Review and Update of Greater Bendigo Youth Strategy

Minutes Project Reference Group

MEETING FIVE – 1 December 2016

David Williamson (Chair), Kathryn Northill, Ben Keath, Ashley Eadon, Aimee Croft, Ruby Baker, Georgie Hyett, Lindy Wilson, Dan Rees, Rory White, Wendy Holland (Project Consultant)

Apologies: Bethea Robertson, Paul Taylor, Natalie Jacobson, Linda Lyons, Steve Abbott, Jordan Tamblyn, Nikki Williams (Maternity Leave), Andrew Quek . Agenda Item Notes Action 1 Welcome and Introduction:  W e  Ashley, Aimee and Ruby all invited to join the group and also promote l the new youth strategy with pics and comments. c o  Wendy thought young guy from Vanuatu she met at Latrobe Student m session would be good. e A s  All meeting information and reports will be on YO Bendigo homepage at h http://www.yobendigo.com.au/What_We_Do/Greater_Bendigo_Youth_Strategy l e y , A

1 i m e e a n d R u b y .

 I d e n ti f y i n g o t h e r y o u

2 n g p e o p l e w h o c a n s p e a k o u t a b o u t t h e i m p

3 o r t a n c e o f t h e n e w

y o u t h s t r a t e g y a n d w

4 h a t’ s i m p o r t a n t f o r y o u n g p e o p l e i n G r e a

5 t e r B e n d i g o .

 A c c e s s t o m e e ti n g p a p e r

6 s a n d r e p o r t s .

 C h a n g e s - J o r d a n f r o m

D e p a r t m e n t o f J u s ti c e i s u n a b l e t o a t t e

8 n d d u e t o a n e w

w o r k p o s it i o n . G e o r g i n a i

9 s l e a v i n g a s s h e h a s a j o b a t t h e C e n t r e f o

10 r N o n - V i o l e n c e . B e t h e a i s l e a v i n g P C P a

11 n d B e n d i g o t o t a k e u p a n I n t e r n a ti o n a l D e

12 v e l o p m e n t r o l e i n C a n b e r r a .

2. Update on Draft Background Reports being prepared by Youth Davi  Development Team at the City d All draft documents are posted on the YO Bendigo website. They pres aim to help us identify priority themes and issues to consider in the ente new Youth Strategy and potential strategies and actions. d an over

13 view of the  PRG to provide feedback to David. draft repor ts  There is a lot more work to do to improve these reports before next prep meeting. ared by the Yout  Georgie has done a great job on bringing the Review of Plans and h Policies together. Deve lopm ent  Next versions to be ready a week before next meeting. team , these being :

This report looks at releva nt Federa l

14 govern ment, State govern ment, City of Greate r Bendig o and local comm unity agency policie s and plans which refer to young people . It aims to provid e a sense of strateg ic found ation

15 and directi on as to what is alread y happe ning that can add mome ntum to our appro aches and what is valuab le to link into especi ally in relatio n to the pillars and prioriti

16 es identif ied by young people for the new Youth Strate gy. Some initial priorit y areas identif ied in this review are: . training and upskilling . friendly areas . culture . safety . Greater Bendigo policies about

17 health and wellbeing, cultural diversity, economic development and aboriginal reconciliation.

Includ es popula tion statisti cs and foreca sts with maps and graphs showi ng growt h areas across Greate r

18 Bendig o and data from the last census in 2011.

The profile aims to bring togeth er local and wider resear ch findin gs to infor m us more about

19 the priorit ies identif ied by young peopl e throu gh Youth Summ its, 2015 Youth Wellb eing Surve y and Wend y’s consul tation s with young peopl e. Topic areas includ e: .

20 o o

21 3. Wendy - update on the Draft Background Reports she is preparing 1 . Y  See Attachment One for power point used by Wendy to provide

overview of all the reports being prepared, the key issues raised Wen dy by young people in the Consultation Report, potential pillars and pres ente headings for the Youth Strategy Report to be prepared next. d an over view of  the Feedback - meeting agreed with priorities such as: Cons - Drugs and alcohol. ultati on - Education, employment and training especially the high costs of Repo training; and young people having more positive opportunities to rt , what continue with their education when finding traditional school difficult it eg Netschool is a crucial option here. cover s and how youn  Mental health and wellbeing especially the stigma and being able to g access services via doctors. Current requirements about how people can peop access GPs and Mental Health Care Plan and subsidised counselling GP le referral and support. Another issue is challenges associated with and parent’s knowing. other

