For those who have come across the seas we have boundless plains to share

For over thirty years now, Access Community Services has been a national leader in the provision of settlement, employment, training, youth support, housing and social enterprise services to migrants, refugees and mainstream clients. Focused on settlement and employment initiatives in particular, over those thirty years we recognised the need to nurture employment opportunities and pathways for clients who would otherwise be excluded from them.

Worldwide displacement from wars, conflict, and persecution is at the highest levels ever recorded, with 59.5 million people forcibly displaced at the end of 2014, compared to 51.2 million a year earlier and 37.5 million a decade ago.

At the same time, the proportion of Australians born overseas has hit its highest point in 120 years, with 28 per cent of Australia's population - 6.6 million people - born overseas. This corresponds to nearly a third of Australia's population.

Further to this, almost half of all Australians were either born overseas or have at least one parent who was. We are a nation of migrants, and will remain so.

Access believes that one of Australia's greatest assets is our diverse and inherently rich cultural background, a background that economically, politically and socially, not only contributes to the nation we are today, but as importantly - to the one we will become tomorrow.

We set up The Access Community Foundation to create employment pathways and opportunities that last beyond the term of any one individual’s involvement with any one program.

All funds raised through The Access Community Foundation are channeled directly into the programs that we feel need it the most. One such example is The Spice Exchange.

To find out how you can help, contact us today.