Search Results

The North Melbourne Kangaroos have officially launched Game Day, The Huddle’s newest education program < Back The Huddle launches Australian-first immersive AFL program, Game Day North Media 29 Sept 2022 The North Melbourne Kangaroos have officially launched Game Day, The Huddle’s newest education program The North Melbourne Kangaroos have officially launched Game Day, The Huddle’s newest education program. Game Day will run out of The Huddle’s new-look facility, developed as part of the club’s current upgrades to its Arden Street headquarters. An Australian-first immersive AFL themed program, Game Day will be presented in a world-class education centre featuring cutting-edge technology. The Huddle has launched its new facility and program Game Day, which will see thousands of local students experience a cutting-edge and interactive way of learning Game Day will take grade 5 and 6 students on an empowering journey to build on their strengths and plan for their future. Throughout the Game Day experience, students will work in teams to complete STEM challenges which will require teamwork and resilience to solve problems and learn how to win. Innovative technology will be used to create an atmosphere where students feel like they are part of an AFL game. Since its inception in 2010, The Huddle’s award-winning programs have engaged more than 100,000 young people from over 160 different cultures, with a particular focus on those that are vulnerable and at risk of disengagement. Game Day encompasses our mission at The Huddle, and we are thrilled to see the concept come to life through this incredible facility, made possible through a $7.3 million investment by the Victorian State Government. - The Huddle CEO Cam McLeod In 2023, Game Day is expected to engage up to 4,500 students from 100 schools located in low socio-economic areas across Victoria. “At The Huddle, our mission is to improve education and employment outcomes for young people by leveraging the power of sport,” The Huddle CEO Cam McLeod said. “Pre-COVID 40% of Australian students were disengaged in the classroom, leading to students falling two years behind their peers and becoming at-risk of leaving school. Through innovative technology, the Game Day program will work to strengthen the engagement of at-risk and vulnerable young people, helping them to learn, grow and belong. “Game Day encompasses our mission at The Huddle, and we are thrilled to see the concept come to life through this incredible facility, made possible through a $7.3 million investment by the Victorian State Government.” A world-class team from Spatial, MKTG and Beautiful Minds have worked to design and produce Game Day including screenplay, audio, visual, special effects and a pedagogical framework aligned to the Victorian Curriculum. Previous Next

< Back The Huddle launches Australian-first immersive AFL program, Game Day The North Melbourne Kangaroos have officially launched Game Day, The Huddle’s newest education program North Media Previous Next

Confidence and communication skills to amplify ideas and stories. < Back Helping Others To Find Their True North John King 2 Aug 2023 Confidence and communication skills to amplify ideas and stories. Employment Experiences are paid opportunities for young people to contribute their skills to a real-world project and are offered to successful participants from The Huddle’s Game Changers program. Participants are immersed in a supportive environment, designed to build their confidence, further develop skills, and amplify their ideas, while gaining relevant experiences that will benefit their career aspirations. Suleiman is 24-year-old male from Point Cook, who participated in our Autumn Game Changers program. He, along with 19 other participants were posed the question: "How can we tell the stories of elite athletes in a unique and engaging way?" and taken through a series of workshops designed to develop transferrable and project management skills, through a media and communications lens. Working in small groups, Suleiman and his peers used ideation strategies to develop and refine a solution to the central question, before creating a media and communications plan for their idea, with an accompanying slide deck, which would be presented to a panel of industry experts at our Pitch Event and Networking session. “I enjoyed meeting new people, being creative by brainstorming, collaborating with a team and using the 'yes and' mentality. It helped me understand that every idea has the potential to be a great idea.” After presenting his ideas at the Pitch Event, Suleiman was able to build his networks with professionals from the media and communications industry, learning about their career journeys and sharing his own aspirations of forging a career in creative media. Suleiman had displayed outstanding enthusiasm, professionalism, and reliability through his participation in Game Changers and was offered one of five Employment Experience positions, getting an opportunity contribute his own ideas to the next series of True North videos, before interviewing elite athletes from our AFL and AFLW programs. “Game Changers has been really rewarding. This program has provided me with a platform to be creative and work on an exciting project. Working alongside elite athletes was the best part. A great experience.” Game Changers Employment Experiences will continue to provide unique and relevant opportunities for young people to learn new skills, grow professionally and amplify their ideas to prove they truly belong in their aspiring career industries. Game Changers programs run every school holidays, please click here for more information. Previous Next

< Back Purification of the Heart: A Soulful Retreat of Reflection, Connection, and Nature A Journey of Healing and Empowerment. Asli Abdullahi Previous Next

