E-News 26

Welcome to Youth Workers E-News, Issue 26, February 2009

 

What's new?

Reports

Youth Workers Calendar

Feedback

 

 

What's New?

  • The NSW Youth Week website for 2009 has been launched! In the lead-up to Youth Week, details of events which will be held around the State from 28 March – 5 April will be posted on the site, as well as competition results, and guides on how to get involved in the celebrations. Congratulations to Edwina from St Ives (15yrs) and Aileen from Gordon (16yrs) on producing this year’s fantastic website design concept, which was chosen by the NSW Youth Week Young People’s Advisory Committee. Winners of the other NSW Youth Week competitions are listed on the Competitions page on the site http://www.youthweek.nsw.gov.au/content/competitions/. If you want to download the NSW Youth Week poster or the National Youth Week logo, you can do so from the Resources page on the site http://www.youthweek.nsw.gov.au/download/. Visit the Youth Week site to find out about events that are being held in your local council area http://www.youthweek.nsw.gov.au. 

  • The Work Smart online community newsletter is for anyone working with, or interested in the employment rights of young people and those from culturally and linguistically diverse communities. Produced on a quarterly basis by the NSW Office of Industrial Relations, the free newsletter contains info to help people understand their right and entitlements in the workplace. To subscribe go to www.industrialrelations.nsw.gov.au/enewsletters/worksmart.

  • The NSW Centre for the Advancement of Adolescent Health (CAAH) and The NSW Association for Adolescent Health (NAAH) provide listings of Youth Health Services in NSW. Each health service is unique and provides services and programs that have been developed to address the needs in their area. Visit http://www.caah.chw.edu.au/links/map/ or http://www.naah.org.au/youth.cfm.

  • In November 2008 the Australian Bureau of Statistics released its latest edition of ‘Children and Youth News’. This newsletter provides information on a large range of statistical releases, developments and events relevant to children and youth. It also presents some recent findings on the mental health of young people, births in Australia as well as alcohol and drug use by young people. To view the newsletter visit http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/4105.0?OpenDocument.

  • At the 2008 Premier’s Public Sector Awards the Eurobodalla Youth Transport Project, which is funded by the Department of Community Services Better Futures program, received a Commendation in the ‘Delivering Locally’ category. The Project introduced a voucher scheme to increase access for young people to Eurobodalla Shire Council’s Youth Cafes in Batemans Bay, Moruya and Narooma. A system was developed targeting transport disadvantaged youth to access transport home for a $2 fare. Since 2005 over 6,500 participants have been transported. Results include increased opportunities for recreation/socialisation, access to community facilities such as retail, sport, libraries and community health and increased feelings of safety for young people and workers. For more information on the Premier’s Public Sector Awards visit the website http://www.dpc.nsw.gov.au/public_employment/honours_and_awards/premiers_public_sector_awards.

  • The new Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) website brings together all the LSAY work into a single location, including data and research about young people's transitions from school on to work and further study. It uses large, nationally representative samples of young people to collect information about education and training, work, and social development. The information can be found on the LSAY website at http://www.lsay.edu.au/.
  • The Australia and New Zealand Health Policy article ‘Regulatory axes on food advertising to children on television’ describes and evaluates some of the criteria on the basis of which food advertising to children on television could be regulated, including parental controls that revolve around the type of television program, the type of content, the target audience and the time of day. To read the article go to http://www.anzhealthpolicy.com/content/pdf/1743-8462-6-1.pdf. Source: Australian Policy Online

  • Help the Australian Drug Foundation (ADF) by completing a survey during February about your drug information needs. The information gained through this survey will help guide the development of ADF's information services to ensure we are providing the best possible support to professionals who need alcohol and other drug information both now and in the future. We would like to invite anyone in Australia who has a professional need for alcohol and other drug information to complete this survey. Not only will this help ADF to develop and improve its services, but you can also enter the draw to win one of five double passes to Hoyts cinemas or one of five $100 vouchers for the ADF bookshop. The survey takes approximately 10–20 minutes to complete and is anonymous and confidential. No person will be individually identified. You can access the survey at www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=JTV2Lnumw58bSieYMiiLtw_3d_3d. The survey will close on Sunday 1 March 2009.

