners to then pathway into our social enterprise – The Stitch Club.

Drivers Education Program is coordinated by Settlement’s Community Development team. It is a literacy program designed to educate newly arrived communities about road safety and assist them in gaining a driver’s licence.

Job Search Program is organised by Settlement’s Community Development team. It is a literacy and employment skills program designed to provide support for CALD learners to learn about searching for jobs in Geelong.

Introduction to Sound Production and Broadcasting are vocational programs, at our radio station 94.7 The Pulse, designed to enable individuals to learn about the basics of sound production and broadcasting.

Art Program was facilitated by Youth Education. Disengaged youth (15-19 years old) are given the opportunity to learn art skills and develop techniques to improve health, well-being, resilience and self-confidence, and reengage them into education.

Introduction to Computers was managed by Training and Education to target specific groups of learners – CALD, mature aged and those with special learning needs. This short course gave participants the opportunity to develop the skills and confidence to safely use computers and gain a basic understanding of their practical use and applications.

Our pre-accredited courses include:

23Annual Report 2014 - 2015

COMMUNITY SERVICES & HEALTH

FOOD PROCESSING & AGRICULTURE

COMPANION ANIMAL

HAIR & BEAUTY

WORK EDUCATIONTRANSITION EDUCATION

TRAINING & ASSESSMENT

FILM, RADIO,MULTIMEDIA, MUSIC

AUTOMOTIVE

VCAL

PRE-ACCREDITED

BUSINESS

EAL

HOSPITALITY

Student enrollments by category 2014 - 2015

Work Education and Transition Education

Another emerging community need that Diversitat has responded to is in the Disability sector. With the introduction of the National Disability Insurances scheme (NDIS) in the Geelong region many disability service providers and clients are required to meet NDIS requirements. In response we have designed and implemented disability specific courses (Certificates I in Work Education and Certificate I in Transition Education).

The courses are designed to enable clients to develop confidence, skills and strategies for future training, employment and participation in the community. To enable other service providers and clients to get ready for the NDIS, we have expanded our training into Melbourne and rural regions.

11 programs were conducted across Victoria including Colac, Ballarat, Geelong, Melbourne and Morwell with over 150 students undertaking the courses. The trainers contextualise the course to meet their students’ needs, and this is a major factor that contributes to the success of the program.

TrainingThe financial year has again seen the advent of change within the Training department. A departmental restructure resulted in a more streamlined reporting approach, combining courses and traineeships. This saw one program manager appointed to oversee all VET training activities. Supporting the program manager were 2 team leaders responsible for specific industry areas which saw a holistic approach to all

the delivery methods and management of trainers who work across the different delivery methods. To underpin the department, new positions were created which included a resource development coordinator, SBAT coordinator and 2 placement coordinators. This created an more cohesive approach to the delivery and positioned the department for growth.

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The restructure allowed for the introduction of three distinct delivery modes for clients to choose from: Courses, Traineeships including School Based Traineeships and the Flexible Off-Campus Study (FOCS) alternative. Our school based apprenticeship program grew to 150 students by the close of the financial year.

FOCS also proved to be in demand with the most popular qualifications being Community Services, Early Childhood Education and Care and Education Support. Intake into courses increased from last year, although traineeships, in line with industry trends, experienced a decline in the children’s services and community services areas. This year overall we achieved 1376 commencements.

Another successful highlight was the relationship that was forged this year with the City of Greater Geelong, where Certificate IV in Disability traineeships were conducted in the workplace. One hundred percent of the commenced students completed, proving that if you have an employer who is committed to supporting training our students can achieve great outcomes.

The introduction of a placement coordinator position has seen us have a successful year establishing new host employer partnerships and expanding the range of practical placements available to match the needs of our students. It’s very pleasing to note that many of the students have gained employment following completion of their placement.

Looking ForwardI am very excited about the future of the training department. Our aim is to grow our student base further into regional Victoria and Melbourne whilst ensuring we are investing heavily in supporting our heartland of Geelong. I eagerly await our first intake of International Students after the launch of our International student program in late 2015. I also look forward to growing our student facilities and improving the support mechanisms we have in place to ensure our students are able to fulfil their potential. I am confident that with the energy, professionalism and drive of our team next year we will more than build on the successes of this one.

