We are a community group, formed locally under the auspices of the Wonthaggi Neighbourhood Centre at Mitchell House.

Some members of the group have had previous experience in mentoring, teaching and/or sponsoring refugees who have previously come to Australia on humanitarian visas.

We support a new model for Community Refugee Sponsorship in Australia and have joined the Australia-wide Community Refugee Sponsorship Australia (CRSA) Program.

Community Refugee Sponsorship has been working successfully in Canada for more than 40 years and the practice is now spreading around the world.

We believe there is a much better way of involving the Australian community in sponsoring and welcoming refugees to Australia. A Community Sponsorship Program will enable members of a community to sponsor visas for refugees from around the world who have the opportunity to begin the process of rebuilding their lives in Australia.

The Community Refugee Integration and Settlement Pilot (CRISP) program, trialled and coordinated by CRSA for the Commonwealth Government, matches refugee families to a group of local volunteers, who spend 12 months helping them find their feet.

Community Sponsorship provides a model for enhancing Australia’s refugee resettlement program by drawing on the resources of compassionate Australians to supplement the long-standing government-funded resettlement program. We also believe that by using the energy, resources and social capital of the wider community we can successfully welcome more refugees to Australia each year.