SSI’s Grassroots Collective is a pilot initiative that provides flexible funding and practical support to community organisations delivering locally driven solutions.

We believe communities are best placed to identify their needs and create meaningful change. This pilot helps turn community-led ideas into action while building long-term capability.

Through financial and in-kind support, participating community groups and organisations join a growing network committed to strengthening connection, inclusion and resilience. Together, we’re testing new ways to support grassroots innovation and community capability across Australia.

Beyond funding: Selected organisations receive guidance throughout delivery, connections to local stakeholders, opportunities for shared learning, and inclusion in The Grassroots Collective network.

• Eligibility
• Eligible activities
• Key dates
• Application process
• What to expect
• Frequently Asked Question
• Application form

Ineligble applicants

• Individuals
• Political organisations or activities
• For-profit entities without a clear community benefit
• Organisations not working with eligible migrant or settlement-pathway communities

Important requirements: Applicants must show a strong, genuine connection to communities facing settlement and integration challenges.

This pilot focuses on communities within specific visa and settlement pathways.

Geographic scope: This pilot is open to organisations delivering initiatives in regions of South East Queensland and Perth.

Initiatives should focus on one clear and practical outcome for participants. Here are some examples of eligible activities across our priority areas:

• Core organisational operations: General administration, staff salaries not directly linked to the project, rent, utilities, or insurance unrelated to the initiative.
• Ongoing existing service delivery: Ongoing service delivery already funded elsewhere, programs with government contracts, or activities duplicating existing funded services.
• Political advocacy or campaigning: Activities supporting political parties or candidates, lobbying for legislative change, or political rallies.
• Capital works or major infrastructure: Building or renovation works, purchase of vehicles, or major equipment (minor equipment directly related to the activity may be considered).

Applications open: 1 April 2026

Applications close: 30 April 2026

Application assessment period: 7 May – 21 May 2026

Notification and onboarding: Late May

Funds released: Early-mid June 2026

(1) Expression of Interest: Submit a short and accessible EOI outlining your idea.

(2) Guided discussion: Shortlisted organisations will be invited to discuss their initiative with the selection panel.

(3) Assessment: Applications are assessed using clear, outcome-focused criteria.

(4) Notification and onboarding: Successful organisations will receive a formal offer and onboarding support.

(5) Initiative delivery: Projects are implemented with light-touch monitoring and support.

Successful organisations will:

• Enter into a simple funding agreement
• Deliver the approved initiative within agreed timeframes
• Participate in a mid-point update and final reporting process
• Provide a basic expenditure summary
• Acknowledge SSI support in communications and materials

SSI will provide guidance, support and opportunities for shared learning throughout the project.

If your organisation has a community-led idea that aligns with the initiative’s purpose, we encourage you to apply.

Before you apply: Please note that once you start your application, you cannot exit and resume the session. Please be prepared with your responses for your written, or video, submission.

Details that will need to be covered:

Your Activity or Project

• What you want to do (activity, event, or project)
• Who will join or benefit
• How the community is involved (leading or working together)

Community Benefit

• What positive change this will bring
• What problems it helps solve (e.g. isolation, language barriers, wellbeing)

Funding Request

• How much funding you need
• What the money will be used for (main items only)

For Stream 2 (NGO-supported applications):

• Explain the NGO’s role
• Confirm how the communities you work with helped design the project

Email: grassrootscollective@ssi.org.au

Phone: (02) 9685 0100

SSI helps employers across NSW, Queensland and Victoria access skilled refugees with disability through Inclusive Employment Australia, connecting inclusive workplaces with ready talent.

Embrace workplace diversity, all the while achieving your diversity, ESG, or social procurement goals.

We have extensive experience with inclusive hiring for businesses, collaborating with employers to prepare jobseekers for employment. We can help you find candidates, enhance their skills, and help them to overcome the barriers challenging them.

Since 2015, SSI has supported candidates across a diverse range of cultural and linguistic backgrounds, abilities, and life stages, to find sustainable employment matched to their skills and qualifications.

