Hobsons Bay City Council commissioned tailored Culturally Responsive Practice training, and followed it with a commitment to a dedicated outreach role.
The Context
With 48% of young Australians aged 12–24 being first- or second-generation migrants, local government youth services need programs that are genuinely culturally responsive. Hobsons Bay City Council identified that multicultural young people were underrepresented in its youth programs relative to the local population, and recognised that disengagement risked worse outcomes for those young people.
The challenge
Generic cultural awareness training tends to sit at the level of good intentions. Hobsons Bay needed something grounded enough in its own data and community to actually change how staff worked.
Our approach
CMY's training team worked directly with the Youth Services team leaders to design a tailored two-session program, grounding the learning in Hobsons Bay's own demographic data and locally relevant case studies rather than generic content.
The impact
100% of attending staff reported increased knowledge of culturally responsive practice, 91% reported improved confidence, and 77% improved skills in engaging with multicultural communities. Leadership staff who attended identified that a dedicated position, such as a Cultural Outreach Officer to engage multicultural communities, would be a valuable next step and committed to raising this in future strategic planning discussions.
As a direct result of the training, staff also planned to trial outreach approaches.
“Great and detailed training. It is opening the discussions of being culturally aware as well as identifying your unconscious bias.”
