Pilot program for skilled migrants
Metro Assist (formerly Metro Migrant Resource Centre) has won a $450,000 partnership with a State Government pilot program. The SKILL ME pilot program will target skilled migrants, such as those trained as engineers and accountants, who have not yet been able to enter the industry they hold qualifications for.
Metro Assist is based in Ashfield provides casework support to refugees and migrants across the Inner West. The SKILL ME program is projected to launch in a month.
CEO of Metro Assist, Lou Bacchiella, says that migrants face a combination of obstacles to entering the industry they have trained for.
“We have all met somebody who is doing a job different to that they are qualified for. Not only is this a loss to the person, it is a loss to local industry as people’s skills are not being used to their full capacity,” Bacchiella said.
Exchanging harmony
Students at Orange Grove Primary School celebrated Harmony Day last week by participating in a “school exchange” with students from Al Zahra College, an independent Islamic school in Arncliffe.
Forty students from each swapped schools for the day to participate in social activities encouraging inter-cultural understanding.
Orange Grove’s Italian Teacher, Mirella Dimarco, organized the event with the hope of expanding children’s experience of diversity beyond the people living in their suburb or at their school.
“Our students at Orange Grove come from a range of different backgrounds but the majority of these are either European or British,” Dimarco said.
Junk mail please
The NSW State Library has asked that local residents hold on to pesky election campaign flyers that find their way into letterboxes, rain, hail or shine.
The Library’s collection of materials associated with state elections goes back to the 1840’s and they are still collecting!
You can post how-to-votes, letters from candidates, T-shirts and stickers to: Election Ephemera, State Library of NSW, Macquarie St, Sydney 2000.