Cassandra Fernando (Holt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am proud to host a delegation from City in the Community, Melbourne City Football Club's charitable arm, today and tomorrow. They have gotten off to a great start since beating the team of MPs and staffers 7-4 at the parliamentary football match this morning.

City in the Community's vision is to empower young people by putting them at the centre of their programs and uplifting their physical and mental health to develop the next generation of leaders. Established in 2010 alongside Melbourne City's foundation, their outreach programs have engaged over 100,000 young Victorians, including 11,000 in 2022 and 2023 alone. This is through various initiatives, including homework clubs, football clinics, fundraising drives and young leaders programs. All these initiatives are run with the cooperation of local community sporting organisations, schools and multicultural groups. In this way they ensure we develop together as a community and as a society, with football as the glue.

I want to particularly give a shout-out to Melbourne City's head of community, Sunil Menon, and program coordinator George Halkias for their tireless efforts. Thank you so much. They're in the crowd. Please give them a round of applause for all the work they've been doing.