Other Programs
At the core of all our work is the idea of everyday citizens should be invited and empowered to lead in welcoming and supporting the integration of refugee newcomers, in order to expand and improve opportunities for refugees.
In addition to the CRISP, we’ve been involved in testing and developing a range of other approaches that build on this central idea.
Refugee Student Settlement Pathway
CRSA is currently working with Refugee Education Australia, Skill Path Australia and the tertiary education sector to mobilise, train and support campus sponsor groups as part of a small initial pilot of a Refugee Student Settlement Pathway (RSSP), which CRSA has helped to co-design.
If you are a tertiary sector representative or what to become involved in a campus supporter group, please contact info@refugeesponsorship.org.au and we can point you in the right direction.
The students for this pilot program have already been selected so unfortunately, we are not able to receive applications from prospective students.
Support for skilled refugee migrants
CRSA has been working with other organisations to explore how the community sponsorship model can provide settlement and integration support to refugees arriving in Australia through skilled migration pathways, such as the Skilled Refugee Labour Agreement Pilot through which Talent Beyond Boundaries (TBB) matches skilled refugees with companies and businesses in need of their skills.
Under this program, employers gain valuable talent and displaced people have a chance to rebuild their careers and lives TBB works directly with governments to open skilled migration pathways for refugees that benefit individuals, family members, communities, and the economy. For more general information on this initiative, visit the TBB Australia page.
CRSA has assisted TBB and relevant employers by training and supporting local groups to provide holistic settlement and integration support to those arriving through this pilot program. If would like to know more about this work, or potentially support someone arriving through this pathway, please contact us at info@refugeesponsorship.org.au.
Group Mentorship Program (2020-2023)
Launched in June 2020, the Group Mentorship Program (GMP) connected refugees who had already arrived in Australia, but needed additional support, with a trained group of local volunteers.
The GMP was developed as a proof of concept to show government and policy makers that a Canadian style ‘community sponsorship’ program could succeed in Australia. When we designed and launched a small-scale test program during the pandemic in 2020, we never anticipated how helpful this model would be, when Australia accepted more than 4,000 Afghan evacuees following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021. Through the GMP were able to mobilise significant additional integration support for evacuees using this hybrid caseworker/community supporter group model.
Mentor groups provided 6-12 months of support, connection and friendship to mentees building the foundations for their new life in Australia. CRSA approved, trained and supported mentor groups and connected them with a refugee household in their area who had been referred into the GMP. Most of these refugees had some level of support through a government-funded caseworker but benefitted enormously from the additional support of a ‘group of five’ from within the local community.
With the introduction of the new, federal government-backed Community Refugee Integration and Settlement Pilot (CRISP) in 2022, the GMP had achieved its initial purpose and CRSA ceased accepting new applications. New groups were instead encouraged to participate in the CRISP.
Learnings from the GMP have been incorporated into CRSA’s work as it rolls out the CRISP.
More information about the GMP can be found here.
“It’s really just being there as a friend and support, it’s quite an easy thing for me to do, I speak the language and I know the culture but it means so much to them because they don’t. I was their first mate here so I was able to help them.”
Rebecca – Group Mentor
