The re-establishment of a ‘Youth Council’ is one step closer in Gunnedah – a decade after the last was disbanded.
It follows the approval of 17 nominations for a preliminary youth working group to guide the establishment of a new youth council.
The Gunnedah Shire Council-led group includes local councillors, community organisations and community representatives, school and training provider representatives, First Nations organisations, and youth representatives.
Gunnedah shire councillor Linda Newell is leading the group on behalf of elected representatives.
She said while the working group membership will be predominantly adults, this will assist the formation and function of a future youth council led by young people.
“They will support the youth who are doing some great things in our community,” Cr Newell said.
Cr Newell said young people are sometimes unfairly judged through the eyes of the wider community.
“We want our youth to be seen in a positive light,” she said.
Cr Newell said the terms of reference are yet to developed for the working group but one of the first tasks would be starting up the youth council.
“We may look at some funding grants to get that established,” she said.
It is anticipated the youth council would provide advice and recommendations on youth matters, develop skills in areas including youth leadership, communication, advocacy, governance and administration.
Cr Newell said youth representatives from the preliminary working group could also help recruit their peers for the youth council.
In the meantime, she was thrilled with the formation of the working group – a membership which brings community awareness into the realm of local government.
“The more people involved from the community, the more it becomes a community project – not just a council one,” Cr Newell said.
The councillor said more approaches would be made to schools for youth representatives to join the working group.
Gunnedah shire mayor Colleen Fuller expected the youth working group would have “wide scope” to encourage as much involvement as possible. She hoped the group and a future youth council would help young people realise the opportunities available to them.
“So people can speak up and feel like they can achieve,” Cr Fuller said.
Announcement of the youth group composition follows the recent success of ‘Next Gen’ another initiative aimed at harnessing young minds in the region. Led by the Gunnedah Chamber of Commerce, the Next Gen initiative is pitched to “support, elevate, and empower” young professionals aged 16 to 35 across the region.
“The official launch of Next Gen was the beginning of a movement a powerful, energising initiative designed to support, elevate, and champion the next generation of leaders in our region,” chamber of commerce president CJ Baldry Adams said.
Youth Working Group profile: Dr Sarah Woodford (pictured)
• What made you want to join?
I had three main reasons to join. The first one was that Gunnedah as a community means a lot to me – it’s the place where I grew up and developed a lot of the personality traits and characteristics that are really important to who I am, so personally I want Gunnedah’s young people to continue to be given the opportunity to grow and thrive here like I was. The second reason is related to my work in that my area of interest within rural generalism is child and adolescent health and development, and part of healthy development is having a safe and supportive community in which to do that and a sense of belonging to a community, and I see this working group as a way to ensure that for the youth of Gunnedah. The third one is that, while I’m passionate about all of the above, I am not a youth anymore (just young at heart!). I really look forward to working with those in Gunnedah who still meet the criteria of ‘youth’ and I will really value their input into how we can make Gunnedah an even better community for them to be a part of, and I look forward to working with them on this.
• What are your aspirations for the working group?
I hope the working group can keep progressing our community in a positive direction for the future, but in addition to all of that I hope that this working group can be a great mouthpiece for the youth of Gunnedah, to
our local council, to effect positive change. I also hope that for the youth on our committee that this is a chance to develop advocacy and leadership skills that can serve them really well into the future.
• Why do you feel this is important for the Gunnedah community?
I think it’s really important to give young people a voice into their own future and working with them to improve the community in the areas that they need it to improve. I also think a risk that all small towns face is young people leaving and not returning, or staying and remaining stuck in the status quo, so having a working group committed to positive change for young people will continue to move the community forward while also encouraging young people to come (or come back) to the region, enjoying what we have to offer as a town, and contributing meaningfully to our community. And again related to my work, I think the overall health and wellbeing of a young person can be connected to their sense of belonging to community, so fostering that is crucial.
Youth Working Group profile:
Nat Walters (pictured)
• What made you want to join?
I am very fortunate to have seen, as a mother, the benefit of sound community connections and believe that it takes a village to raise our children. I believe our leaders of tomorrow, who are our youth of today, are blessed to live in Gunnedah which affords them many opportunities however we need to listen to youth, and be and do more. It is our role, as adult community members, to give youth our time and provide sound community connections with inspirational and supportive role models creating an environment where our youth can thrive. I was very keen to be a part of this working group.
• What are your aspirations for the working group?
To assist to provide opportunities and support for our youth to achieve their professional and personal goals, and to provide an environment where we can assist to determine these and provide support to all from diverse backgrounds with varied goals.
• Why is this important for the Gunnedah community?
As above, the leaders of tomorrow are the youth of today. The Gunnedah community has great young people within it which extends to those that may take the wrong direction sometimes and need guidance. To be able to support them and assist them in all walks of life so that they either stay within our local community or thrive elsewhere, is a privilege.
