NORTHERN SUNSHINE COAST YOUTH COMMITMENT
people

•  COMMITTEE [as at FEB 2002]

•  FORUM - November 2001

(left to right) Cheryl Rouston, Ashley Wong Hoy (Psychologist) & Jenelle Watson (Noosa Youth Service)

(left to right) Michelle Smallwood (Department of Families) and Greg Kiorgaard (North Arm State School)

Members of the Coordinating Committee. (left to right) Christine Barnes (Noosa District State High School) & Brian Stephens (Sunshine Beach State High School)

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NORTHERN SUNSHINE COAST YOUTH COMMITMENT
reports and resources

• N E W S L E T T E R   N O.  3

September 2002

DOWNLOAD:  WORD format (256 K)

POWERFUL POINT

With a power point presentation to back them, and their personal hand notes to guide them, a small group of young people volunteered to make a presentation to Matt Foley, Minister for Employment Training and Youth Affairs. They presented their views with professionalism and sincerity and the Minister did not overlook this. He has since contacted organisers of the Northern Sunshine Coast Youth Commitment and expressed his compliments to the young people.

Robin Edwards, Pippa Collins, Kiera Warren, Natasha Weston, and Andrew O’Connor have demonstrated how important it is for us to listen to what young people have to say, and to take the time to make a place for them in our community forums and conversations.

L to R: Andrew O’Connor, Robin Edwards, Natasha Weston, Minister Matt Foley, Kiera Warren, Pippa Collins.

Some of these young people and others are now working with Deb Purdon from Noosa Youth Service to prepare a presentation for the Noosa Youth Service AGM on 12 September, where Minister Anna Bligh will be the special guest speaker.

CENTRELINK AND SCHOOLS

During the past few months, the schools in the Northern Sunshine Coast area have demonstrated a very significant commitment to working together to improve the understanding of what our young people aspire to, and to developing data systems that will ensure we keep up with the trends in career pathways.

Centrelink have continued to work with Sunshine Beach, Noosa District, Coolum Beach, Cooroora College and Good Shepherd Lutheran College to pilot common forms and procedures about young people’s intended career or post school intentions. Surveys have now been conducted with all of the secondary schools in the Northern Sunshine Coast area and Centrelink is currently collating the data. This information will be available in a report in Term 4 and will be an important contribution in discussions with the partners of the Youth Commitment as well as with the employers and local business community.

Next term will also see this working group develop a common format and procedures to assist schools and students at the time of exiting from school.

L to R: Robert Treskow, Manager Noosa Centrelink; Janet Dovers Centrelink facilitator; Robyn Goldsmith Coordinator Northern Sunshine Coast Youth Commitment

Further information contact Robert Treskow, Noosa Centrelink, ph Call Centre 132850

ENGAGING EMPLOYERS

The planning for the Employers "Think Tank" and forum is under way. The meeting will be in early November and will provide a platform for presenting innovative ideas, local information and allowing time for young people to meet with business representatives.

This will be the final forum for the Youth Commitment in 2002 and will require a full team effort to ensure it is an inspiration to our young people and local business. So, remember, if you don’t contact us, it is likely we’ll be in touch with you!

Further information contact Robyn Goldsmith, 5449 1988

PLAYING TAG

Noosa Council and the Northern Sunshine Coast Youth Commitment have partnered to work with young people to develop "TAG teams". This is a concept that is based on building the participation of young people in community decision making and community project work.

Over the next year it will involve:

• A planning workshop with young people from all schools, and local community organizations;
• Establishing web pages and interactive communications on the Noosa Libraries domain for young people.
• Junior Council initiating an Award for supportive community practice towards young people;
• Identifying ways to continue to support young people to network and participate in the Northern Sunshine Coast Youth Commitment and the Noosa Shire Youth Entertainment Strategy.
• Training workshop for young people who want to learn more about implementing their ideas and managing community projects.

Further information, contact Robyn Goldsmith, 5449 1988

L to R: Deb Purdon (Noosa Youth Service), Sue Griffiths (Noosa Youth Service), Georgie Mott (Stockwells) at the Strategic Plan Forum on 25 July.

