Our Youth Leaders, Sam and Nick, have been working hard on the development and project plan of their Youth Group for Yarraville Community Centre. The funds raised from Community Pitch in 2018 have been used to support our Youth Leaders in engaging with local schools, community groups and youth services to canvas the needs and wants of young people ages 12 – 17 in the Maribyrnong area. The project plan is being developed with the assistance of the C-Collective in Footscray who are mentoring Sam and Nick through their project plan.

The Youth Group at Yarraville Community Centres’ main purpose is to provide a safe and skill building space once a week for young people. We launched a 3 week pilot in November 2018. We learned from this pilot that there is a spectrum of needs in our local youth community. The key needs centred around face to face engagement and away from digital screens. Also, that we have youth in our community who are seeking mentorship support around the issues of bullying, mental health and school engagement.

Moving forward,  Sam and Nick are planning sessions and networking to get the word out about YCC’s Youth Group in 2019. Our aim is to be running sessions again from June 2019. We also proud to report that Nick and Sam are  commencing their Cert III in Youth Work at Vic Uni this year. We are very grateful for the financial support from our pitch partners , the funds have provided a wage for Sam and Nick’s hard work and allowed us to purchase resources for sessions. We have no government funding and Sam and Nick have also fundraised through Rotary BBQ’s and Election day BBQ’s.What has been truly amazing is the offers of support in networking, mentorship and guest speakers from Community Pitch members. It has really connected the Youth group to the local community and made us feel valued

– Bettina Twyman, Yarraville Community Centre