At a time of heightened social disunity, the incredible knowledge, talent and skills in food and cooking brought to Australia by many refugees and people see...
Free to Feed
Leadership and Empowerment Program for people seeking asylum and refugees who are passionate cooks
GOAL
$69,432
RAISED
$5,000
australia > VIC > Metro and regional
01/07/2024 > 30/06/2025
FIELD OF INTEREST
- Civic engagement and leadership
- Employment pathways
TARGET POPULATION
- Asylum seekers, refugees, migrants and people from CALD backgrounds
- People experiencing socio-economic disadvantage or vulnerability
PROJECT SUMMARY
At a time of heightened social disunity, the incredible knowledge, talent and skills in food and cooking brought to Australia by many refugees and people seeking asylum can be a great solace as well as the ingredients to a more compassionate and inclusive community, in which diverse traditions and cultures are nurtured, showcased and celebrated.
Free to Feed’s ‘Recipes for Leadership and Empowerment’ is a transformational program for people seeking asylum and refugees who are passionate cooks with a sense of vocation in teaching, storytelling, and/or as entrepreneurs.
Providing 3 months of paid leadership training, incorporating skill development in storytelling, self-care and media training, as well as recipe development, participants are supported by Free to Feed’s highly skilled chefs.
Following the training, participants receive 9 months of employment – becoming a paid Instructor in Free to Feed’s cooking school, deepening their community connections and further breaking their isolation. This program is accompanied by media opportunities for further storytelling such as radio, magazine and online.
On top of what can feel like crippling isolation, many refugees and people seeking asylum face significant barriers to accessing appropriate training and employment opportunities. More than just the pay that can put food on the table, the employment provided within this programs is also the means for developing social connections.
The funding sought is critical in making the program accessible to people seeking asylum and refugees, at a time when many are struggling with the impacts of the current social and economic climate.
PROJECT OUTCOMES
The expected outcomes of the ‘Recipes for Leadership and Empowerment’ are split into two parts: participant outcomes and community outcomes.
Participant outcomes:
• Confidence developed as leaders of food and culture, including reflection on self as leader through mechanisms of narrative therapy
• Feeling a part of a community, less lonely,
• Increase in self-esteem, wellbeing, acculturation and resettlement.
• Increase in levels of belonging, connectedness, decreased loneliness
• Confidence building in developing language abilities
• Conversational expressions of enjoyment, community, creativity and humour
• Sense of pride and accomplishment from cultural leadership
• Proximity and access to a local Australia market for fine tuning ideas for future food businesses
Community outcomes:
• Creation of apolitical spaces and channels to discuss and share ideas directly with refugees and people seeking asylum
• Access to authentic stories and culture that build understanding of new migrant cultures.
• Opportunity to actively contribute to positive social cohesion in a time where our communities are fragmented.
Free to Feed
Free to Feed is a not-for-profit social enterprise founded in Melbourne in 2016. Our vision is for people seeking asylum, refugees and new migrants to have the opportunity to live meaningful, connected and productive lives in Australia. Unfortunately, many newly arrived people are experiencing a crippling cycle of social isolation and marginialisation, exacerbated by a lack of appropriate training and/or employment opportunities, and not having their complex needs adequately met by services.
Providing accessible employment and social interventions with appropriate support interferes with the above trajectory.
Over the past 8 years, Free to Feed has built strengths-based, trauma-informed programs in the face of these challenges, empowering people seeking asylum, refugees and new migrants to overcome these cyclical barriers and benefit from upward social and economic mobility.
Free to Feed has now delivered over $1.8 million in wages, and over 80,000 hours of paid training to its program participants, engaging with communities through a range of events that centre around lived experience storytelling and great food, hosting over 1,800 Free to Feed events over the past 8 years, attended by over 30,000 people.
We apply trauma-informed and strengths-based principles to the design and delivery of all of our programs, as key ingredients to their success.
BUDGET BREAKDOWN
TOTAL BUDGET: $138,864
FUNDING
| Funding source | Amount |
|---|---|
| Private Donor has agreed on a 50% contribution, if they can secure the other 50% | $69,432 |
| Funding gap (unconfirmed) | $69,432 |
EXPENSES
| Expense item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Program social workers (intake, psychosocial support, program facilitation and delivery) | $28,408 |
| Participant training hours and wages | $24,070 |
| Venue hire (25 days of hire x twice a year) | $11,000 |
| Professional chefs for recipe development and training | $22,680 |
| Supplier costs: Ingredients | $3,456 |
| Operations for experience development and delivery | $13,450 |
| Participant training on bio development , storytelling, communications, media engagement and class flow | $30,040 |
| Secondary paid training for participant hosts and assistants | $5,760 |
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