Welcoming at the Local Level

About Welcoming Week

Local Governments are on the frontline of welcoming newcomers to their community. They play an important role in connecting newcomers to information and supports, as well as building connected, inclusive and harmonious communities where everyone belongs.

The global Welcoming Week movement; an annual campaign and celebration to showcase the movement of communities striving to be more welcoming places for all, including migrants, refugees, people seeking asylum, international students and the entire community. The 2024 theme, #WhatBringsUsTogether, is a moment to consider and celebrate the work of advancing a welcoming Australia that happens in communities across the country every single day.

To celebrate Welcoming Week 2024, this forum will shine a spotlight on resources and programs that can support local governments to embrace their role in building welcome locally.

Speakers:

Sebastian Geers 

Sebastian has spent over 10 years starting and working in new initiatives that support more welcoming and inclusive communities.

Sebastian has worked within the immigration detention centers, helped start family mentoring programs, provided support to local, state and federal governments build their innovation capacity and led Australia’s largest corporate diversity initiative – A Taste of Harmony.

As the Manager of Welcoming Cities, Sebastian is working with councils and leaders across the country to continue to grow Welcoming Cities and ensure that we are delivering the best benefits to our members.

Blaise Itabelo - National Manager - Community Partnerships & Engagement

Blaise was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Sadly the 1996 war in DRC forced Blaise and his family to flee and for the next decade and a half, Blaise and his family called a Refugee Camp home. Blaise migrated to Australia in 2011 and he’s a proud Australian citizen. He has extensively worked on assisting newly arrived migrants, refugees, and people seeking asylum in their settlement journey in Australia. Blaise has over ten years of experience in Community Engagement and Development with a particular interest in community capacity building and mobilisation and has held various roles with local and International NGOs including Access community services Ltd, SSI, and WorldShare.

Download the program