A day of creative fun! Kicking off Huddle Holidays with Arts & Crafts. < Back Creative Fun at Huddle Holidays Jasper Menor 14 Jan 2025 A day of creative fun! Kicking off Huddle Holidays with Arts & Crafts. Huddle Holidays brought creativity to life at The Huddle on Arden St.! The day kicked off with games and activities, sparking laughter, curiosity and new friendships. Our Junior participants explored origami, bead-making, and drawing, turning imagination into colourful masterpieces. Beyond crafting, they bonded, shared ideas, and celebrated their creativity together. A huge shoutout to our amazing facilitators, who made every moment engaging and fun. Their energy, encouragement, and smiles kept the excitement alive—just look at the joy on our participants' faces! As the day wrapped up, everyone left with not just their artistic creations, but also new friendships and fun memories. Stay tuned to our stories to see what else our Huddle Holidays participants got up to these Summer holidays! Previous Next

< Back North Melbourne Public Housing Residents Association Community Fair Celebrating community in North Melbourne Previous Next

Fred Alale AM, Yasseen Musa OAM, and Gary Lee OAM have been recognised in this year’s Australia Day Honours List, for significant service to the multicultural communities of Victoria < Back Huddle trio honoured for services to the community North Media 31 Jan 2023 Fred Alale AM, Yasseen Musa OAM, and Gary Lee OAM have been recognised in this year’s Australia Day Honours List, for significant service to the multicultural communities of Victoria Fred Alale AM, Yasseen Musa OAM, and Gary Lee OAM have been recognised in this year’s Australia Day Honours List, for significant service to the multicultural communities of Victoria. The Order of Australia is the pre-eminent way Australians recognise the achievements and service of their fellow citizens. Last week, three of North Melbourne Football Club and The Huddle’s most respected volunteers were honoured for their services to the community. Fred Alale AM, a passionate North Melbourne Football Club member, has over two decades of experience as a public service professional in both Australia and the UK. More recently, he has been a part of the Victorian governments efforts to keep Victorian businesses in line with the Public Health Officer’s regulations. He has been recognised and awarded with this honour as a result of his enormous contributions to the African Australian communities that reside in Victoria. He serves on multiple boards apart from The Huddle’s Advisory Committee, including Chair of the African Music and Culture Festival, and is the Treasurer of Africa Day Australia Inc. He is also a member of the Victorian African Communities Action Plan implementation committee. Alongside Fred on the Advisory Comittee of The Huddle and a Committee Member of the African Music and Cultural Festival, is Gary Lee OAM. He was recognised for service to the community through a range or organisations. First arriving in Melbourne as an international student from Malaysia, Lee quickly fell in love with the city, the North Melbourne FC and everything it had to offer. There are a lot of people in Australia who don’t have much but are willing to give everything to help others, and this Australian spirit is everything I am about. - Gary Lee OAM Working closely with The Huddle, Lee has worked tirelessly with international students empowering them to learn new skills, grow their network, and form new connections within the community through Welcome to AFL sessions. Gary continued his work throughout the pandemic, even if that meant that Welcome to AFL sessions looked a bit different to what everyone was used to. Yaseen Musa OAM has been the Multicultural Ambassador for the North Melbourne Football club since 2020. He is a former member of the Multicultural Australian Football League Committee, in which he won the Multicultural Community Ambassador of the Year Award back in 2015. Arriving in Melbourne over 25 years ago, the father of six was quick to recognise the need to bring hope and a sense of belonging to migrants. Working closely with The Huddle, Yasseen says that sport had played a key role in helping young people learn new skills, meet new people, and provide a new home. When new families arrive in Melbourne, we need to give them hope and we need to give them a place where they can feel safe which is what our community does. - Yasseen Musa OAM Musa OAM played a pivotal role in aiding more than 3,000 residents of Melbourne’s public housing towers, who found themselves suddenly in lockdown due to COVID-19. Delivering culturally sensitive food and medicine and aiding nurses, police and government bodies in communicating with local residents, he worked tirelessly to ensure each and every community member was receiving the right care. The Huddle’s CEO Cameron McLeod said: “Fred, Gary and Yasseen are all outstanding role models who epitomize the ‘Shinboner Spirit’. Their passion is unwavering as is their dedication to create rich cultural experiences for all Victorians to learn, grow and belong alongside other cultures. Their contributions to The Huddle, as volunteers and cultural leaders has been invaluable. Their Australia Day Honours is a testament to the impacts and benefits of multicultural communities’ contributions to Australia”. The North Melbourne Football Club and The Huddle would like to extend their congratulations to Fred, Gary and Yasseen for their awards, and acknowledge their selfless work in empowering all young people to continue to learn, grow and belong. Previous Next

The Huddle Holiday Juniors hone their skills in Aussie Rules and Soccer! < Back Warming up this winter with AFL and Soccer clinics 4 July 2024 The Huddle Holiday Juniors hone their skills in Aussie Rules and Soccer! The Huddle Holiday Sports Clinic at Avalon Airport Oval, home of the Werribee Football Club, offered young sports enthusiasts a day of soccer and AFL training to enhance skills and promote teamwork. The engaging sessions included drills and skill games to challenge and develop abilities. The Cart Co team's warm hospitality with hot chocolate and coffee added to the festive atmosphere, keeping participants cozy. The blend of sportsmanship, skill-building, and comfort provided a holistic experience, leaving a lasting impression on young athletes for a memorable day of learning and fun. Previous Next

Building confidence and essentials skills through Game Changers. < Back Nabiha's experience through Game Changers! Emily Maiorana 28 Oct 2024 Building confidence and essentials skills through Game Changers. Nabiha Mohamed, recently completed Game Changers at The Huddle, working collaboratively with her peers to answer the question how can we plan a multi-sport event that promotes participation and social inclusion. “I heard about Game Changers from my educational program. What I enjoyed about Game Changers was to get to know the other girls in the group and also learning about skills I can use in my job and future wise and how to improve in getting a job in the future.” Through capacity building workshops, Nabiha used ideation strategies to develop and refine ideas that answered the question, before conceptually designing a program that could delivered in a community setting. Working in groups, participants then created engaging presentations to pitch their ideas to a panel industry professionals at our Game Changers Pitch Event. “My pitch was with a group of two other girls and it was based about a multi-sport for inclusion and we did it for people with disabilities and also students that are facing disadvantage in their homes.” Game Changers provides young people with opportunities to learn and develop essential skills through problem solving and project management activities, providing an immersive and engaging experience that replicates modern work environments and expectations. “What I learned in Game Changes was transferable skills that I can use in my future with getting a job and my career. I think it (has) helped me improve to speaking to people and with my confidence.” Check out Nabiha’s time with us in Game Changers in the video below. Previous Next

< Back Game Changers Pitch Event - Intake Two Intake Two of Game Changers for 2023, in Werribee for the first time in the programs history. Previous Next

Celebrating the stories, milestones, and highlights that defined our year. < Back The Huddle’s 2024 Wrap-Up! Previous Next

No one can deny that in the past two years, every member of the community faced challenges like never before < Back Volunteer profile - Tess Beagley Riley Goodwin 14 Jan 2022 No one can deny that in the past two years, every member of the community faced challenges like never before No one can deny that in the past two years, every member of the community faced challenges like never before. However, it takes a special kind of person to see the extra strain put on others and put their hand up to help. Tess Beagley is one such person. “It is just who I am, to always be doing something with the community,” said Tess. “When you’ve got skills to give to people who need the extra support then you can’t stand by, it’s just one of those things.” One of The Huddle’s 2021 volunteer recruits, Tess reached out to The Huddle after hearing about our after-school study program, Study Squad. “Towards the end of 2020 I was looking at tutoring and was put in touch with The Huddle to get involved with their Study Squad program. “I really felt for all the students last year but at the time there were so many volunteers for Study Squad that I actually ended up helping run Huddle Up programs for juniors. “After the year we’ve all had, I think the kids had eared a bit of a break so I was happy to help out in any way I could.” Moving into 2021, Tess was keen to still lend a hand and quickly found a spot volunteering with our school holiday program. “I’m starting a new job this month but earlier I had a bit of time up my sleeve, so I headed along to the Anglesea Surf Day and it was so much fun. “The kids loved it and I was so impressed with how quickly they took to the water.” Not only supporting young people begin 2021 with a smile, but Tess also soon discovered that through volunteering, she had built lasting connections with community members. “It was a really fun way to re-engage with the community and support people who have had a really hard year. I could follow up with parents and kids on how they have been over summer, so it was nice to have that connection. “Parents know how difficult life can be sometimes and then to give up your time, they really appreciate it. I got a lot of thank-you from the parents I saw which was really nice.” In supporting others, Tess found that she was able to bring back some happiness that was missing in recent times. Young people kicked off their year with cries of excitement as they saw the water for the first time, showcasing the resilience of young people in bouncing back from times of crisis. Volunteers are a core part of The Huddle and it is when we see young people supporting other young people to learn, grow and belong that we see the true strength in our community. Previous Next