The Third Space, Relieving Poverty & Disadvantage Through Participation Ltd.Registered

The Third Space is a notforprofit organisation established to provide relief through direct personcentred participatory programs. The Third Space supports individuals, groups and communities through projects and programs that are led by people with lived experience. The Heartland Project is a grassroots community pilot project connecting LGBTQA+ people seeking asylum in search of a home with LGBTQA+ hosts and flatmates in Sydney s Inner West. Participatory processes across an expert project team and steering committee of members with lived experience have built a strong sense of project ownership, which has inturn facilitated high levels of engagement with the project across the LGBTQA+ asylum seeking and Inner West LGBTIQA+ communities. Collaboration between diverse expert and skilled project team of 8+ members have resulted in impacts that include improved health and wellbeing, enhanced engagement and participation of community members, and a more critical understanding across networks and partners of the critical issues facing LGBTQI+ people seeking asylum. The Community Refugee Welcome Centre (CRWC) is actively supported by The Third Space through our participation on the Community Reference Committee. In 20232024, we actively supported the work of the Centre through both mentoring, providing resources to ensure people from refugee background have access to employment and participation opportunities. The Third Space provided ongoing support to the Centre Coordinator and community members through project specific work. The projects of the Centre aim to relieve poverty by providing opportunities for work and network building. In 20232024, we supported responsive community projects including capacity building with people seeking asylum and refugee groups including Syrian, Iranian, newly arrived refugees, and Palestinians from Gaza. The Third Space supported the Norouz event, a significant community festival celebrated across diverse refugee communities, providing paid work and opportunities to participate in meaningful activities that build wellbeing and skills towards greater civic engagement and employability. In 202324, The Third Space supported newly arrived Palestinians from Gaza through partnering with key agencies to organise two community cultural events. Salat 1 + 2 not only provided work opportunities for people from refugee backgrounds, but the two events raised funds that supported the immediate settlement needs of Palestinians in the service of reducing poverty. All funds raised were disbursed by community partner and peak community agency Arab Council Australia. This work has contributed to building wellbeing of vulnerable community members, providing a foundation for newly arrived people seeking asylum to heal and rebuild their lives.