Last month Youth Opportunities’ PROSPER Leaders and Alumni participated in a co-design workshop with the Department of Human Services consulting on the Youth Action Plan 2023-2026. The Youth Action Plan aims to help the South Australian Government meet the needs of young people, by delivering more equitable access to opportunities, resources and support.
We regularly seek out these opportunities for our young people and provide a variety of workshops and forums for our alumni to influence and inform legislators, and to tangibly shape their future and that of other young Australians. These events also provide further opportunities for those involved to better their skills and confidence for further education and employment.
Having their voices heard is incredibly empowering for each individual young person, too. One of the participants of the recent workshop shared that: “I felt like my opinion mattered, and I was helping make a difference for children my age now but also young teens in the future.”
Our young people came up with some great ideas around safety and justice, education and employment, connections and access to resources, citizenship and participation, physical health, social and emotional wellbeing and mental health.
Some of their suggestions included:
“Stop bullying. Implement comprehensive anti-bullying programs that promote kindness, empathy, and respect among students. Ensure clear policies and procedures are in place to address bullying promptly.”
“More jobs for younger people to encourage responsibility and leadership. It’s also good for bringing in some spare money to save for important things.”
“I think that the government should include more youth programs and more mental health support for young people as many are struggling with their own mental health. I think they should also include more sports programs for the youth to join in because sport is a good way to stay healthy and connect with others”
“Lots of kids don’t feel safe talking to police as they are scared of them. I think that police should come to more schools and show the kids they are here to help and not just hurt people.”
We love seeing our graduates being personal leaders who are using their leadership skills for the greater good. We can’t wait to see what other amazing work they will do!
What is PROSPER Graduate Engagement?
PROSPER Graduate Engagement brings young people to the centre of our graduate engagement to help us better understand how we can work together. Our graduates are our greatest source of information to reflect our practice based on their lived experience. PROSPER focuses on improving our graduate engagement to better support our students in achieving their goals, by addressing some of the challenges that students face after they graduate.
If you want to learn more about PROSPER and how you can get involved, click here