Geelong Community
Youth Strategy
A strategy for planning the future through a new understanding and practice of youth participation
TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
RECOMMENDATIONS4
INTRODUCTION5
BACKGROUND6
THE GEEYOUNG PROJECT METHODOLOGY7
Key Concepts
Key Method Innovations
THE CONSULTATION PROCESS
Reaching out to Geelong’s young people
The GEEYOUNG Youth Forum
Engaging Geelong business leaders
STRATEGIC ELEMENTS
Youth Vision
Process - Considerations
Sustainable Structure - Considerations
APPENDIX 1:
A GEEYOUNG YOUTH PROSPECTUS
APPENDIX 2
Geelong Better Youth Services Pilot (BYSP)
APPENDIX 3
The #GEEYOUNG PROJECT Social Media Engagement Plan
APPENDIX 4
Reflections on GEEYOUNG
1
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The GEEYOUNG PROJECT builds on the process and outcomes from the Geelong Better Youth Services Project (GBYSP) that was undertaken in 2009-2011. When there was an opportunity to become a pilot site in the Better Youth Services Pilot (BYSP) program, COGG stepped up as facilitator and lead agency. The Geelong BYSP proved to be a very successful project, perhaps due to a history of cooperation and collaboration amongst the youth sector in Geelong, but also because of the ‘youth participation’ approach that was followed. COGG has played an important role in facilitating a youth agenda for change and innovation.
Over the years, there have been several attempts to better coordinate youth services in Victoria. The goal is undisputed, but there has been a weak understanding of how to go about achieving the goal. A general reflection is that the political will for reform and the enthusiasm of various stakeholders has each time been exhausted before the foundations of change were laid down. Also, the involvement of young people has never been addressed as a core premise nor was there ever the necessary and sufficient commitment of resources to see the change process through. By contrast, the BYSP program made some real progress.
The BYSP projects were about how communities might better identify and support vulnerable young people and improve the coordination of youth services. The Vulnerable Youth Framework provided a strong policy context. The approach taken by COGG to the BYSP was different to what was done in other areas. The Geelong BYSP worked through a real-world process of building youth participation into the core of the project work. The Geelong BYSP final report proposed an agenda of eight action projects that would enable further change (See pp.6-7).
Statewide, the BYSP program was continued and further developed as the Youth Partnerships program administered by DEECD. In Geelong, a significant part of the BYSP agenda has been picked up through the development of The Geelong Project focused specifically on homeless and vulnerable youth. This ‘community of schools and youth services’ model is considered a lighthouse initiative for how to do more proactive early intervention, and it has attracted wider interest because of the possibilities for replication. Funding has been sourced through research undertaken by a team from Swinburne University ($350,000 over 2 years), with major funding from the Department of Human Services ($1.5m over a 15 months pilot phase) for early intervention workers, and funds from Youth Partnerships and DEECD ($157,000 over 18 months) for the development of an e-Wellbeing community IT system.
Two of the recommendations of the BYSP, the ‘community youth strategy plan’ process and ‘youth participation’ were picked up by COGG under what has become the GEEYOUNG PROJECT. The positioning of this work is that the GEEYOUNG PROJECT works on a broader canvas, not specifically focusing on disadvantage and vulnerable youth, but on how the future for young people in Geelong might be constructed with their active participation. Once again, COGG has supported an innovative ‘youth participation’ approach. This has involved some challenging rethinking of how to work with young people and what it means to place ‘youth participation’ at the centre of the work. In this, ‘youth participation’ has not been an instrumental means to some end, but core to the idea of planning a community youth strategy as a youth participation process.
Traditionally, a Youth Strategy is a plan for what a Council will do for young people. The concept of a community youth strategy that has been developed through the GEEYOUNG PROJECT initiative is planning beyond COGG and a process involving a whole range of community stakeholders, especially young people themselves. COGG is the facilitator and organiser of the process – the conductor of the orchestra, but most of the musicians are other stakeholders. COGG does some things but not most things. There is still a need for COGG Youth Development Unit planning and that takes place, but in a changing context. The Geelong Community Youth Strategy is planning beyond youth service delivery. This is different and innovative, but building on the success of the BYSP, it is beginning to change thinking and lay the basis for young peoples’ deeper involvement in planning and the plan for young people in Geelong (see pp. 7-9).
The consultation process has been a successful exercise in capacity building for youth participation. Hundreds of young people from diverse backgrounds have contributed and over 100 have indicated that would welcome further involvement. Twenty businesses came forward to support the work of the project and share their aspirations for Geelong’s youth. This included a highly motivated group of young business owners and some of the most well-established businesses in Geelong (see pp.13-15). The GEEYOUNG Youth Forum on 14th August 2012 brought together 161 people including 122 young people from at least eleven schools and educational programs and produced some strong messages about what young people want (see pp. 10-15).
