Ballarat Multicultural Council to launch new welcome project

Run purely off grants, Ballarat Regional Multicultural Council is finding new ways to welcome new residents and provide key information about support services.

Off the back of the successful Welcome Bus Tour, BRMC are developing a welcome video with regional production group, Mass Motion.

Another Welcome Bus Tour is coming up on August 11, with three already done and dusted in its first year running.

BRMC strategy and settlement manager Heeyoung Lim said each tour had more people signing up.

"It's an important factor to welcome new arrivals to settle down well in a new community," Ms Lim said.

Ms Lim said it's a huge cultural barrier when people arrive to Ballarat are are unaware of what services are around, from support in emergencies to accessing the library.

The Ballarat Welcome Project has three components, the bus tours, welcome morning teas and now the video.

The morning teas are run on the last Wednesday of the month.

Ms Lim herself arrived as a migrant to Ballarat just three years ago and said there was nothing like this at the time.

"It was have been good for me to settle into Ballarat more smoothly," she said.

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The Welcome Project video was developed after BRMC did a report called Destination Ballarat, to identify strengths and challenges.

"Many people mentioned we needed a welcoming environment and also useful information for new arrivals," Ms Lim said.

"This was why we wanted to established the project."

The state government is currently supporting the Welcome Project. Ms Lim said she wanted to continue the bus tours.

"The tours give new residents information they need and also decrease isolation and increase a sense of belonging," she said.

The welcome video will work together with the BRMC partners like standard emergency facilities like Victoria Police and Fire Rescue, to health services. Jobs and Training Ballarat and even legal services.

"We want to work together to provide good information," Ms Lim said.

All new residents who have moved to Ballarat in the past five years are welcome to the tours, on any visa type.

Everyone is welcome to the morning teas at Barkley Square.

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