WHAT IS NSW SLASA?

NSW SLASA is a community organisation that acts on behalf of the various Spanish and Latin-American communities in NSW. One of NSW SLASA’s objectives is to assit immigrants and refugees when settling in Australia.

NSW SLASA is also responsibile for identifying community needs and presenting them to the relevant government departments in order to obtain funding.  This funding is essential for developing strategies and implementing projects that will lead to an improvement in the welfare of the Spanish and Latin American communities in NSW.

NSW SLASA was founded in September 1978 by memebers of the Spanish speaking community and by a group of social workers, from the fields of health, education, and social welfare. In June 1978 they held a seminar to address existing problems of the time. During the couse of this seminar, it becames apparent that there was an urgent need to establish a community organization to serve the Spanish community. Many of the topics disussed at that first seminar layed the foundation for NWS SLASA's objectives.

Initially, NSW SLASA was able to obtain enough funds from the Ethnic Affairs Commission of NSW (Community Relations Commission for a Multicultural NSW) to employ one community worker. At the present time, NSW SLASA has six employees and receives funding from the Department of Immigration and Ethnic and Indigenous Affairs (DIMIA), the Department of Community Services (DOCS) and the Casino Community Benefit Fund.

The three principal activities that NSW SLASA focuses on are:

• Individual work
• Community development work
• Spanish speaking community liason and representation with other ethnic communities and government departments

NSW SLASA is legally registered as an Association and is managed by an Executive Committee consisting of members from the Spanish speaking community. All services are provided free of charge and offered to any and all members of the Spanish speaking community.