In the discussions facilitated through the GEEYOUNG PROJECT, young people expressed a need for opportunities to get together and organise events and activities. They voiced an aspiration for more control over their own lives. Aspirations about education and employment and wanting to be part of the shaping of what is done were strongly expressed also. But, perhaps, the most important outcome has been the demonstration that young people with some support can do a great deal for themselves and with increasing sophistication. GEEYOUNG has becoming a recognised brand/symbol for the youth participationstrategy work/ youth-led planning in Geelong. The creative challenge is how to think out a practical way forward – the next step and how to reach to next horizon.
A key insight crystallised during the GEEYOUNG process; this was the idea that for youth participation to be a sustainable, permanent feature of Geelong community life, there needs to be an open structure or organisation that actively involves young people from the local university and TAFE, the Geelong schools as well as young people in alternative education settings or in the labour force. This envisaged not-for-profit youth-led enterprise would act as the crucible or incubator for peer-to-peer learning and youth support and youth development in Geelong. In order to enable this, Council would need to consider a youth space somewhere in Central Geelong, not a ‘drop-in centre’, but a place where youth activity and planning for the future agenda can be organised. Some of the other stakeholders have indicated already that they would engage with and contribute to such a venture (pp.20-22).
The missing link in any serious perspective for ‘youth participation’ is how to facilitate self-organised, reproducible activity by young people themselves and how to build this as a sustainable capacity. COGG plays the seminal role of facilitator, and accepts responsibility for ensuring there is sufficient support. Young people ultimately run the proposed organisation and the space(s) in much the same way as Melbourne’s SYN media or the Oaktree Foundation. GEEYOUNG is the first example of a local community developed youth-led social infrastructure (at this point in embryo only). Good examples of youth-led projects are not commonplace. Facilitating the self-organisation of young people is the enabling strategy for planning the future for young people in Geelong; this is the next horizon.
1
RECOMMENDATIONS
1.Support the emerging network of young people and business leaders who are interested in working on the development of a plan and a creative space for Geelong’s young people built on the foundations of ‘youth participation’, whereby young people are increasingly empowered through the process and in all its subsequent activities and consequences.
Comment: An in-principle motion of support for the continuation of the GEEYOUNG PROJECT process would legitimise and provide a mandate for continuity.
2.Provide for continued dedicated facilitation of the GEEYOUNG PROJECT process in whatever way is possible within existing budget constraints and supported by YDU staff.
Comment: The process is not yet self-perpetuating and requires further support and facilitation to reach that point.
3.Resource the GEEYOUNG PROJECT team to take the invitation in the form of the GEEYOUNG Youth Prospectus (Invitation) to schools and other venues and sites where young people can be reached to build the cadre and network of community youth activists, young business people and citizens.
Comment: The GEEYOUNG Youth Prospectus / Invitation is the basis for the work of the next step, but the actual work by young people to use it constructively to organise a wider active group and engage with other stakeholders will require some resources to happen.
4.Support the maintenance and functioning of the GEEYOUNG PROJECT website and social networking tools by the GEEYOUNG PROJECT.
Comment: The web presence needs to become more active and be further developed with some core resource as well as volunteers.
5.Support the GEEYOUNG PROJECT teams and COGG YDU staff to research the practical feasibility and financial dimensions of creating a self-acting youth network with its own space for presentation to COGG for the 2013-2014 budget cycle.
Comment: This would be a practical document about possible sites, what would be required and some financial advice on its costs. Geelong businesses may be able to provide some expertise for this task.
6.Seek other partners who might be able to invest financially in the GEEYOUNG PROJECT space and model, including the philanthropic and business sector, in addition to financial commitments that COGG is able to make for the 2013-2014 financial year.
Comment: The process is not yet self-perpetuating and requires further support and facilitation to reach that point.
INTRODUCTION
The GEEYOUNG PROJECT was funded by the City of Greater Geelong (COGG) to undertake a strategic planning process that places the needs and aspirations of young people at its centre. The development of youth participation in Geelong as part of this process is a key requirement.
The goals of the GEEYOUNG PROJECT are about establishing an overarching framework and strategic approach for a Geelong community youth strategy,and ultimately a Geelong Youth Strategy Plan that will enable the sustained development (over time) of what the Geelong community and its young people want to achieve together – a strategy for how to develop a vision for Geelong’s young people and then realise it.
