The Gippsland and East Gippsland Aboriginal Cooperative (GEGAC) is seeking expressions of interest from local community members interested in serving on three new Community Advisory Committees.
The Community Advisory Committees will provide feedback, support and guidance for three of GEGAC’s key areas – Culture, Aboriginal Health and Wellbeing, and Children, Youth and Families.
These volunteer roles are for First Nations People, or people with a strong connection to the local Aboriginal community.
GEGAC deputy chief executive officer, Josh Tuiono, said this week it was important the organisation was always guided by, and responsive to, the needs and ambitions of local Aboriginal people.
“We are an Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation, which means that this Aboriginal community is at the heart of everything we do,” he said.
create more opportunities for local mob to be involved in shaping how GEGAC serves the community.”
Josh, who’s grandparents, Uncle Robert (Jumbo) and Aunty Marion Pearce, were key figures in the establishment of GEGAC in the 1970s, said GEGAC was built on the action and advocacy of local Aboriginal people, and this spirit was important to the ongoing success of the organisation.
“Back in the 1960s and 70s, our Elders fought hard to provide basic health and housing services for mob here in East Gippsland,” he said.
“GEGAC is their legacy, to us. We owe it to them to keep it deadly and strong.”
“We need people in our community to put their hands up to get involved – young people, Elders, workers, students, mums and dads, all ages, all kinds of mob. You’ll be making a positive difference to your community – improving our services for Aboriginal people, strengthening the organisation that was given to us by those Elders of yesterday.”
To learn more, visit the GEGAC website.
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