Humanitarian Settlement Program Spring Update


  09 October, 2020  ·    Andrea Obeyesekere

Centacare FNQ has been settling new and emerging migrant communities in the far north region for over fifteen years, including communities from the Middle East (Syria), Asia (Hmong, Arakanese, Burmese, Bhutanese, Laos) and Africa (Rwanda, Burundi, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Democratic Republic of Congo). Centacare, as a sub-contractor to Multicultural Australia, is currently supporting 300 new arrival refugees in the region through the Humanitarian Settlement Program (HSP), with over 100 requiring specialist intensive support.

The Multicultural Services team have been celebrating several achievements recently!
We are delighted that our Settlement team is leading the state in Key Performance Indicators including HSP Orientation Knowledge Level and HSP Orientation Applications and in October this year, we are celebrating with a Humanitarian Settlement Program family who have been awarded a Tenants Queensland award for recognition as outstanding Housing Tenants in the Region! 

Despite the impact of COVID-19, new arrivals in the region are meeting their settlement goals, and are supported to organically grow their independence to engage and positively contribute to the broader Cairns community. The majority of our current cohort (63%) are youth. Since 2018, youth being supported through their settlement journey in Australia are engaged in extra-curricular activities of their choice within two weeks, with an overwhelmingly majority (60%) further engaged independently with their families in club based programs in the region including soccer, hockey, basketball and music programs. The youth and their families enrich the region with their talent, passion and culture. Despite COVID-19 in 2020 over 120 young people each week are positively and independently engaged in extra-curricular activities and community based programs.

You can get in touch with Centacare's HSP team by calling (07) 4242 1058 or emailing [email protected].

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Humanitarian Settlement Program Spring Update
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