WynBay and Youth Connections - It's all about YOUth Forum
10 Jan 2012 - In March 2011, Youth Connections and WynBay Local Learning and Employment Network held a community-based forum which encompassed everything from networking between agencies to at-risk youth service strategies.
The relationships between schools and support services are a key feature of WCIG’s successes in the community. Our Youth Connections network is certainly not allowing this cornerstone of the organisation to rest on its laurels. In March of 2011, the community-based It’s All About YOUth Forum involved more than 100 people from schools, tertiary education providers, youth agencies and local government. The forum's creation was to give the Wyndham and Hobsons Bay regions greater awareness of the programs available for young people at risk and to give them an opportunity to network with support agencies.
Courtesy of the vision of Youth Connections and WynBay Local Learning and Employment Network (LLEN), this forum consisted of key stakeholders from schools and support services. This event served the purpose of bringing everyone together to ensure that all parties were up-to-date with changes in relevant policies and programs. And perhaps most importantly, this forum facilitated the act of networking, and very much encouraged the formation and fostering of lasting relationships and the swapping of marketing material between the organisations present.
That wasn't all! Presentations by youth support agencies on strategies to help vulnerable youth and information about their programs took the stage. Schools were surveyed after the forum to determine the specific support required to help young people at risk. At the suggestion of one secondary school, Youth Connections presented a workshop, with the teaching staff present, on the topics of vulnerable youth, early intervention strategies and localised support services available. LLEN, council-based networks, and the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development used presentations and meetings to ensure that schools are to be kept in the loop about available programs - to ultimately allow them to better aid young people at risk.
