The Huddle receives $150k to help the community get vaccinated

Community organisation The Huddle has received $150,000 to support the vaccination of people as young as five from culturally and linguistic diverse communities.

Established by the North Melbourne Football Club to improve inclusion for young people from diverse backgrounds, The Huddle will use the Victorian Government grant to support young people to get vaccinated.

The Huddle CEO Cameron McLeod told North West City News that the primary focus was to get children back into schools and administer booster shots.

We’re creating a range of online and in-person education forums in different languages.

“It’ll be a safe environment for women in particular to allow them to air concerns and questions and to get the facts.”

This funding will allow staff to work directly with community members and leaders to provide vaccine information and help get community members vaccinated – whether through help booking an appointment, arranging childcare or transport to vaccination hubs.

Mr McLeod said The Huddle would also create videos in-language featuring cultural leaders, going some way to dispelling some of the myths around COVID which were prevalent online.

“We want to try to connect people to where they’re comfortable with,” he said.

“For example, in the last months we transformed the North Melbourne Football Club into a vaccination hub. We also work closely with Cohealth – they’ve been fantastic – to ensure there are culturally specific translators onsite.”

Mr McLeod said The Huddle would use part of the $150,000 to hire a new program manager and case manager who will be selected from the local community.

Acting Minister for Health James Merlino said initiatives like this were crucial.

“Whether it’s arranging childcare or transport for people needing to get to appointments, this will help overcome the practical barriers that some Victorians face to getting vaccinated,” he said.

Mr McLeod said The Huddle had been selected for the grant because the organisation had worked closely with local communities during the past 11 years.

“The work we’ve been doing to support communities with vaccination has been going on for the past two years, and we’ve been working very hard to help people access computers and information around the most up-to-date health trends,” he said.

“There’s been a correlation between our work and hundreds of people going to local vaccination clinics.” •

For more information:

nmfc.com.au/huddle