The generous support of the Victorian Women's Benevolent Trust enables Anglicare Victoria's Broadmeadows Women's Community House to support our most vulnerable asylum seeker and refugee women to participate in English classes, without the funding restrictions often relating to visa and residency status. Our women tell us that providing childcare and transport support are invaluable in removing barriers to participate fully in our supports and services and as a means of reducing isolation and developing social connections/friendships.

Catherine Sherwin

Project: Conversational English in Your Community

Organisation: Anglicare
Grant type: Small Grant
Amount: $9,895
Year: 2019-20
Website: https://www.anglicarevic.org.au/

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Anglicare Victoria’s Broadmeadows Women’s Community House (BWCH) will run Conversational English in Your Community, a course for recently arrived migrant, refugee and asylum seeker women. Some of these women lack trust or even fear emergency services due to past experiences of uniformed personnel in their countries of origin.

Conversational English in Your Community is an English as an Alternative Language (EAL) course, with a focus on equipping women with knowledge, confidence and skills to deal with emergency situations while building their English language proficiency.

The women will learn to appropriately and effectively prepare and respond to emergency situations through positive interaction with first responder emergency services, such as police, fire and ambulance personnel through incursions and excursions. The course provides the opportunity to break down barriers and establish trust and respect, thereby increasing confidence to act in an emergency with greater knowledge in dealing with storms and floods, thunderstorm asthma, fires, and heatwaves, and be more aware of water safety and sun safety.