Manningham Council says it is working proactively to create a community where people of all cultural backgrounds are respected and valued.
Council recently held two online forums, where community leaders and key members of multicultural communities met with Councillors and officers to identify how Manningham can best work with them now and into the future.
Mayor Andrew Conlon said the initiative was borne out of the past 18 months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“While we’ve always had good relationships with our diverse and multi-cultural communities, the pandemic highlighted areas we could improve on,” he said.
“The forums helped us better understand the needs of our multicultural communities and determine the best methods to engage with each other.”
The forums were attended by 18 community leaders of various backgrounds and faiths.
The top three findings and suggestions from the forums were:
- a formal advisory mechanism to communicate with council and vice versa;
- an informal network to link community members with council and each other;
- to partner with council to regularly celebrate and share cultural practices (such as cultural food, arts and performances) and to hold topical events with speakers and special guests.
Manningham Council is reviewing the findings and says a new multicultural advisory committee will be set up in the coming months.
Applications to be part of the forthcoming Multicultural Advisory Committee will be sought through a public nomination process and will be advertised on Council’s website in the coming weeks.
