Winners – second year in a row!
Navitas Skilled Futures is honoured to have received the prestigious NSW Premier’s Multicultural Community Medal for the second year in a row.
The Corporate Business Excellence Medal, presented at the NSW Premier’s Harmony Dinner on Tuesday 1 March, recognises the outstanding achievements of a business in creating employment, or other opportunities, which value and promote diversity and inclusion.
General Manager, Jetinder Macfarlane, said it was a great honour to be acknowledged for the second time – but for the first time as Navitas Skilled Futures – especially in a year marked by the challenges of delivering training and employment opportunities during an ongoing pandemic.
“It’s been a big, busy and challenging year for Navitas Skilled Futures, as for so many others, and we are so grateful to be recognised for the contribution we make across our colleges in Sydney and the ACT, not just to keep our learners on track with their goals, but to continue to move them positively forward on their journeys,” Ms Macfarlane said.
“We changed our name from Navitas English to Navitas Skilled Futures in December last year to better reflect the extent of the work we do and our positive client impact. We have been privileged over the past 30 years to help transform the lives of more than 300,000 people from diverse backgrounds, and we do that in so many more ways than teaching language, literacy and numeracy skills. Our programs continue to grow, offering digital, work and life skills that meet evolving settlement, education and employment needs.”
As well as being recognised for its innovative courses and projects, Navitas Skilled Futures was praised for its proactive response to the COVID-19 lockdown, not only pivoting swiftly to online delivery, but working collaboratively with government, community groups and support agencies again in 2021 to ensure students, their families and communities were kept informed, safe and compliant during this challenging time.
Navitas Skilled Futures continued to host community Ask The Expert webinars, created an English for Swimming resource to share free with educators across Australia, supported the Afghani community and refugees following the Afghanistan crisis, built a Digital Literacy for Health resource to help refugees understand and used digital health platforms and participated in Sydney Migrant Centre’s Pulse Report launch on the effects of COVID on the Western Sydney community.
The medals are considered a highlight of the annual Premier’s Harmony Dinner, which celebrates the diverse cultures, languages and walks of life of all citizens in NSW.
Presented to Government Services and Employment Executive General Manager Michael Cox by Minister for Multiculturalism Mark Coure, Navitas Skilled Futures was also represented at the event by Business Development Manager, Michelle Foote, and Stakeholder Engagement Managers, Basim Shamaon, Genevieve Lewis, and Farzana Farzana. The event was held at the International Convention Centre at Darling Harbour, Sydney.
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet congratulated the 16 people and organisations recognised with awards for their commitment to supporting the State’s multicultural communities.
“I know each and every one of the award recipients don’t do what they do for reward or recognition. Rather, they do it out of care for their communities and our state,” Mr Perrottet said.
“I believe it is important to recognise these contributions and so do their peers who nominated each person or organisation.”
Minister for Multiculturalism Mark Coure said every one of the recipients deserved recognition.
“This is our opportunity to acknowledge the contributions they make day in, day out. This is particularly the case as we have endured a hard two years throughout the pandemic,” Mr Coure said.
“From migrants and refugees to established communities struggling with lockdowns, it’s amazing to think how many lives are now better because these people and organisations chose to give back.”
The full list of winners can be found here.