I would like to acknowledge my appreciation of Michael and the rest of the management team and executive for their support in the past year as it has allowed our team to grow in the knowledge we had everyone behind us in our drive to succeed.Finally and most importantly, a massive thanks to all of the team within training. It has been a year that has brought many challenges and I am very proud of how we have all adapted to the ever-changing landscape in such a positive manner. We are very fortunate to have so many committed and skilful people within our team and I look forward to celebrating many more successes as a team again next year.

Garry GowManager Training and Education www.diversitat.org.au/training

Diversitat Training acknowledges the support of the Victorian Government.

Diversitat Training was a finalist for the 2015 Victorian training Awards “Victorian Community Provider of the Year”.

Ryan Place is set up with the ability to run classes and hold meetings

25Annual Report 2014 - 2015

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The last 12 months at the Pulse has seen a large increase in the growth of activities. The seven staff, 150 volunteers, School Based Apprentices and Trainees (SBATs), interns and work experience students have worked around the clock to ensure 82 radio programs in 18 different languages, and two 30 minute television programs, go to air each week. Once again, we have been providing training, in conjunction with the National Ethnic Multicultural Broadcasters Council (NEMBC), in Canberra. In addition the year saw an exhaustive list of outside broadcasting events in all different sectors of the community including regular GDFL games and 6 Victorian state political debates.

The Pulse multipurpose building continues to house many different students, from disability services through to English as a Second Language (ESL) classes, a meeting space for community groups and organisations, ABC Geelong regional office and studios for Pulse media productions. Numerous school students, community organisations, business people, politicians (local, state and federal), regularly visit the Pulse to listen, learn, look and talk about the diverse heartbeat of Geelong that broadcasts us to the rest of the world.

The Pulse www.947thepulse.com website is becoming ever more popular including video highlights of Pulse Television stories, recent podcasts, local news updates, regular social media tweets, and relevant information about general goings on at the Pulse. Live streaming is accessed by people in over 125 different countries around the world.

Outside broadcasts have included Pako Festa, weekly GDFL football, the Aireys Inlet Open Music Festival, Motor City Music Festival, Amy Gillet Grand Fondo bike ride, Sustainable Living Festival, Blokes Day Out - Barwon Health, the G21 Forum, and the Coffee Cartel grand opening.

Two programs from the Pulse ‘Behind the Music’ and ‘Hot, Sweet and Jazzy’ were selected by the Community Radio Network (CRN) to be broadcast Australia wide weekly. A proud, strong, language program element remains at The Pulse. Current programs include Karen, Persian, Lithuanian, Serbian, Chinese, Russian, Bosnian, South African, Macedonian, Filipino, Indonesian, Croatian, French, South Sudanese, Afghan and Irish.

Once again I would like to thank all the hard working staff and volunteers who have given up countless weekends and late nights, and have stood up to the task of providing Geelong with the widest range of programming found on community radio and weekly community television. A special thanks also goes to all Pulse Board Members, loyal listening public, subscribers and business supporters.

Pulse Board of ManagementThe Pulse Board includes station volunteers, representatives from Geelong’s multicultural communities, and the Diversitat Executive. Our members are John Lamp, Bethany Keats, Mitchell Dye, Robbie Carroll, Michael Martinez, Mohammad Ali Heydari, Sophia Chen and Esad Zorlak

Thank you for all your hard work.

Leo Renkin, Station Manager on behalf of 94.7 the Pulse team and volunteers

Website: www.947thepulse.com Facebook: 947thepulse

Twitter: 947thepulse

Youtube: 947thepulsetv

27Annual Report 2014 - 2015

Festival of Sails Pulse TV - African Children’s Choir

Interfaith Broadcast LIVE Broadcasting at Pako Festa

Silent Disco Team Building Pako Festa Broadcast preparation

LAST YEAR’S

Wholefoods is now in its tenth year and operates as a “healthy alternative” café, shop and catering service.

