Community Hubs and Welcoming Week

Community Hubs: Building Social Cohesion in Australia

Community hubs are welcoming places where families from diverse backgrounds, particularly mothers with pre-school children, come to connect, share, and learn. They play a vital role in fostering social cohesion and inclusion in Australia.

Welcoming Week

Welcoming Week is an annual campaign and celebration showcasing communities striving to be more welcoming places for all, including migrants, refugees, people seeking asylum, international students, and the entire community. We acknowledge that Welcoming Week events in Australia will be hosted on the unceded lands of First Nations and recognize the generosity and important role of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in the work of Welcoming Australia and Welcoming Week.

Through Welcoming Week, organizations and communities bring together neighbours of all backgrounds to build strong connections and affirm the importance of building welcoming and inclusive communities for our shared future.

The 2024 Welcoming Week theme, #WhatBringsUsTogether, invites us to celebrate the work of advancing a welcoming Australia happening across communities every day. Whether through shared meals, sports, music celebrations, art exhibitions, storytelling circles, cultural exchanges, or community service projects, we look forward to seeing the creative ways communities celebrate Welcoming Week. By celebrating our shared humanity, we can advance a more inclusive and welcoming Australia where everyone can belong, contribute, and thrive.

Synergy Between Community Hubs and Welcoming Week

There is a natural connection between the goals of Community Hubs and the values of Welcoming Week. Both aim to create welcoming, inclusive, and supportive environments for all community members. In 2023, St Brigid’s School Community Hub in SA and St Brendan’s Community Hub in Queensland hosted successful Welcoming Week events – they’ve shared their experience and to help other Community Hubs host their own events this year!

We’re delighted to share our Welcoming Week Community Hubs Resource to help Community Hubs join the Welcoming Week movement in 2024.

Download it here and share with your Community Hub – we’d love for you to be part of Welcoming Week this year! You can host an event just for your Hub community members, or open it out to the public! Register your event here.