We will work together to find the perfect fit for your requirements. You will be able to access expert guidance from providers on recruitment and workplace practices.

We will work with you to:

• identify your business needs
• find suitable candidates
• access training
• make workplace adjustments, job customisation and tailoring
• provide safe and productive workplaces
• retain employees with disability.

We’d love to partner with employers in NSW, Queensland and Victoria close to where our participants live. Take a look at our locations here. With over 37 sites across metropolitan areas, there are lots of ways we can connect.

SSI offers this service in NSW, Queensland and Victoria.

P: 1800 299 486 (NSW)

P: 1800 299 487 (QLD)

P: 1800 299 482 (VIC)

E: ieassi@ssi.org.au

Safe, Healthy and Empowered Relationships (SHER) is a Domestic and Family Violence behaviour intervention program for men who speak Dari, Swahili, Samoan and Karen, and are living in Logan, Ipswich, Brisbane, Gold Coast or Moreton Bay.

The goal of this program is to increase safety for women and children by providing men an opportunity to take accountability for their actions recognising the harm their violence and behaviour choices are having on family.

This program helps you:

• Build effective ways to handle difficult situations without conflict
• Take responsibility for your actions and impact on others
• Build healthy family relationships as a father and husband

This program is for men who:

• come from an Afghan Dari, Swahili, Samoan and Karen speaking backgrounds living in Logan, Ipswich, Brisbane, Ipswich, Gold Coast, or Moreton Bay
• are concerned about how their behaviour affects their family
• are ready to make positive changes in their relationships

The SHER program can help to:

• Understand the difference between unhealthy and healthy relationships
• Build new ways to handle difficult situations
• Take accountability for your actions to build a safer home for your family
• Build better connections with those you care about

Individual support phase

• One-hour weekly sessions
• Private discussions with a skilled bi-cultural workers
• Opportunity to discuss your specific situation
• Prepare for group work in a comfortable, private setting
• Explore new perspectives on family relationships
• Build strategies for creating a safer home environment

Group program phase (16 weeks)

• Weekly sessions
• Closed group format (same participants throughout the program)
• Learn from and support other men in similar situations
• Develop practical skills for positive change

Sessions take place every Thursday evening for 16 weeks, 6 – 8pm commencing April 2025
Gould Adams Community Centre, 558-662 Kingston Road, Kingston

If you or someone is in immediate danger, please call Triple Zero (000) for emergency services.

If you are subjected to or impacted by sexual violence, know someone who is, or are triggered by this content and would like to access support, please contact:

• 1800 RESPECT – Call 1800 737 732, text 0458 737 732, chat online or video call via their website for confidential domestic, family and sexual violence counselling information and support services
• DV Connect – Call 1800 811 811 for immediate support with crisis transport and accommodation in QLD
• Lifeline – Call 13 11 14
• 99 Steps – 07 3412 8282 or 99steps@ssi.org.au for women from CALD backgrounds living in Logan/Beenleigh experiencing DFV. Support includes information, advice, case work support and referral

Due to a high volume of applications, the Health Support Navigation Service (HSNS) will temporarily pause new Expressions of Interest (EOI’s) from 2 February. The EOI form will reopen on 4 May when new referrals will resume. This short pause will allow our team to focus on supporting people who have already applied, ensuring we continue to provide timely, person-centred assistance without extended wait times. We appreciate your understanding and we are grateful to be supporting so many community members who need help navigating the healthcare system.

The service supports individuals from CALD and refugee populations, and those who are homeless or at risk of homelessness to have better access to primary health care in South Western Sydney Region

There is a critical need for improved service navigation to support better primary healthcare outcomes for CALD, refugee, and homeless communities. Many face barriers such as limited culturally appropriate services, low health literacy, stigma, and financial or mental health challenges. With the right care and support, people can more easily navigate the system and access the healthcare they need.

