‘A city with people at its heart.’ Lord Mayor’s listening session

‘A city with people at its heart.’ Lord Mayor’s listening session provides a platform for diverse voices to be heard.

The challenges of accessing grant funding, understanding the unique needs of diverse communities, and building genuine partnerships were just some of the issues raised in a collaborative listening session hosted by the Lord Mayor of the City of Parramatta, Councillor Sameer Pandey.

Over 50 community leaders attended the Lord Mayor’s ‘meet and greet’ session for culturally and linguistically diverse organisations at PHIVE, Parramatta’s civic hub, yesterday afternoon. The session was an opportunity for attendees to speak about the opportunities and challenges faced by their communities as Parramatta transforms into an economic powerhouse and Sydney’s second CBD. Participants were enthusiastic about the once-in-a-generation growth being experienced across Parramatta, which is one of the most diverse LGA’s in the nation. But this growth should not come at the expense of people and communities, particularly those who experience language barriers, those from refugee backgrounds, as well as our multicultural arts and small business sectors.

Lord Mayor Cr Pandey thanked all who attended and committed to maintaining positive, collaborative relationships with CALD communities, particularly those working on the ground with deep expertise of challenges and barriers.

“It is so important that Council engages with our multicultural communities and sessions like these  are a way of getting direct feedback so we can improve our services and programs. By listening to everyone’s experience, it’s possible to gain a deeper understanding of the problems and work together towards finding solutions,” Lord Mayor Cr Pandey said.

Participants canvassed the specific challenges faced by grass-roots community organisations in accessing information in language and lacking the resources of larger organisations to give time to grant applications. The need for more opportunities for collaboration across multicultural communities and a commitment to capacity building were also highlighted.

Cr Pandey said the session was a wonderful opportunity to hear about the issues being faced on the ground, at a time of great change. “The City of Parramatta is fast becoming Sydney’s Central City. The number of people living and working in the area is set to double over the next 20 years. Council’s vision is to be a thriving, innovative, fair, welcoming, green and accessible place for all – but to make this a reality, we need to include everyone and listen to all voices.”

“We believe it’s important that the community can see and have a direct impact on the decisions of their Council and our City. Council values input from the wider City of Parramatta community and its stakeholders as it helps us to create good public policy and a City that has people at its core. It also helps ensure that the services we provide are relevant, timely and valuable. Our aim is to foster a culture of collaboration. I look forward to achieving this by working together with you. I look forward to continuing to  listen and engage with our community – and to create a stronger, more participative City for all,” Cr Pandey said.