Published: Wednesday, 3 April 2019 at 2:19:35 PM
The City is hosting two Aboriginal students from Aranmore Catholic College as trainees for the next 18 months as part of our commitment to reconciliation.
Our first Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) was launched in 2017 and identified investigating pathways for people to seek employment, traineeship and work experience at the City of Vincent as a priority. The City’s new draft ‘Innovate’ RAP has a strong focus on employment opportunities for Aboriginal people. Endorsed by Vincent Council last night, the RAP is now available for public comment.
“We are excited to have Calvin and Paige working with us once a week for the next 18 months under this traineeship program in a variety of roles to suit their interests and career aspirations. I’m sure that they will be able to learn a lot from the experience and this helps us to work more closely with our local high school, Aranmore Catholic College. Providing diverse, on ground work experience for young Aboriginal students is a great step forward in our efforts to increase Aboriginal employment in our team,” said Mayor Emma Cole.
Maxine Brahim the Aboriginal Student Coordinator at Aranmore Catholic College is supportive of the City’s RAP.
“Working with Local Government gives the community pride knowing that community recommendations to local council are taken on board and actioned. The City of Vincent and the College have a very healthy relationship and it is conditioning to strengthen in all areas.”
The City approved its second Innovate RAP for public consultation at the 2 April Council Meeting. The Innovate RAP aims to target the adversity Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples face in the area of employment and procurement. The plan also outlines better understanding of Aboriginal culture in the community through artwork and workshops created and delivered by local Noongar people.
Drafting the Innovate RAP started in June 2018 and included seven months of consultations and workshops with the City’s RAP working group, organisations, Elders and community members.
“We started consultation for this Reconciliation Action Plan at our inaugural NAIDOC week event at Hyde Park last year. Noongar man Danny Ford and Tim Muirhead ran workshops and consultation sessions, including a session with local Elders and organisations. Danny also helped link Vincent staff with Noongar people living within the City and strengthened our existing ties to the local Noongar community,” said Mayor Cole.
“This Reconciliation Action Plan represents the next step on the City’s path to reconciliation. Once we have collated feedback from our community on the draft plan, we will seek final endorsement from Reconciliation Australia and Council before launching the plan to our community.”
If all goes according to plan, we are hoping to launch the Innovate RAP during NAIDOC Week (7-14 July 2019) whose theme this year is ‘Voice, Treaty, Truth: Let’s work together for a shared future’.
The draft Reconciliation Action Plan is available for viewing on imagine.vincent.wa.gov.au and comments will be accepted until 5pm 17 April.
Imagine Vincent
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