 

Reports

  • A new report released by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Tom Calma, calls for the ‘skilling up’ of existing services that work with Indigenous young people with cognitive or mental health issues, in an effort to halt their slide into the Juvenile Justice system. Releasing the report ‘Preventing Crime and Promoting Rights for Indigenous Young People with Cognitive Disabilities and Mental Health Issues’ Commissioner Calma outlined the disturbing fact that Indigenous young people in Juvenile Justice were at least four times more likely to have an intellectual disability than the general population. The report was funded by the Indigenous Law and Justice Branch of the Federal Attorney-General’s Department. The report can be found at http://www.humanrights.gov.au/social_justice/publications/preventing_crime/.

  • The report ‘Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) Young People and Mentoring: the case of Horn of African young people in Australia (2008)’ has been released by the National Youth Affairs Research Scheme (NYARS). The report focuses on how mentoring practices and policies in Australia can best meet the needs of young people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, with a focus on young people from the Horn of Africa. In this study, people from the Horn of Africa originate from Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, and Sudan and young people refer to those aged between 12 and 25 years. The broad aim of the study was to understand and compare the needs of Horn of African young people with the needs and resources of mentoring services providers and policy makers. The report can be found at http://www.dest.gov.au/sectors/youth/programmes_funding/nyars/Culturally_and_Linguistically_Diverse_CALD.htm.

  • The National Youth Affairs Research Scheme (NYARS) has also released their report ‘Rewriting the Rules for Youth Participation – Inclusion and diversity in government and community decision making (2008)’. The report examines issues including: existing opportunities for young people from diverse backgrounds to participate in decision making; perceptions and expectations of participation; experiences of participation; motivations for participation; barriers to participation; and strategies for involving young people from diverse backgrounds. The research explores the attitudes and experiences of policy makers and services providers, and young people from diverse backgrounds. The report can be found at http://www.dest.gov.au/sectors/youth/programmes_funding/nyars/Rewriting_the_Rules_for_Youth_Participation.htm.

  • Australian Council for Educational Research has released their report ‘The occupations and earnings of young Australians: The role of education and training’. Social background plays only a small role in accounting for differences in occupational status and earnings at age 24, indicating that education is enhancing social mobility, according to this report. The report can be found at http://www.acer.edu.au/documents/LSAY55.pdf. Source: Australian Policy Online

  • The Australian Education Union has published a paper on ‘The needs of Indigenous students and their communities’. This brief paper outlines the key areas for action to improve the outcomes for Indigenous students and their communities. The paper can be found at http://www.aeufederal.org.au/Publications/2009/Indedreport2009.pdf. Source: Australian Policy Online

  • The Centre for Cultural Research has released the report ‘Community Languages Matter! Challenges and opportunities facing the Community Languages Program in NSW’. Despite decades of research into the educational, cognitive, linguistic and cultural benefits of multilingualism, the teaching of Community Languages in Australia is at a crossroads. The report can be found at http://www.uws.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/46307/Community_Languages_Matter_Final_report.pdf.  Source: Australian Policy Online 

  • The Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission has released a report, ‘Rights of Passage: The experiences of Australian-Sudanese young people’. This report examines the experience of young Australian-African people in the City of Greater Dandenong, providing insight into the systemic issues impacting upon this group from the unique perspective of the young people themselves. The report can be found at http://www.humanrightscommission.vic.gov.au/pdf/rights_of_passage.pdf.

 

Youth workers' calendar

 

Conferences, workshops, funding opportunities and training courses around NSW. Opportunities in March and April include:

  • The NSW Centre for the Advancement of Adolescent Health’s is holding a Youth Health Forum on 18th March 2009. The topic is ‘We’re bringing sexy back: sexual health programs for young people’. For more information visit the CAAH website http://www.caah.chw.edu.au/events/#forum.
  • The Family Action Centre Rock and Water course offers youth workers and teachers a new way to interact with boys in relationship to their physical and social development. The program offers a framework of exercises and thoughts about boys and manhood to assist boys to become aware of purpose and motivation in their life. The program is being run in Sydney from 2-4 March, Lismore from 5-7 March, Dubbo from 12-14 March, Newcastle from 16-18 March, and South West Sydney from 23-25 March. For more information contact the Family Action Centre FAC-Events@newcastle.edu.au or 02 4921 6403.
    www.newcastle.edu.au/centre/fac/rock-and-water/workshops.html.

 

Feedback

How can we make the youth workers' resources on Youth.NSW more useful to you? Please email us youth@community.nsw.gov.au your thoughts and suggestions.

 

 

Unsubscribe

 

You have received this email because you are subscribed to the Youth.NSW Youth Workers area. If you no longer wish to be a member of this area, please email us to cancel your membership.