Our Projects
African Australian Assistance Project
Funded through the Victorian Legal Services Board Grant Program, this Project aims to provide early intervention legal advice and legal education to African Australian youth in the Brimbank and Melton regions, with the aim of reducing the overrepresentation of this cohort in Victoria’s criminal justice system.
In delivering this project, commUnity+ Legal has partnered with local grassroot organisations, including the Centre for Multicultural Youth and local schools. commUnity+ Legal has also employed a Community Development Worker to improve community referral pathways and provide cultural sensitivity training to staff of commUnity+ Legal and other relevant local organisations.
Vietnamese Lawyer Project
Arising out of the strong partnership between commUnity+ Legal and the Australian Vietnamese Women’s Association (AVWA), this project aims to improve access to justice for Vietnamese Australians in the West by delivering legal advice and information in Vietnamese language. The project started in 2016 and continues to achieve its objectives of overcoming language and cultural barriers so that the Vietnamese-speaking community in Melbourne’s West can access legal, social and mental health support services.
Melton Family Violence Program
Through this program, our Centre focuses on providing legal assistance services, and expanded health justice partnerships with key community organisations, to assist victim survivors of family violence in the Melton region.
This is in recognition of, and in response to, the high level of legal need and significant incidences of family violence in the Melton region. The Melton Family Violence Program is supported by the Victorian Government.
Melton Community Safety and Empowerment Project
Through the delivery of community development and engagement activities and important legal services, this project’s purpose is to enhance community safety, and to empower community members, in Melton. This program is jointly run by commUnity+ Legal and commUnity+’s Community Development program, and is being delivered by commUnity+ in partnership with the Victorian Government.
Emerging Lawyers Program
commUnity+ Legal proudly participates in Women’s Legal Service Victoria’s Emerging Lawyers Program, which supports lawyers to specialise in family violence and family law in communities where it’s needed the most.
Legally Assisted Family Dispute Resolution
In partnership with the Sunshine Family Relationship Centre and Monash Law Clinics, commUnity+ Legal provides legal assistance to separated parents undertaking family law mediation. Our continued involvement in this project means that our clients feel safe and supported during stressful periods of family breakdown and family violence, and it has resulted in a higher than usual rate of disputes resolving.