As the region’s premier, community-based bulk supplier of certified organic fruit, vegetables and groceries, Wholefoods offers a broad product range to suit people with special dietary needs, as well as environmentally friendly cleaning and domestic products.

Wholefoods also seeks to nurture its links with the region’s many ethnically diverse communities by catering for, and actively encouraging their participation in the enterprise, and by stocking a diverse range of organic and conventional products. Number of meals served over the past twelve months is over 12,000.

Cultural Cuisine Cooking WorkshopsThe Cultural Cuisine workshops allow participants to learn the art of cooking from local representatives of our diverse communities, then sit down and enjoy the meal they have prepared together. This program complements existing activities associated with Wholefoods while at the same time encouraging our local Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) affiliated communities to utilise these programs to learn new skills, access positive volunteer experiences, identify training opportunities and develop potential income streams for their own communities.

Individuals from the following communities participated in this program:

Sri Lankan, Brazilian, Indian, Iranian, Congolese, Afghan and Italian.

Over the past twelve months Wholefoods has participated in a number of local initiatives and community events including Extravaganza, Taste of Central Geelong, and Pako Festa in the new Handmade and Local Area.

There are many volunteer opportunities at Wholefoods including the Clothing Relief Centre for Asylum Seekers, general retail, and cooking and barista skills. If you are looking for a rewarding volunteer experience don’t hesitate to contact us!

Wholefoods also has a dedicated arts space running short courses, and we are proud to promote local handmade products from a number of our community programs and local artisans, so please pop in to purchase a unique gift and support our local communities.

Finally, a special thank you goes to the Wholefoods team, managed by Christina La Fornara, for their dedication and shared vision in establishing Wholefoods as a thriving community enterprise.

Most importantly thank you to all our committed volunteers!

Luisa La FornaraWholefoods Manager

Facebook: geelongwholefoods

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29Annual Report 2014 - 2015

Our Youth Education programs have had a very busy year. We had 130 enrolments since last year but around 20 exited the program before completion. This is a similar pattern to previous years due to the issues our typical students face.

As in the past our students have significant barriers to succeeding with their education. Many of our clients have mental health, drug and housing issues. All of the participants must have a history of non-completion in mainstream education to be considered for a position in one of our programs. We firmly believe that mainstream schooling is the best model for most young people and would not seek to enrol anyone that can succeed in mainstream education.

This past year the trainers, admin and wellbeing staff have worked hard to ensure no young person is left behind and there have been many success stories. For some students success would be a completed VCAL certificate, for others it may be the completion of an entire year’s schooling for the first time, or the confidence to re-commence mainstream education, training or employment. The wellbeing support of Chadley Peerman has been key to the students participating successfully in our education programs.

Diversitat Youth Education programs also offer work placement to students studying the various community services qualifications. We have had seven placements this last year. These students have been very helpful to us assisting in classes and on excursions.

I would also like to acknowledge the assistance of the volunteers across our programs, we would be

lost without them. In particular I would like to again thank Angela Sharp who has volunteered with us since early 2012. She is loved by the students and has assisted many to achieve good class results. She is not only generous with her time, she donates breakfast to the Xpress program each week. Thank you Angela. We have also offered SWEET/Xpress students lunch each Wednesday. This has been quite popular.

Our current funding situation is very tight and all the education staff do a great job offering interesting and engaging classes with very few resources. We are most appreciative of the community support we receive and use these resources very carefully.

The SWEET, Xpress & Upskill ProgramsThe SWEET, Xpress and Upskill programs operate from the Old Post Office in Ryrie Street Geelong. Enrolments are currently 62 across these programs. As with most of our education programs the students are enrolled in VCAL (Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning). During the past year students have participated in many community activities including organising a Fun Run fundraiser for Give Where You Live, and volunteer work at Geelong

Current Enrolments at June 2015 No.

