Addi Road wins 2021 NSW International Student Community Engagement Award 

By MARK MORDUE

Addison Road Community Organisation has been honoured with a 2021 NSW International Student Community Engagement Award. It recognises the “solidarity and aid” we offered international students.  

In the aftermath of the first lockdown in 2020, we began helping hundreds of students left abandoned by casual job losses (without recourse to any government support) and suddenly closed international borders.  

Addi Road developed a safety net of healthy, culturally-appropriate food and a community network to strengthen social cohesion and belonging. Our ‘Zoom Aunties’ meanwhile program connected socially-isolated senior Australians (mostly women) with younger foreign students and migrant workers who were far from their families and home environments, engaging them in English-language conversation and advancing their ability to articulate diverse and complex needs.  

Our work with these students helped bring their plight to national media attention.