What We Do
Youth Development Australia has a number of projects
and initiatives, and is always creating and innovating
new work to support and empower young people
throughout Australia.
National Youth Commission Australia
The National Youth Commission Australia (NYCA) is an independent, non-partisan community inquiry into the challenges faced by young people preparing for and seeking work now and into the future. It draws together the expertise and lived experience of diverse young people across the country, along with ideas from experts and the broader public, to create solutions to overcome these challenges.
NYCA regularly produces:
- Policy Papers
- Research Reports
- Events
- National Leadership in issues facing young people
Youth Futures Summit
The Youth Futures Summit (YFS) is an annual event that brings together thousands of diverse people across multiple sectors and communities to re-imagine issues young people are facing in Australia.
In 2020, YFS focused on the challenges to education, training and employment systems for young people, and the rest of Australia during and beyond COVID-19.
Each year YFS:
- Draws together thousands of people from multiple sectors and communities that are reflective of the diversity of cultures, backgrounds, experiences, and beliefs that make up all of Australia
- Is co-presented, co-attended and shaped by young people
- Deep-dives into the challenges and identify what the solutions should be
- Explores a a variety of topics and issues including education, youth mental health, the Australian economy, training, job services, young workers’ rights, and what the future of work will look like.
Youthworx Media Social Enterprise
In partnership with Melbourne Polytechnic, we run supported accredited training, in Creative Industries, young people affected by homelessness or disadvantage. We also host skill based workshops for organisations and independent groups who want to develop their media skills.s.
From day one Youthworx has been fuelled by seeking to have a creative, innovative response to the issue of youth homelessness and disadavantage. All of the outcomes at Youthworx have come from asking the question ‘how do we effectively use creative media production/engagement to transform the life possibilities of the most vulnerable young people?’
In response to this question Youthworx has gone on to establish a sustainable social enterprise model that seeks to marry the creative with the commercial.
National
Youth Homelessness Conference
The National Youth Homelessness Conference (NYHC) is the only homelessness conference solely dedicated to focussing on the issues and needs of young people.
The problem of ‘youth homelessness’ remains a persistent and troubling issue, exacerbated by the Covid-19 Pandemic crisis. During 2020, the weaknesses of our systems, programs and policies for young people were exposed. There is much to be learned from what happened this year and much to be done.
The last National Youth Homelessness Conference held in March 2019, issued a Communique that called for a National Strategy Plan for Ending Youth Homelessness, and highlighted four key areas for strategic action – ‘early intervention’, ‘rapid rehousing’, ‘engagement’ with education, training and employment opportunities and ‘extended state care’.
NYHC2021 is organised around a project to develop a National Strategy to End Youth Homelessness.
A Way Home Australia
A Way Home Australia is a national campaign, which emanated from the National Youth Homelessness Conference held in March 2019 in Melbourne, Australia. It is based on the NYHC Communique, which unanimously endorsed at the conference, which seeks support of a number of fundamental reforms in the way in which we focus our national efforts to prevent and end youth homelessness.
Are you committed and passionate about preventing and ending youth homelessness? Would you like to be a part of an emerging movement for radical change in the way in which we address youth homelessness? If yes, then you are welcome to join A Way Home Australia. The more alliances that are made the greater our call for radical change and action will be.