SWEET 31

Xpress 31

Young Parents Program 10

You Turn 28

Art & Skill Builder Programs 10

Total at Time of Report 110

Youth at Multicultural Aged Care Services Photo courtesy Geelong Advertiser

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Animal Welfare. Giving back to the community is a great way to build self-esteem and the students really enjoy these hands on activities. The students have also attended several youth oriented performances at the Geelong Performing Arts Centre and participated in health and fitness activities and a Fit2drive program.

The trainers across these programs are very skilled at developing lessons that incorporate the required learning outcomes whilst holding the students’ interest.

We also have a graduation, and staff prepare a traditional Christmas dinner each year for the students. This has proven to be very popular with all participants.

This year our intake of students has remained similar to past years, but we did have a large number graduate last year so it has taken some time to build up again to past total numbers.

Young Parents ProgramOpen to young parents and expecting mothers aged 15 to 19 years this VCAL program has grown over the past year. Currently 10 students are working toward their certificate at the Old Post Office campus. Reading, writing and maths are incorporated into parenting and health focussed classes. Parents are encouraged to bring their babies to some classes while on other days parents can have a break and focus on learning. This formula has assisted several students to gain a VCAL pass, something that would be very difficult for them without this program. Students have also participated in fitness, first aid and cooking classes.

Youth Art ProgramDiversitat School of Art has had a rolling intake during the second semester of the year which has enabled more students to participate in the program. Students have been working on a portfolio to take to further art study and also beautifying an environment centre on the Bellarine Coast.

Impetus Geelong Youth Awards

Diversitat School of Art student work

31Annual Report 2014 - 2015

You Turn Trade Program

The program started well with a full enrolment of 28 students, comprising 4 classes. These classes rotate through the four trade areas on offer over the year. Numbers are lower this year to reflect the requirement for smaller classes as we now offer Cert I in Work Education. You Turn is only offered to those that cannot participate in mainstream education and we have an agreement with DHS to take a number of their clients each year.

Our practical workshop requires ongoing maintenance, organising and stock replacement. This is costly even in a productive industry situation let alone a youth education program. We rely heavily on the tremendous support received from our community partners. Bunnings has once again supplied us with equipment for our kitchen, Air Radiators are preparing to invest more heavily in annual giving, Ford has generously supplied us with all of the boots, overalls and uniforms, and Valspar has donated a lot of stock at no cost.

Barry Hocking Manager Youth Education

32

You Turn Trade program

33Annual Report 2014 - 2015

Project Revamp: In September 2014, Diversitat launched a new project, known as Project Revamp - the complete overhaul of Diversitat’s systems, processes and procedures to move towards a more efficient and effective paperless working environment. The ultimate objective to find the best information technology systems for each department, with the ability to interact with other departments and be compatible with government reporting systems. Looking at document management, client management, student management and online portals.

Benefits to the organisation:

• Diversitat is in line with industry standards

• Provide up to date technology & best practice

• Operational cost savings

• Efficient work practices

• Improved client services

• Streamline business

• Overall restructure of organizations

• Better equipped for adopting new business

Network Expansion: Update and improvement to Internet across the organisation.

Installed and configured new internet/routing/content filter devices at Northern Community Hub and Pulse to give strength and better connections for internet traffic throughout the Diversitat network. Upgrade allows for increase in the use of Cloud based software and efficiency of the overall system.

PulsePulse Community Radio and Training centre installed a new WIFI security system – Ruckus. This provides stand alone student WIFI access allowing students to bring their own devices to class and have more flexibility in learning. Delivering up to the minute learning content, satisfying student expectations.

Settlement ServicesImplemented new client management system : Salesforce (CRM)

The following programs benefited:• Humanitarian Settlement Services (HSS), Settlement Grant Program (SGP), Status Resolution Support Services (SRSS), NDIS and Community

Development.

Users: There are over 40 staff members using the new system that has seen a significant time reduction to their work load with access to information within minutes that previously was either not available or would be extremely time consuming to retrieve.

Benefits:• The system provides up to the minute data that can produce over 100+ reports beneficial for government funding reporting and other industry members.

