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About AMES Australia

AMES Australia is a leading provider of humanitarian settlement, education, training and employment services to refugees, asylum seekers and newly arrived migrants in Australia.

A statutory authority of the Victorian Government, the organisation manages a range of federal and state government contracts including Humanitarian Settlement Program (HSP), the Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP) and Workforce Australia.

Each year AMES Australia directly assists more than 40,000 migrants and refugees to find their places in Australian society and touches the lives of more than 150,000 people. The organisation’s programs are aimed at fostering a sense of belonging among its clients, recognising that social participation is a key ingredient in maintaining social cohesion. The organisation uses a unique strengths-based approach to successful settlement, which recognises and harnesses the resilience of refugees and migrants and builds on their strengths.Each year AMES Australia supports newly arrived migrants, refugees and asylum seekers to settle here through orientation programs, English tuition, vocational skills training and employment services.

Under its vision of ‘full participation for all in a cohesive and diverse society’, the organisation supports migrants and refugees to achieve their social and economic goals. AMES Australia also works to create community links between its clients and the broader society.

Among the organisation’s programs are the management of Melbourne’s vibrant Multicultural Hub – a vital facility for the city’s diverse communities – as well as social enterprises that provide training and work experience, cultural and artistic events and youth-based initiatives.

AMES has built a range of partnerships with universities, TAFEs, migrant resource centres, health professionals, real estate and community organisations. The four economic and social determinants of Health and Wellbeing, Education, Employment and Safety and Security are what AMES focuses on.

In 2020-21 AMES Australia engaged around 500 isolated or disengaged young people in positive social or educational activities and around 110 isolated refugee women were supported to set up income producing enterprises.

History of AMES Australia

From humble beginnings teaching English to new arrivals in makeshift classrooms in Nissen Huts in northern Victoria, AMES Australia has grown to be one of Australia’s leading settlement agency, delivering services to over 30,000 clients a year.

Formally established in 1951, the organisation’s antecedents were the hundreds of dedicated teachers who selflessly volunteered their time to help the thousands of new arrivals from post war Europe to successfully settle in Australia through the acquisition of English language skills.Over the years AMES Australia has continued to grow in numbers and expand its services.

The organisation has been at the forefront of significant social change, supporting new arrivals as they begin to contribute economically and socially to our diverse communities. It has witnessed the birth of multiculturalism, a term that was new in the 1970s but which now is accepted as an accurate description of the cultural and ethnic diversity of contemporary Australia.In many ways, the story of AMES Australia is also the story of post war immigration and multiculturalism.

Since 1945 almost eight 7 million people from 180 countries have migrated to Australia. 2016 Census data has revealed that almost a third of Australia’s population was born overseas almost half of people have at least one overseas-born parent.

AMES Australia staff are proud of the role they have played in successfully settling hundreds of thousands of new arrivals through a broad range of settlement, English language and employment.

Facts and figures

AMES Australia has helped more than 700,000 new Australians settle in Victoria since 1951.Victoria settles around 4000 refugees each year, 25 per cent of Australia’s intake.More than 36,000 people were helped by AMES in 2019 and 11,000 people were helped to settle in Victoria – the total figure up 43 per cent from 2010.About 14,000 migrants and refugees received English language tuition or vocational training in 2018.AMES Australia provided around 650,000 training hours funded by the Victoria Training Guarantee (VTG).Around 15,000 people were helped with employment opportunities with 500 job seekers placed in work each month.AMES Australia helped clients set up 110 new businesses in 2019.AMES has a network of more than 400 volunteers and 600 paid staff members – 43 per cent of whom were born overseas. Collectively, we speak more than 52 languages.