22 s have resp  When completed the Consultation/Engagement Report could be sent to onde schools and the Education Council (David to discuss with Linda). d to our ques tions  There is additional information that we can consider including in the . report. David will follow up on the results of the City focus group on communications and Rory will follow up if we can get the results of the State government regional youth forum held on 23/11. Over 200 youn g  Orygen report on Youth suicide has recently been released. Leon to peop include in Youth Issues Profile. le and agen cy repre senta tives Feedback on pillars: took part There was a lot of great discussion about the potential pillars. in the  They seem to be like a list and there is a lot on the list. cons ultati  ‘Inclusion’ could be better to say than ‘To be included’. Gets on straight to the heart of what we are trying to say. proc ess. The

23 enga  Need to show the Council is committed to respond in these gem areas. ent activi ties unde  They are relevant but need to be clearer and make an impact for rtake young people. n were :

 Y  Make them more dynamic for young people. Young people need to feel involved – to make the connection.  Y

  For example: many young people will think To Participate is F to be involved but what we mean is deeper involvement by

 being empowered to make decisions, have a Youth Council or Y meet with the Councillors.

 W  Need to make the purpose and descriptions clearer and they need to be understood by young people. A one sentence  description that relates to young people’s lives. K

24   Consult with young people to confirm what the pillars could be. L Workshop with next BSSC SRC (Action Rory/Dan/Wendy).

 B  How will we respond to all the priority areas identified by young  H people eg Employment, Education and Training. Where would that go? Under ‘To Participate’?

 A Orygen have just release their Raising The Bar for Youth Suicide The Prevention Report which shows rates of suicide for young repor people are still increasing. Could messages about good mental t health be included in next year’s school diary or via posters on detai the back of doors? ls each of the enga gem  Finalise draft ready for next meeting (David/Wendy) ent activi ties and discu sses  As part of updating this report place services under the headings that relate to young people’s priorities eg Personal safety, key drugs and

25 point alcohol, mental health etc (Wendy) s that  Also provided some more detail about agency target groups by age arose and examples of current programs (David/Rory/ . See Dan/Leon/Wendy). a sum  Also develop an overview of the current services for young people mary provided by the City (David/Rory/ Dan/Leon/Wendy). of key findi ngs on page 1 of the repor t.

Pote ntial pilla

26 rs:

P A R T I C I P A T E - b e e m p o w e r e d , m a k e

27 d e c i s i o n s

o n t h e i s s u e s t h a t i m p a c t o n

28 u s a n d ri g h t s a n d r e s p o n s i b il it i e s .

I N C L U D E D

– a c c e s s , i n c l u s i o n , f a i r

30 n e s s , e q u it y , p r o v i s i o n o f i m p o r t a n t s e

31 r v i c e s a n d p r o g r a m s .

H E A R D

32 li s t e n e d t o , r e s p e c t , r e s p o n d t o o u r v i e

33 w s , a d v o c a t e w it h u s .

I N F O R M E D

– a b o u t o p i n i o n s a n d i d e a s , s e r v i c e s w

35 e c a n u s e a n d i n f o t o h e l p m a k e d e c i s i o n

The pillar s will lead to goals will lead to actio ns.

37 2 . B

Com pares City of Grea ter Bend igo’s staffi ng level

38 s, reso urces , fund ed progr ams and direc tions with thos e of the City of Balla rat and Mt Alexa nder Shire .

39 This repor t lists curre nt servi ces and progr ams and the types of activi ties provi ded. Most of the infor mati on has been sourc ed direc tly from City of

40 Grea ter Bend igo data base s and the YO Bend igo webs ite.

4. Demographic Profile Geor  Further data to be added about housing, disability and youth gina disengagement.(Leon) gave an  Georgina will be leaving next week to start a job at Centre for Non over Violence in Bendigo so Leon the new temporary Youth Planner view finalise Draft by next meeting. of the Cens us profil e whic h cover s data colle cted

41 in 2006 and 2011 . 2011 is a long time ago but the Dem ogra phic Profil e is now set up so we can com pare to the resul ts of this years cens us whe

42 n they beco me avail able next year. Key areas cover ed inclu de:  Th

 Pla

 In

 Ed

 So

5. General Feedback about the Strategy. Gene Wendy will prepare a Draft of the Youth Strategy before Christmas. ral Structure will be: point 1. Summary

43 s of 2. Introduction / purpose feed 3. Overview of background reports and findings back: 4. Pillars, key themes and goals 5. Priority areas o 6. Discussion and findings N 7. Action Plan

6. Milestones and next steps.  De

 De

 Fe

 PR

 Jul

 Au

 Se

 Fin

5 Next meeting: 3.30 - 5pm, Thur

45 sday 2 Febr uary in the Gree n Roo m, 45 Mun dy