A new Integrated Services Hub

Australia’s most culturally diverse region is Greater Dandenong in Victoria’s South-East, and it's also home to the highest population of people seeking asylum in the State.

Yet there is no local one-stop-shop where people seeking asylum can access a range of core services. With government support becoming more and more restricted, something needed to fill the breach.

The Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC), Australia’s largest independent human rights organisation for refugees, has stepped in with a cross-sectional solution: it has partnered with other service providers, community leaders and local government to deliver an Integrated Services Hub in 2021.  

The new Hub will provide place-based services to more than 2,000 people seeking asylum who live in Greater Dandenong. The ASRC has taken the lead on the project which uses a collaborative framework to establish a new best practice model through shared delivery of services.

"Our dream is to create a safe and welcoming place within the local neighbourhood for people to learn and grow, connect with their community, find a sense of belonging and build new dreams for themselves and their families," says Kon Karapanagiotidis, CEO and Founder of ASRC.

The ASRC’s original Dandenong operations were established in 2012 delivering education, legal and employment programs; the new hub will expand on these in its first permanent location.  

The COVID19 pandemic has caused some delays to construction as have some funding gaps, but the ASRC has refocused on finishing the project and is addressing the funding issue in order to get the Hub running by next year.

The ASRC has successfully brought in partners from a wide range of sectors, securing philanthropic funding and over $700,000 worth of supplies and pro bono services from businesses.
 
For more information, head to https://www.asrc.org.au/ish-dandenong/

This organisation is supported by trusts managed by Equity Trustees