It's time to build our first Youth Strategy!

The Shire of Denmark is developing its inaugural Youth Strategy. This is in response to our community telling us that it is time to focus on Youth Services. We have engaged the Youth Affairs Council of WA (YACWA) to help us do this work.

Why we are developing a Youth Strategy

The aim of the Youth Strategy is to better understand what is important to young people and identify what we need to do to improve our offerings and services for young people in Denmark. To do this we will be talking with:

• Young people aged 10 to 25 who live, work, study, volunteer or visit/use groups and services in the Shire
• Parents and caregivers of young people
• Groups and organisations (including businesses) that work with or have a connection to young people
• Shire staff and Elected Members

How you can get involved in the Youth Strategy

Peer researchers

We want to talk with lots of young people to find out what actions to focus on and we want other young people to help us with this. We will recruit six young people aged 15 to 25, who live, work, study, or visit/use groups and services in the Shire to be peer researchers.

As a peer researcher, you will help us design a youth survey and youth interview questions and give us advice on how to promote all of these to young people. You will then go out into the community and each survey 30 young people aged 10 to 25 and conduct a small number of ‘vox pop’ style interviews. We will provide you with training on how to do this.

This is a unique opportunity to develop your experience and skills as a changemaker in your local community, as well as help the Shire understand the issues that are important to young people. It is an excellent opportunity to build real-work ready skills that will look great on your resume, and we can provide a certificate at the end. As a peer researcher you will receive up to $600 for your work.

You will need to commit to each phase of the project including training, co-design, survey delivery, interviews, and debriefing. There are two sessions you will need to attend (listed below), and the fourth session is optional:

• Full day peer researcher training – likely Saturday 28^th July 10am to 4pm
• Consultation de-brief – approximately week of the 9^th September (time to be agreed by all)

The survey and interview delivery phase will run from 29^th July to 8^th September, and you will need to gather 30 surveys from young people in that time and hold two to three interviews.

More information is located here. You can apply online here. Applications close Sunday 14^th July.

Youth Survey

To enable all young people to contribute to the Strategy, we will develop a youth survey. This survey will be delivered to young people by the peer researchers and will also be distributed online and through key organisations. The survey will be available on Your Denmark.

Youth Workshops

Youth workshops will be held with schools and groups in the Shire. More information about these will be distributed when these opportunities are finalised with participating organisations.

Parents and Caregivers Survey

Parents and caregivers of young people aged 10 to 25 in the Shire will have an opportunity to have their say on current service provision and ideas about opportunities for the future via a parent and caregiver survey. The survey will be available on Your Denmark.

One-on-one Interviews

We will be holding one on one interviews via phone and via videoconference from June through to August 2024. These will take approximately minutes and are for any individual, group, organisation, or business that connects with young people including youth services, community services, recreation services, faith groups, schools and other education providers and businesses.

You can get in touch with Lianda on lianda@yacwa.org.au to arrange a time.

Postcard

From July through to September 2024 we will be rolling out a postcard campaign where we ask for everyone in the community to share one wish or big idea they have for young people in the Shire. Look out for these through your local Shire services.

Solutions-focused Roundtable

In September/October we will hold a solutions-focused roundtable with groups, organisations, and businesses to present the consultation data and have a big picture look at the systems at play in the Shire (and beyond). In this workshop, we will involve attendees in codesigning actions and initiatives that may go in the Youth Strategy.

Community

From March through to April we will roll out a postcard campaign where we ask for everyone in the community to share one wish or big idea they have for young people in the Shire. Look out for these through your local Shire services.

How I can get more information

The Youth Affairs Council of Western Australia (YACWA) is running the Youth Strategy development with the Shire of Denmark. If you have any questions, please contact Lianda Gibson on 9227 5440 or email lianda@yacwa.org.au.

If you want to speak with someone at the Shire about this, please contact Rosie Arnephie, Community Development Officer on 9848 0333 or rosemarie.arnephie@denmark.wa.gov.au

Check out our Youth Fest event for 2024!

Thanks to everyone who came along to Youth Fest and made it such a wonderful day.