• Staff feedback from the new system has been overwhelming satisfying with the uptake of all staff within a three month timeframe.

• Customized reporting

• Reduction in manual labor

• Significant drop in paper usage.

• Providing cost savings to the department

TrainingThe Training department was successful in receiving $28,000 from a VET development grant that allowed for the implementation of:

• Learning management system (LMS) –eWorks• Two new websites• Professional development training eWorks:• At planning stage – 2015-16 will roll out system• Will provide students with online learning, enrolments, assignment submissions and access to all their course details and materials • Distance education – will provide training to remote rural locations• Improves record maintenance and access for staff and students• Signification reduction in manual work, paper records and archiving data• Will be able to use for Diversitat staff training

Websites• New Diversitat Training and Geelong Institute Australia websites – in planning stage to be rolled out at end of 2015

Bridgette CareyCorporate Projects Manager

Corporate Projects

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The year ended 30 June 2015 was a good year financially for Diversitat. We achieved a net surplus of $362,000 which was marginally higher than the result last year. This was on total revenue of just over $17 million, which was slightly lower than the previous year. Our revenue and our net surplus both comfortably exceeded our budget estimates for the year. In our budget we have approx. 100 different programs plus 120 training courses/options.

The highlight would have to be the turnaround in our Training department which had financial challenges in the previous year. New leadership has transformed the management of the training programs and resulted in a successful financial performance this year.

Our Settlement and Community Services division has consolidated its position and adapted to the dynamic funding environment with a diverse range of programs of all sizes, catering to the changing needs of the various communities and populations we serve.

Unfortunately the Job Services program we had provided for many years came to an end this financial year as the group tender we were part of was unsuccessful.

However there have been new opportunities in this space with several Work for the Dole projects commencing recently.

Aged Support services and Youth Education continue their steady progress catering for these niche sectors of the broader community, and funding for both increased modestly on previous years.

Our significant contribution to the cultural side of life continues with Pako Festa one of many public events, various arts projects, the Pulse community radio station and our Wholefoods organic grocery store and café.

We gratefully acknowledge the valuable work and efforts of our hundreds of employees and also the very significant contribution of our many volunteers including our Executive committee. We also thank the funding agencies, partner organisations and donors both large and small who provide the resources to operate our diverse range of programs and services.

Diversitat concludes the year in a solid and stable financial position and we continue to reduce debt and invest in resources to continue our positive contribution throughout the community.

Diversitat Finance Report

Diversitat Finance Report 2015

The year ended 30 June 2015 was a good year financially for Diversitat. We achieved a net surplus of $362,000 which was marginally higher than the result last year. This was on total revenue of just over $17 million, which was slightly lower than the previous year. Our revenue and our net surplus both comfortably exceeded our budget estimates for the year.

The highlight would have to be the turnaround in our Training department which had financial challenges in the previous year. New leadership has transformed the management of the training programs and resulted in a successful financial performance this year.

Our Settlement and Community Services division has consolidated its position and adapted to the dynamic funding environment with a diverse range of programs of all sizes, catering to the changing needs of the various communities and populations we serve.

Unfortunately the Job Services program we had provided for many years came to an end this financial year as the group tender we were part of was unsuccessful. However there have been new opportunities in this space with several Work for the Dole projects commencing recently.

Aged Support services and Youth Education continue their steady progress catering for these niche sectors of the broader community, funding for both increased modestly on previous years.

Our significant contribution to the cultural side of life continues with Pako Festa one of many public events, various arts projects, the Pulse community radio station and our Wholefoods organic grocery store and café.

We gratefully acknowledge the valuable work and efforts of our hundreds of employees and also the very significant contribution of our many volunteers including our executive committee. We also thank the funding agencies, partner organisations and donors both large and small who provide the resources to operate our diverse range of programs and services.

Diversitat concludes the year in a solid and stable financial position and we continue to reduce debt and invest in resources to continue our positive contribution throughout the community.

