The Huddle CEO Cameron McLeod joined the Victorian COVID-19 press conference this morning alongside Deputy Premier James Merlino and Chief Health Officer Brett Sutton to announce some great news for local communities.
The Huddle is proud to partner with the Victorian State Government and the many multicultural community organisations to support children, young people, and their families to be vaccinated and boosted against COVID.
During the press conference, the Victorian State Government announced successful funding recipients of the Government’s Supporting Access to Vaccination for Priority Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Communities program including a portion of the funding to The Huddle to help reduce vaccine misinformation and hesitancy and increase uptake.
The Huddle formed part of the Emergency Management Team to build relationships between residents, authorities, and the broader communities.
“It was only 18-months ago that 3,000 residents in nine social housing towers across North Melbourne and Flemington were locked in their homes in an effort to stop the spread of COVID. Unintentionally, many residents felt anxious, fearful and had a sense of mistrust,” said CEO of The Huddle Cam McLeod.
McLeod also shared how The Huddle provided online and in-person education forums in languages such as Somali, Arabic, Tigrinya and Dinka. Videos in various languages, featuring multicultural medical professionals, health champions, cultural and religious leaders were to help multicultural people learn about the latest health information.
With the new funding announced, The Huddle will support young people that are hesitant or have and underlying health concerns to ensure they are not “locked out” with access to online activities, events and programs.
“Today, young people living in those towers like, Nor Shanino from Ubuntu and Fatumo Elmi from the Somali Health Care Professionals are rolling up their sleeves and working with The Huddle to maximise the number of young people from multicultural backgrounds to be vaccinated,” said McLeod.
“Young people from multicultural backgrounds are resilient, talented and very connected. Together we must harness their passion and amplify their ideas to ensure we emerge from this pandemic with greater levels of trust and healthier communities,” McLeod further stated.