The focus for the strategy development process is young people who live, learn, work, live or play in Geelong. The premise that underpins the entire strategy is that only if we understand what young people want to achieve in the future can this be done authentically. Youth participation becomes the reference point for the entire process and its ultimate measure of success as a community.
The approach was to begin with the positives and put in place a new collaborative approach that will underpin and enable young people and their community to discover and pursue together what they want to achieve over the next 10 years.An extensive consultation/ visioning process has resulted in an emerging consensus and significant progress towards a shared understanding of what young people are seeking to achieve with their community. The multi-layered approach was bottom up and involved a range of formats and locations facilitated by young consultants over a six-month process.
The broad-brush picture that has emerged for the Geelong of the future is a community known for supporting / delivering a happy and creative community for its youth, recognised for its celebration and respect for diversity. The clear message from the young people – is that they see investment in young people facilitating awareness-raising about opportunities in Geelong with their peers from a young age as a prerequisite to social, creative and business sustainability in Geelong.
Also, young people see a community with a physical and educational infrastructure that supports the development of young minds –a place in the CBD where young people can come together and express ideas, with a focus on joining together across schools, cultures and religious boundaries.
Geelong’s young people want to be known for being the culture they want to see in the future - rather than focusing on what is not working and trying to fix it - they want to be part of creating a newand inclusive communityculture.
So, in simple terms, what is proposed is the next step of the process,building on what has been done so far and with the efforts of those engaged. Each step along this reiterative journey is also a test of whether there is an appetite and sufficient drive to move forward, to make the vision for young people and the aspirations they have and others have for them into a reality. The one factor, without which none of this makes sense, is the engagement and involvement of young people in the process (i.e. the means) so that the community youth strategy is their strategy and then their plan.
BACKGROUND
The GEEYOUNG PROJECT builds on the process and outcomes from the Geelong Better Youth Services Pilot (BYSP) that was undertaken in 2010-2011. The GBYSP itself was based on the Vulnerable Youth Framework and focused on system development and reform. The three questions for the BYSP initiatives were:
Q1: How can vulnerable young people be identified and supported earlier and more systematically?
Q2: What data is needed to enable better planning of local services to improve outcomes for vulnerable young people?
Q3: What can be done to improve existing government-funded youth service coordination and delivery?
Geelong’s approach was notably different in that the participants led by Council worked through a participatory intensive process to formulate how the Geelong community might be able to respond. The BYSP final report suggested an agenda of action projects that would enable the change to be accomplished. These projects were:
- Project ‘Community Youth Strategic Plan’
The facilitation of a process that knits together a better understanding of what young people, the service system and broader community are seeking to achieve in Geelong and how this can be achieved
- Project ‘organisational model development’
The development of an organisational model for the establishment of a ‘community of youth services’ tocoordinate day-to-day planning and action between youth services
- Project ‘youth brand’
The idea of a symbolic youth ‘brand’ for Geelong as a way to identify access to the youth service system and represent the ‘system’ to young people, their families and the community broadly
- Project ‘communications’
An effort to improve the information sharing across the Youth Services sector and cognate sectors working with young people.
- Project ‘data and research’
The collection of micro-statistics by local schools and agencies to provide timely data on at risk young people
- Project ‘youth participation’
The work to make young people’s involvement a core funded component of all community and service planning and delivery
- Project ‘inter-sectoral professional development’
Bringing workers from different professions together for shared learning is an important way of building and maintaining a collaborative service culture
- Project ‘funding’
Work on how the ‘community of youth services’ as a model for service integration and coordination could be funded in a recurrent way.
A major part of this agenda has been the subject of developmental work. The research undertaken by a team for Swinburne University ($350,000 over 2 years) and the successful launch of The Geelong Project with major funding from the Departments of Human Services ($1.5m over 15 months pilot phase) and Education & Early Childhood Development ($157,000 over 18 months) has substantially achieved the work envisaged under ‘data and research’ as well as much but not everything under the development of a ‘community of youth services (and schools)’ organisational model. The Geelong Project is of great interest to the Victorian Government and outside of Victoria as an exemplar for how communities can more effectively address disadvantage and get better outcomes for vulnerable young people.
The Community Youth Strategic Plan and ‘youth participation’ was picked up by Council in the form of the GEEYOUNG PROJECT. Loosely carried forward as part of this was another BYSP recommendation to create a ‘youth brand’ for Geelong.. The GEEYOUNG PROJECT worked on a broader canvas, not just focusing on disadvantage and the issues of vulnerable youth, but on how the future for young people in Geelong might be actively constructed with their active involvement.
In this, ‘youth participation’ has not been an instrumental means to some end, but core to the idea of planning a community youth strategy as a youth participation process.