On Tuesday August 6, Edmund Rice Centre (ERC) conducted another successful Community Services Expo at Patrician Brothers College in Fairfield in partnership with the College and Sydney Catholic Schools.

“The 2019 Community Services Expo was designed to assist the integration of new refugees and humanitarian entrants in south-western Sydney (including the Fairfield, Liverpool, Bankstown and Cumberland LGAs), by helping them access available settlement services and programs”, ERC Coordinator for the event, Farhad Arian said

“This year’s Expo provided an opportunity for newly arrived refugees and humanitarian entrants to learn about settlement services, employment support programs, volunteer/internship opportunities, business support initiatives, education assistance, vocational trainings, child-care support, legal awareness services, family support programs and cultural awareness sessions, offered by government and non-governmental service providers”.

145 people attended this year’s Expo, including refugee communities from diverse backgrounds, 8 community leaders and representatives of 28 service providers to present their services and programs to the participants.  

“This event provided an excellent opportunity for the refugee communities to learn about available programs, meet new people from the wider community, build their professional and community networks and have some nice food and drinks together”, Mr Arian said.

“Service providers also had an opportunity to meet representatives of other services, become aware of the needs and interests of refugees and seek practical ways of collaborations in future for effective service delivery”.

The 2019 Expo was a very successful event which ERC will repeat each year to assist recently arrived refugees and humanitarian entrants as part of its Refugee Support Programs.

For further information, please contact Farhad Arian or Phil Glendenning at ERC on 02 8762 4200 or email at [email protected]