Extract from Diversitat Annual Financial Statements 2015 $

2014 $

INCOME STATEMENT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2015 Revenue from ordinary activities 17,043,585

19,049,099

Employee benefits expense (10,400,205)

(9,659,579) Depreciation (563,168)

(576,840)

Operating lease expense (361,805)

(380,228) Seminars expense (34,163)

(43,285)

Borrowing Cost expense (130,599)

(171,975) Other expenses from ordinary activities (5,191,248)

(7,919,849)

Operating surplus from ordinary activities 362,397

297,343 The complete financial statements including notes and auditors report are available from the Diversitat finance department at Geelong West Town Hall, 153 Pakington Street, Geelong West. Paul Brooks Deputy Financial Controller

Paul BrooksDeputy Financial Controller

Diversitat Revenue 14/15 Federal 6,953,797 41%State 7,060,862 41%Trusts 101,655 1%Local 122,025 1%Fees/Sales 2,805,246 16% 17,043,585 100%

35Annual Report 2014 - 2015

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Point Lonsdale Lighthouse Trip

2014 Annual General Meeting Award RecipientsWilma Chamberlain 20 Continuous Years of Service Geelong Ethnic Communities CouncilCraig Johnston Volunteer of the Year 94.7 The Pulse and Pulse Geelong TVDarby Hewitt Volunteer of the Year 94.7 The PulseJohn Miro Volunteer of the Year 94.7 The Pulse and Pulse Geelong TVDonya Ali Ahmadi Volunteer of the Year Volunteer Tutor ProgramMarta Mrhar Volunteer of the Year Driver Practice ProgramVanda Szakiel Volunteer of the Year Northern Bay College Homework ClubVincenzo Leone Cert of Recognition and Appreciation Aged Support - Vic Senior of the YearLucy Wise Student of the Year Cert II and III in HairdressingHan Son Cho Student of the Year Cert III in Spoken & Written EnglishLaura Monaghan Student of the Year Diploma Community ServicesRosemary Henderson Student of the Year Diploma Children’s ServicesIngrid He Employee of the Year Diversitat TrainingHee Gay Paw Htoo Employee of the Year Aged SupportLynne Shanahan 10 Years of Service Aged SupportGeorgie Gnjec 10 Years of Service Training and CorporateLuisa LaFornara 15 Years of Service Arts and EventsMichael Martinez 20 Years of Service CEO

Awards were presented by Dr Tim Soutphommasane, Race Discrimination Commissioner, Guest Speaker at our 2014 AGM

37Annual Report 2014 - 2015

Thank YouAdult Centre of Further Education (ACFE)Action on Disability within Ethnic Communities (ADEC) Adroit InsuranceAMES International Aim HireAireys Open Mic Music FestivalAir RadiatorsAlzheimer’s Australia (Vic) Geelong BranchAndrew Thornton (Thornton Industries)Arcare Aged Care - PortarlingtonArden VictoriaAustralian Lamb ColacAustralian Muslim Women’s Centre for Human RightsBannockburn Aged Care FacilityBarandeb EnterprisesBarwon CoastBarwon Community Legal CentreBarwon Legal ServiceBarwon PrisonBarwon Valley SchoolBarwon WaterBellarine for RefugeesBellarine Secondary CollegeBelmont Rotary ClubBethany Community Support IncBetta ElectricalBarwon HealthBarwon Health - Mental Health Carers RespiteBarwon Health – Refugee Health NurseBarwon Regional Aged Care Assessment ServiceBarwon YouthBatforceBethanyBESTBike Safe GeelongBoatcatchBoomaroo NurseriesBoralBorough of Queenscliffe - Aged Care & Disability ServicesBreastscreen VictoriaBrentwood Aged Care FacilityBunnings - North GeelongBurson Auto PartsCarer Respite BarwonCentre Against Sexual AssaultCentre for Culture Ethnicity and HealthCentrelinkCFA GeelongChannel Seven MelbourneChannel 31 Geelong & MelbourneChild FIRSTChristian CollegeChristopher SzadayClonard CollegeCodeaciousCoGG – Aged & Disability ServicesCoGG – Arts & Culture UnitCoGG – Community Development UnitCoGG – Geelong Major EventsCoGG - Youth Development Unit, Local SchoolsCommittee for GeelongConsumer Affairs VictoriaCotton On Foundation

