SEW CONNECTED!

SEW CONNECTED!'s vision is to set up a community studio space in the Footscray area where women from diverse backgrounds can connect to learn, grow and develop new skills in various enterprising activities (sewing, hospitality, business), underpinning these with English language, literacy and numeracy skills, financial and digital literacy, as well as community leadership skills and knowledge to boost their confidence to actively participate in the social and economic life of their communities.

Strong partnerships will be forged with key community stakeholders to leverage what is strong within the community towards sustainable, connected pathways for women.

Diverse Women need spaces for inclusion and participation!

Fact 1: CALD women have a significantly lower rate of workforce participation compared to CALD men (47.3% and 69.5% respectively) and much lower than women in general (59.2%) (AIFS 2017).

Fact 2: Underpinning the vulnerability of CALD women is the experience of gender inequity and VicHealth (2007) recognises CALD women need additional supports to enable them to participate in social, economic and civic life.

SEW CONNECTED! is initiated and led by diverse women, focussing on what is strong within the community.

This approach empowers women and creates opportunities!