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Involving young people in community activities

With a growing population of young people, Maroochy Shire in Queensland is keen to involve its youth in community activities and decision making.

Youth Development Officer, Eric Moes, said that Council found young people generally do not like sitting around conducting formal talk sessions. However, consultation was crucial for Council to tap into the ideas, attitudes and talents of Maroochy's youth population.

"We knew there were young people out there with ideas and energy, but we did not know how to harness this," he said.

"What we did establish was that young people were not particularly interested in words. They wanted to see action."

The problem called for some lateral thinking. This led Eric and his team came up with the idea of 'Skunkworks', a festival to showcase young people's art and culture.

The festival was not merely a chance to focus on youth activities and cultural directions. In liaising with youth to organise the event, Eric and others from Council had the opportunity to chat with young people in an informal setting about their ideas.

Skunkworks was staged on a 'learn as you go' model.

The deadline was tight with just six weeks to pull the show together. But over 100 people contributed to the organisation, gaining a new rapport with Council as they did so.

Eric said that the group involved in the organisation brought with them many more young people keen to contribute to the next event.

"It was a way of drawing out the movers and shakers among our youth population," Eric Moes said.

"Their enthusiasm spread by word of mouth, drawing in others like a spider's web."

Eric said the festival strategy proved highly successful. "It brought about cultural development, greater participation of young people in community life, and it addressed some of the community's negative perceptions about young people," he said.

For further information contact Eric Moes, telephone (07) 5441 8125.

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