On Wed 1st Oct '25, Stacey Oliver, Co-ordinator of Youth Services at the City of Ballarat, detailed the suite of programs run by the city to combat some concerning trends amongst our younger community members.
Stacey explained that the city’s youth strategy was developed in response to studies showing 17.4% of 17-24 year olds experience mental health issues, Ballarat had a youth unemployment rate of 13.6 % and 25% of 12 - 25 year olds had suffered homelessness or some form of housing insecurity.
The City of Ballarat provides youth volunteer programs, social and recreational programs, the Live4life mental health program, work experience week and the Wendouree Youth space in response to youth issues in the city.
In their work experience week council hosted 25 students into the Youth Services Department. All council departments had representatives attend the youth services group to make presentations about the careers on offer at the City of Ballarat.
How can Rotary help? Stacey says that council are always seeking community engagement by attendance at youth events, volunteers at their Wendouree cooking activities, providing food packs for young people to take away from events or simply signing on for their newsletter and following their social media.
More information at: https://www.ballarat.vic.gov.au/youthservices
