By Molly Magennis
The Western Bulldogs Community Foundation has been recognised at the annual Victorian Multicultural Awards for Excellence.
The foundation was recognised on Tuesday under the category of Community Innovation for its work with the City of Melton in delivering the Melton Health Champions Program.
The project supported nearly 50 young people in fields like COVID-19 prevention and health and wellbeing and helped them with short term paid employment opportunities.
As part of the program, the young leaders were engaged in training on various topics including youth mental health, COVID-19 and online design.
On the Bulldogs’ website, general manager for community and government relations, Kashif Bouns said winning the award was an honour and a great recognition of how important programs like Melton Health Champions are.
“These young people really stood up as leaders in their community during the COVID-19 pandemic and it’s been a privilege to be able to support them with extra skills and knowledge,” he said.
“At the Western Bulldogs Community Foundation, we have a commitment to supporting communities across Melbourne and Victoria’s west – our region is one of the most culturally diverse in the country.”
“It was important that this program involved young people from a variety of cultural backgrounds such as South Sudan, Samoa, New Zealand and Myanmar to ensure that critical information was able to reach people in their language through people they could trust.”
