In October 2020, the first meeting of the newly established CMY Diversity and Inclusion Governance Group (D&I GG) was held. After determining the need for focused work on several priority areas, the development of a CMY Diversity and Inclusion Strategy for 2021-2023 commenced in consultation with CMY staff.

The Strategy outlines CMY’s commitment to diversity and inclusion, the strategic goals, and the steps needed to achieve these goals across a three-year period. Key principles that guided the work include: representation, consultation, participation, allyship, learning, safety, and celebration.

Two priority areas were highlighted as part of this Strategy and several advancements have been made in both of these areas across financial year 2020-2021:

1. A Strategy for Reconciliation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People

2. An Anti-Racism Strategy

The work of CMY’s Futures Think Tank set some exciting new ventures in motion for CMY, one being a youth-led unit and one being CMSport.

The youth-led unit, now rebranded as Culture Spring, was designed to be a youth-led space governed by a committee of management who are a team of young people that bring their expertise, lived experience and passion for change-making. It is a business unit that aims to transform organisations, institutions and workplaces, making them more inclusive and culturally safe. It continues to evolve over the years but stays true to its mission to break down barriers and build new bridges to enable multicultural young people to influence, guide, and lead change.

CMSport was an idea that had been brewing for some years but officially launched in September 2021. CMSport is an initiative to help bridge the gap between the sporting world and Australian multicultural communities, and plays a pivotal role in facilitating partnerships and connections between organisations seeking to build a more diverse and inclusive sports sector.