Colac Neighbourhood HouseColac Otway ShireColac Otway Shire - Community DevelopmentColac Otway Shire - Family Services DevelopmentColac Otway Shire - Older People and Ability SupportCorio Bay Cricket and Sports ClubCorio Bay Rotary ClubCorio Waste ManagementCottage By The Sea - QueenscliffCoulter Roache LawyersCourthouse Youth ArtsCr Kylie Fisher, CoGGCr Eddy Kontelj, CoGGCr Stretch Kontelj, CoGGDal Wild ArchitectsDavidsons AccountingDawn Wade FoundationDavidsonsDay and Night PharmacyDeakin Medical StudentsDeakin University Dept. of Education & Early Childhood Development (DEECD)Dept. of Health and Human Services (HACC)Dept. of Human Services Youth JusticeDept of Immigration & Citizenship (DIAC)Dept. of Justice (Represented by Consumer Affairs Victoria)Department of Premier and CabinetDept. of Planning & Community DevelopmentDept. of Regional Australia, Regional Development & Local GovernmentDept of Social Services, Aged CareDept of State Development, Business and InnovationDrysdale Aged Care FacilityEco Waste ServicesEncompass Community ServicesEnergy Safe VictoriaEqual Opportunity and Human Rights CommissionESPOD IncESTIA Health Aged Care - LeopoldEthnic Communities Council of VictoriaExide Batteries GeelongEzicleanFord AustraliaFoundation 61Foundation HouseGateway Support ServicesGeelong Regional Alliance (G21)Geelong Adolescent Sexuality ProjectGeelong AdvertiserGeelong CollegeGeelong Community FoundationGeelong English Language CentreGeelong Hospital Social Work DepartmentGeelong Local Settlement Planning CommitteeGeelong Mood Support Group IncGeelong Men’s ShedGeelong MumsGeelong Performing Arts CentreGeelong Regional Library CorporationGeelong West Neighbourhood HouseGippsland & Gippsland East Aboriginal CooperativeGlastonburyGMS Rehabilitation

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Goodway Print GroupHeadspace BarwonHelen McPherson Smith TrustHepatitis VictoriaHighton RotaryHorizon HouseIan Potter FoundationJack Brockhoff FoundationJigsawJohn Laney ConstructionsKalkee CommunityKaringalKaringal - Create YouthKerley’s Coastal Real EstateKoroit Health ServicesLeisure NetworksLeopold Primary SchoolLife Saving VictoriaLions ClubLord Mayor’s TrustLubrimaxMackillop Family ServicesMarngoneet Correctional CentreMark HerdMatchworksMC HerdMcHarrys BuslinesMedicare LocalMercy Place-Rice VillageMI Fellowship BarwonMitre 10 – Keith FaggMulticultural Aged Care ServicesMusic WorkshopMy Dad The Fix It ManNDISNelson Park SchoolNetball VictoriaNewcomb Secondary CollegeNorlane PharmacyNorth Geelong Secondary CollegeNorthern Bay CollegeNorthern FuturesOccasions Party HireOcean Grove Surf Life Saving ClubOffice Multicultural Affairs CitizenshipPathwaysPakington Street Traders Parks VictoriaPaul Jamieson, COGGPercy Baxter TrustPPGPreston MotorsQuality Australian Farmed RabbitsQueenscliff Men’s ShedQueenscliff Uniting Church and communityQuota Geelong internationalReid EngineeringRefugee Council of AustraliaRoyal Children’s HospitalRyan Thompson, Third EcologySacred Heart CollegeSaint Albans – Saint Andrews Uniting ChurchSaint Ignatius CollegeSalvation Army

Salvos ConnectSalsa StreetScanlon FoundationSCOPESeaview Manor Aged CareSerbian Fishing AssociationSettlement Council of Australia (SCOA)Second BiteShell AustraliaShine On FoundationSidchromeSignific SignsSigns t’goSkills VictoriaSleepy Hollow Blues ClubSouth Valley Baptist ChurchSouthern Star WindowsSt Joseph’s CollegeSt Laurence Community ServicesSt Laurence Housing/Outreach ServicesSt Luke’s Uniting Church - HightonSt Paul’s Lutheran Church - GrovedaleStanleySurf Life Saving VictoriaSurfCoast ShireSurfcoast Shire – Aged & Family ServicesSustainability VictoriaTannoch Brae Aged CareTransport Accident Commission (TAC)TelstraTender CentreThe Fagg FoundationThe Tile PeopleTimboon & District Health ServicesTime For YouthTrinity Aid for RefugeesTotal Tools – North GeelongTuckers Funeral ServicesTurbovacUniting Aged Care Kalkee Day RespiteUniting CareUniting Church - Queenscliff and HightonValsparViatekVic Group TrainingVICCVic HealthVicRoadsVictoria Police (Corio and Geelong)Victoria Regional Channels AuthorityVictorian Curriculum & Assessment AuthorityVictorian Legal AidVictorian Multicultural CommissionVictorian Transcultural Psychiatric UnitVolunteering GeelongWater WellWathaurong Aboriginal CooperativeWestpac BankYouth Approach to Pregnancy and Parenting ProgramYouth ConnectYouth JusticeYouth LawYouth Support & Advocacy Service (YSAS)

39Annual Report 2014 - 2015

Services & Sites Aged SupportMulticultural Social Support Programs & Projects9-15 Clarence St, Geelong West, 3218Ph 5222 7275 Fx 5222 5814

Arts & EventsPako Festa & Community EventsGeelong West Town Hall153 Pakington St, Geelong West 3218Ph 5221 6044 Fx 5223 2848 www.pakofesta.com.au

Corporate ServicesGeelong West Town Hall 153 Pakington St, Geelong West 3218Ph 5221 6044 Fx 5223 2848

Settlement Services & Community ProgramsNorthern Community Hub25-41 Arunga Ave, Norlane 3214Ph 5260 6000 Fx 5278 4664

Belmont Office33 Mt. Pleasant Rd, Belmont 3216Ph 5244 0070 Fx 5241 3664

Colac Office Colac Area Health 2–28 Connor Street, Colac 3250 Ph 5232 5320

Financial Counselling Geelong West Town Hall 153 Pakington St, Geelong West 3218Ph 5221 6044 Fx 5223 2848

94.7FM The Pulse Community Radio & Television68-70 Lt Ryrie St, Geelong 3220Ph 5222 5947 Fx 5229 6504 www.947thepulse.com

www.diversitat.org.auFacebook: DiversitatGeelongTwitter: @DiversitatGeeYoutube: diversitatgeelong

Training ServicesNationally Accredited TrainingAdministration Office 7-9 Ryan Place, Geelong 3220Ph 5246 9600 Fx 5243 9699www.diversitat.org/training

Language, Literacy, Volunteer & Tutor ProgramsNorthern Community Hub25-41 Arunga Ave, Norlane 3214Ph 5260 6000 Fx 5278 4664

Language, Literacy, Volunteer & Tutor Programs68-70 Lt Ryrie St, Geelong 3220Ph 5222 5947 Fx 5229 6504

Language & Literacy Program - CGEA South West Neighbourhood House 33 Mt. Pleasant Rd, Belmont 3216Ph 5244 0070 Fx 5241 3664

Youth ServicesXpress & SWEET ProgramsOld Geelong Post Office 83 Ryrie St, Geelong 3220Ph 5223 3222 Fx 5223 3223

You Turn Trade Program76 Furner Ave, North Geelong 3215Ph 5277 1710 Fx 5277 2290

Young Parents ProgramOld Geelong Post Office 83 Ryrie St, Geelong 3220Ph 5223 3222 Fx 5223 3223

WholefoodsCafe, Shop & Catering37 Baylie Place, Geelong 3220Ph 5221 5421 Fx 5221 5429

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& television

www.diversitat.org.au