Brotherhood officially opens Epping Community Services Hub

The Brotherhood of St Laurence will hold the official opening of the Epping Community Services Hub on Thursday 22 September, 2016 at 10.30am, and media is welcome to attend.Indigenous Elder Uncle Ian Hunter will perform a traditional smoking ceremony and welcome to country at the Building, Bridging and Celebrating Together opening and celebration.

Brotherhood Executive Director, Tony Nicholson and City of Whittlesea Mayor Stevan Kozmevski will speak at the event. Mr Nicholson says the Hub brings together a range of organisations to provide services to many communities.

“There are particular challenges for people living in Melbourne’s north and the agencies providing services to meet the growing demands of these communities,” Mr Nicholson said. “The Brotherhood views collaboration, cooperation and integration as crucial to meeting these community needs.”

Cr Kozmevski said Council was pleased to work in partnership with community agencies, including the Brotherhood of St Laurence, to provide much needed services.

“A 2013 Human Services needs analysis identified that there was a significant demand and wait for services and many of these services were not even provided locally. Having a range of services located together makes it much more convenient for our local community and will lead to improved community outcomes,” he said.

The Brotherhood is the lead partner, contracted by the City of Whittlesea for five years to provide overall leadership and management.

At the opening, there will also be speakers from a cross section of the communities which are provided services at the Hub. Ryan, a budding barista at the Hub’s Chancez Café will share his experiences as a participant of this vocational training project for people with an intellectual disability, run by Araluen. There will also be music and dance performances by the Bhutanese Community Association and Yummadi Dance Group.

The Brotherhood’s Multicultural Communities Team is located within the Hub. Head of that team, Hutch Hussein says we provide a wide range of services for individuals and families from refugee and migrant backgrounds.

“Our services include the Stepping Stones program, which helps entrepreneurial refugee and migrant women set up small businesses, and our Brain Bank program. It matches skilled volunteers with individuals and community groups seeking mentoring on matters such as job hunting in Australia, or, for groups, planning and managing projects,” Ms Hussein said.

The Epping Community Services Hub is at 713 High St Epping.

MEDIA INQUIRIES: Please contact Acting Communications Manager, Sharon Lee on 0499 300 982 or sharon.lee@bsl.org.au