People who are eligible for the service include those who:

• are residents of the South Western Sydney (SWS) Local Government Areas (LGA’s) of: Bankstown-Canterbury, Fairfield, Liverpool, Campbelltown, Camden, Wollondilly, Wingecarribee.
• are refugees or asylum seekers
• are experiencing homeless or are at risk of homelessness
• are from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds who were born overseas and usually speak a language other than English at home

Eligible participants receive:

• GP visits
• Health checks
• Pathology
• Preventative health activities such as vaccinations, cancer screening and STI/BBV testing
• Wound care
• Allied health such as speech therapy and podiatry
• Mental health psychology and/or psychiatry visits
• Approved medical aids
• Medical form support

We’d love to work with your organisation. Partner with us to bring your expertise to those who need it most.

Whether you’re a community health centre, GP clinic experienced with homeless populations, CALD and refugee community organisation, multicultural group, faith leader, or specialist service provider, we invite you to join us on this initiative.

• Co-host information sessions within your community
• Address the multifaceted needs of individuals and families within the target populations by facilitating smooth client transfers and referrals
• Provide your expertise to contribute to a robust referral network to ensure clients can access holistic support – from a range of services, including:
  • CALD and refugee organisations
  • Refugee and asylum seeker support services
  • Homelessness support and services
  • Community health providers and GPs
  • Community and faith groups

Contact us at clientservices@ssi.org.au for more information.

Victims of sexual violence from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities face unique challenges in reporting and reaching out for assistance when there is a lack of culturally responsive and trauma-informed services. Often, sexual violence services are not equipped with culturally and linguistically informed information, further enhancing barriers that victims may experience.

SafePath is a two-year project funded until June 2025 by the Department of Communities & Justice. The project aims to further equip frontline practitioners in identifying and responding to CALD victim survivors of sexual violence perpetration.

SafePath will develop culturally and linguistically informed resources to support victim-survivors, practitioners, and wider communities about sexual violence.

We invite you to share and use the resources when they are available. Some resources will be available in-language.

If you or someone is in immediate danger, please call Triple Zero (000) for emergency services.

If you are subjected to or impacted by sexual violence, know someone who is, or are triggered by this content and would like to access support, please contact:

• Full Stop Domestic Violence helpline on 1800 385 578 or Full Stop NSW Sexual Violence Helpline on 1800 424 017
• Lifeline on 13 11 14

Should you have any comments, feedback, or questions, please contact us.

E: info@ssi.org.au
P: 02 8799 6700

The Strategies to Prevent Modern Slavery (SToP Modern Slavery) project was funded by the Federal Attorney-General’s Department to develop short story-based videos as an education tool to deepen knowledge and understanding of modern slavery in all its forms.

The videos particularly focus on forced labour, domestic servitude within intimate partner relationships, and forced marriage, as three forms of modern slavery. They are designed to deliver sessions to hold meaningful and engaging discussions and reflection to understand the nuances around these forms of modern slavery.

A series of short videos explains the three forms of modern slavery in simple, relatable terms, using examples developed in partnership with communities. These videos can be used in group discussions or as a self-reflective exercise, and some are also available in Arabic, Dari and Chinese.

In Australia, modern slavery is defined as ‘a range of serious exploitative practices which includes human trafficking, slavery, slavery like practices, and the worst forms of child labour.’ (National Action Plan to Combat Modern Slavery 2020-2025).

Modern slavery includes situations where people are forced to work or marry against their will, are not paid properly, are controlled through threats, deception, coercion, and cannot safely walk away from the situation.

Forms of modern slavery:

• Human trafficking
• Deceptive recruitment
• Forced marriage
• Slavery
• Debt bondage
• Forced labour
• Worst forms of child labour
• Domestic servitude

Some signs someone may be in a modern slavery situation:

• They are not allowed to leave their work or home freely.
• Their passport or ID is held by someone else.
• They are afraid to speak up or seek help.
• They work long hours with little or no pay.
• They are under constant surveillance or control.

