Our Services | Our Services |
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| Written by Administrator | |
| Thursday, 15 January 2009 | |
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Our Services Professional Legal and Social Support ICRA now has a team of volunteers and professionals who dedicate their time to providing high quality legal and social assistance. Our staff will provide professional legal advice, including social support through online and face-to-face client contact.
Advocacy Our staff will advocate and lobby to government on issues pertinent to Muslims, and provide representation in the Media when necessary. Community Legal Education and other Training ICRA now offers Legal Education to other organizations and the community. The purpose of this initiative is to inform and empower Muslims, as well as educate them of their rights before the law. ICRA will also provide cultural awareness seminars to businesses with the sole aim of promoting tolerance and diversity in Australia. Youth Liaison We will continue to represent Muslim Youth as well as run programs that address the needs of socially disadvantaged young people in the community. Networking ICRA staff will work with other organizations to address the needs of their clients and to make sure their clients are put in contact with the best people to help them work through their problems. Temple of Dreams – Our SBS Documentary After the London Bombings in 2005, Tom Zubrycki, one of Australia’s top film makers came across Fadi Abdul-Rahman and our volunteers at the Youth Centre. When the Cronulla riots broke out, a month or so after Zubrycki began filming, the mainstream media suddenly became interested, descending on ICRA and interviewing Fadi as if he were the negotiator for a rebel colony. In the aftermath, everyone realised the critical nature and the urgency of the work we do at ICRA and the film followed the journey of our volunteers over that period. On and off for over a year, Zubrycki followed Fadi, a human dynamo and born entrepreneur, whose energy and commitment to every project he undertakes would put many of the excessively remunerated corporate CEOs to shame. The difference is that all Fadi’s work, apart from his day job, is unpaid. And all of it is directed at bettering the lives and improving the self-esteem of the youth in our community. The film followed Fadi and our equally committed young men and women and saw them embark on two major youth initiatives – the bringing of former rapper Napoleon to Australia, and the organisation of the ‘All Eyez on Youth´Conference. However, running through the centre of the film is another issue – ever-present and unresolved – our battle with local council to keep the Youth Centre open. The film was a huge success – it screened twice at the 2007 Sydney Film Festival and attracted audiences from all across the nation as it took to the big screen in every capital city, with its final premiere taken to air on SBS in early December 2007.
Closure of our Youth Centre After a long battle with local council to keep our Youth Centre open, we were forced to close the doors of our Temple in February 2008. Since then we have relocated to a factory unit on the outer skirts of Auburn. In May 2008 we were approached by the School of Architecture at the University of Sydney who has taken on the initiative to develop plans and models for a community centre in the Auburn LGA to be managed and administered by ICRA. We are now hoping to use those plans and models to look for sponsors and partners to help us purchase property within the area to not only expand our focus and services, but also to secure a permanent home for all our future activities. ‘All Eyez on Youth’ Napoleon Tour Mutah Beale, a former American gangsta rapper, known to his fans as Napoleon, was invited here by ICRA in July 2006. The prime aim of his tour was to help convince young men to avoid the gangsta lifestyle he spent most of his life trying to escape. This event proved to be successful, attracting approximately 2000 youths, male and female, at the Sydney Olympic Park State Sports Centre. With increasing demand for his talks, Napoleon then toured Sydney, Melbourne and Queensland with ICRA staff. ‘All Eyez on Youth’ Conference On November 25th 2006, ICRA hosted the ‘All Eyez on Youth’ Conference in partnership with the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission (HREOC), the Australian Multicultural Foundation (AMF) – Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC), Muslim Community Cooperative Australia (MCCA) and Mission of Hope. The Conference attracted approximately 150 disadvantaged young people in an effort to jointly address the needs and concerns of young Australian Muslims in relation to:
It was followed by a formal dinner where all sponsors and partners joined the participants of the Conference in celebrating its success. The research team included members of HREOC, Mission of Hope and Psych Central, Dr David Millikan from the Uniting Church, the Hussein Brothers from the Body Punch Boxing team, members of the NSW Police Force, school principals and migrant resource centres workers. ICRA wishes to acknowledge the dedication of Fadi Abdul Rahman and Zouhour El-Ghoul in producing and editing the Study into the Social Issues affecting Young Australian Muslims in the early 21st Century including outcomes from the ‘All Eyez on Youth’ Conference. The Report from this Study was launched in March 2007 and a copy is available online for your perusal. Schools’ Out On Monday 3rd December 2007, ICRA hosted the “schools’ out” Youth Consultations with students attending from Birrong Boys’, Birrong Girls’, Granville Boys’, Strathfield South High Schools and the Australian International Academy. The aim of “schools’ out” was to: § Gauge the students’ thoughts on the issues affecting young people in High Schools § Identify the contributing factors to anti-social behaviour in young people § Highlight the role of schools and teachers in the life of young people § Identify the role of parents in schools, and to § Develop early intervention programs and improve services to assist young people in schools. A huge success, the Consultation was attended by members of the Federal and local police and was supported by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship. Young people were entertained by a screening of Temple of Dreams (our documentary), and treated to a barbeque and a game of footy with attending police officers. Feedback was received from over 100 hundred students who attended on the day and was later reported to schools. The recommendations of the report are now being used by ICRA to develop mentoring programs in partnership with neighbouring schools. Since the Consultation, ICRA has visited many of the local schools in our area to encourage them to work with us to assist them in addressing the many issues faced by their students. IBM Mentoring Program In October 2007, ICRA partnered with IBM and the Department of Immigration and Citizenship to deliver the IBM Mentoring Program. Utilising employees of IBM, ICRA developed an intensive mentoring program for young people in our area. ICRA delivered cultural awareness training to all IBM mentors, which was evaluated and rated very highly. The program consisted of two components: Youth Mentoring and School Mentoring, which both ended with a graduation ceremony for the participating young people at IBM. Youth Mentoring ICRA adopted 20 young people over an eight-month period and engaged them in an intensive mentoring program, which aimed to improve their inter-personal skills and prospects of employment. Many of the young people who participated in the Youth Mentoring component of the program came from a socially disadvantaged and at risk background. ICRA developed a program that had something in it for both mentors and mentees. The intense face-to-face sessions worked to bridge the gap between Muslims and non-Muslims. Together, mentors and mentees benefited from the weekly sessions to learn something new about each other and to work on improving their understanding of other cultures. This effectively broke down many of the stereotypes associated with our community and improved the self-esteem of many of our participating young people. School Mentoring A component of the program also involved engaging two schools from our local area in a mentoring program that was specifically adjusted to meet the requirements of the NSW Year 10 Computing Studies Syllabus. 10 boys from Birrong Boys’ High School and 10 girls from the Australian International Academy worked with their mentors from IBM to develop websites and short-films, which they presented at their final graduation ceremony. ICRA played an intermediary role in ensuring both IBM and the schools were comfortable with the delivery of the program. We made regular visits to the schools and engaged in workshops and seminars with the students to encourage them to participate to their fullest potential in order to reap in the maximum benefit of the program. Rush Hour The Youth Centre recently received funding under the Community Policing Partnership Program funded by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission and the Australian Multicultural Foundation for the project Rush Hour. To commence in February 2009 in partnership with Flemington Local Area Command, ICRA will work with students from Granville Boys’ High School to encourage young males from our community to enter the police force. The project will involve young people who are at risk of being marginalised and or disadvantaged. The idea is that this project will operate as an early intervention program to promote crime prevention through weekly mentoring sessions at the Police Station. This will foster a relationship of trust between young people and the police as well as encourage an understanding of the risks associated with crime. The aim of the project is to improve the relationship between young people and police and to encourage young people of the Muslim faith to enter the police force. 2020 Summit In April 2008, both Fadi and Zouhour were selected to represent the Youth Centre at the Australia 2020 Summit in Canberra. Fadi attended the 2020 Summit as a member of the Strengthening Communities group, while Zouhour attended as a member of the Australia’s Governance group at the Youth Summit. Congratulations to the both of them on this great achievement. |