L to R: Cate Molloy, Member for Noosa; Matt Foley, Minister for Employment Training and Youth Affairs; Anne Winning, Assistant Director Department of Employment and Training, at the Strategic Plan Forum.

QUICK ROUND UP

The past eight weeks have been very productive for the Northern Sunshine Coast Youth Commitment. In summary the partners have:

• Received and summarised legal advice from Noel Woodall and Brett de Chastel regarding the formal organisational structure for the Youth Commitment;
• Convened a Young People’s Forum on 11 July to allow comments from them on the state government’s Education and Training Reforms;
• Developed the mentoring project brief and drafted the application for funding;
• Finalised Strategic and operational plan
• Supported young people’s preparation for Forum with Minister;
• Convened a forum with Minister Matt Foley on 25 July to present the Youth Commitment Strategic Plan;
• Conducted pilot Career pathways surveys with schools;
• Finalised the report to Centrelink on the schools career and student exit project;
  
  
  
  
• A delegation presented the Strategic Plan to Noosa Council on 12 August;
• Through Noosa Council, applied for funding from the Office of Youth Affairs for the development of the TAG teams for youth participation. The application was successful;
• Response made to Minister Foley requesting support for the implementation of the Strategic Plan;
• In partnership with Noosa Youth Service, an invitation was made to Minister Anna Bligh to attend a meeting on 12 September. This has been accepted by the Minister.

WHAT’S NEXT?

The priorities for October to December this year will be:

• Piloting of exit forms and procedures with all schools;
• Agreeing to, and registering the formal structure for the Youth Commitment;
• Building up the TAG teams;
• Final preparation and recruitment for the mentoring pilot;
• Conducting the forum with employers and business.

Interested?

CONTACT:

Robyn Goldsmith
ergold@bigpond.com.au
Phone: 02 5449 1988

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NORTHERN SUNSHINE COAST YOUTH COMMITMENT
reports and resources

• N E W S L E T T E R   N O.  1

March 2002

DOWNLOAD:  WORD format (160 K);   PDF format (104 K)

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NORTHERN SUNSHINE COAST YOUTH COMMITMENT
reports and resources

• P R O G R E S S   R E P O R T

February 2002

The Northern Sunshine Coast has a Memorandum of Understanding between

An environmental scan of the Northern Sunshine Coast was presented at a forum held on 2 November 2001. The scan highlighted some of the challenges and opportunities for the Sunshine Coast:

• Very high temporary mobility rates and high levels of population growth
• Poor match or relationship between demands for training/ education and types of placement/ employment within the region
• Inadequate support for businesses to take on placements and trainees
• Government guidelines and policies which need review to provide for innovation and new industries.
• Pressure on schools and community agencies to support increasingly younger people with education and training programs
• Dispersed patterns of urban development and poor public transport

A Project Coordinator has been contracted with short term funding from ECEF. Three working groups have been formed to focus on local initiatives and assist the Coordinating Committee with their role in policy and partnership development. The groups are: Engaging Employers, Data Management, and Community Links.

Key activities for the coming year will include a pilot mentor program, promotions to the local community with an emphasis on engaging employers, developing systems to assess the effectiveness of the youth commitment, funding additional support programs for school students, policy development, and encouraging the participation of young people in local networking and decision making.

The working groups have met once since the Forum to further define activities for the next year. These actions will be drawn into a strategic plan which will be developed during the first few months of 2002.

The NSC Youth Commitment has applied for Commonwealth funding for two pilot projects: a Career Transition Officer Project and an Innovative and Collaborative Youth Servicing Project.

Members of the Coordinating Committee have visited other National Youth Commitment projects in Whittlesea and the Gold Coast, and have been enthusiastic about the work being done. It has been very beneficial to have examples of other work and to see them at various stages of development. This opportunity for comparison and analysis will assist in defining the best strategies for local work.

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NORTH SUNSHINE COAST YOUTH COMMITMENT
environmental scan

October 2001
View or Download the environmental scan, 55 pages:

- as a PDF (Portable Document Format) [884K]

- as a Microsoft Word Document [588K]

Note: You need Adobe Acrobat Reader 3.0 or above to view PDF files. You can download a free copy from the Adobe web site.

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