This project educates refugee and multicultural communities about how technology can be used in domestic and family violence. It provides practical knowledge on identifying and protecting against spyware, tracking apps, cache information, and passcodes that perpetrators may use to harm women and their children.

SSI successfully tendered for funding through the Preventing Tech-based Abuse of Women Grants Program (funded by the eSafety Commissioner).  This program contributes to the Federal Government’s National Plan to End Violence Against Women and Children 2022-32 (the National Plan). Fundamental to the success of the National Plan is understanding and addressing tech-facilitated abuse of women and children.

We developed educational short story-based videos to spark conversations and reflections among community groups and individuals. We also created a training package to support these conversations through a community education program.

The videos focused on four areas of technology-based abuse that can be watched in multiple languages including Dari, Arabic, Chinese and English.

• Image-based abuse
• Impersonation
• Use of children’s devices
• Tracking

These resources help facilitators and participants discuss and understand the experiences of culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) women affected by technology-based abuse.

Build your understanding of technology‑facilitated abuse in domestic and family violence, with a focus on the experiences of women from migrant and refugee backgrounds. This free, 30‑minute e‑learning course designed for social services workers and community leaders equips you to recognise abuse, respond effectively and strengthen community safety.

For more information about the project, please contact us on info@ssi.org.au.

We promote culturally responsive, evidence-based and community informed responses to domestic, family and sexual violence in NSW, including in regional and rural areas.

The Centre collaborates across women’s safety, multicultural and settlement sectors in NSW to enhance quality, safe and culturally responsive domestic, family and sexual violence services and community-based responses.

Our tailored approach involves:

• case management and collaborative practice support
• community engagement: lived experience advice, supporting social responders and community education
• sector capacity building, engagement and training
• consultation, research, policy advice and advocacy to drive systemic change.

We work across four focus areas: primary prevention, early intervention, response, and recovery and healing.

Culturally responsive practice

We understand the importance of ensuring that domestic, family and sexual violence responses meet the needs of communities in all their diversity. Our work is grounded in cultural responsiveness and informed by evidence and community insights.

The Centre combines expertise in culturally responsive practice and a deep understanding of how different forms of violence can impact women, children and families from multicultural communities, as well as the specific challenges they may face in seeking help.

We work with victim survivors and communities to address these complex issues. We also collaborate with other services to provide appropriate support to migrant and refugee women, children and families.

Individuals

We provide specialist, culturally responsive support to migrant and refugee women and children who are at risk of, or experiencing, domestic, family and sexual violence. This includes:

• Support for immediate safety.
• Collaborative, culturally responsive and holistic case management.
• Counselling and recovery support.
• Support for socio-economic participation and community connection, and referrals to appropriate services.

Communities

We work with multicultural communities to support them with the knowledge and resources to effectively recognise, respond to, and prevent domestic, family and sexual violence. This includes:

• Community engagement and education on the drivers of domestic, family and sexual violence and available support services.
• Empowering communities as social responders.
• Supporting communities to lead positive change in attitudes towards gender equality and healthy relationships.

Sector and service delivery

• Expert advice and capacity building on cultural responsiveness in the context of family, domestic and sexual violence.
• Collaborative practice support, working with practitioners across sectors.
• Promoting cross-sector collaboration and developing evidence to enhance policy and practice responses.

We have created easy-to-understand resources in English, Arabic, Chinese, Hakha Chin, Karen, Khmer, Punjabi, Urdu and Vietnamese to enhance NDIS participants’ understanding of their rights and the quality of services they should expect from providers.

This project is designed to deliver robust choice and control focused outcomes for culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) people with disability through an approach that draws on their own experiences. SSI has worked closely with NDIS participants and providers across NSW, Queensland and Victoria to consult, co-design, test and disseminate relevant and accessible in-language resources.

SSI would like to acknowledge the project contributions made by the following NDIS Providers as Provider Consultants of The Rights Path Project: