Northern Community Hub opens

27 October 2011

On Wednesday 26 October the new Northern Community Hub was officially opened in Norlane north of Geelong, offering settlement and support services for newly arrived migrants.

A partnership project led by Diversitat Geelong, the environmentally sustainable Hub is the first of its kind in Australia to welcome newly arrived refugee communities to the country and linking them in with older, more established migrant communities.

Diversitat Project Manager Bridgette Carey said: “We are so proud; we now have a state of the art facility that has the potential to grow in line with emerging multicultural needs of our region.”

The Hub will host Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP) courses and provide multicultural communities a place to conduct meetings, activities and gatherings. The grounds of the Northern Community Hub boast a wonderful community garden and additional funding will now allow for a 300m2 Community Shed to be constructed later in the year.

The Hub is only the first stage of the plan to develop the 18,000m2 site into a cultural precinct, the first of its kind in Australia.

Pictured above at the Community Hub opening, from left to right: Mr Michael Martinez, CEO Diversitat, Darren Cheeseman MP, Member for Corangamite, Mr Chin Tan, Chairperson, Victorian Multicultural Commission, Dr Linda Sydor Petkovic, former Victorian Multicultural Commission, John Mitchell, Mayor, City of Greater Geelong, Simon Crean, Commonwealth Minister for Regional Australian Development and Local Government, John Eren MP, Member for Lara, Bridgette Carey, Project/Sponsorship Manager, Diversitat.