Youth Partnerships

The Youth Partnerships Initiative is a three year whole of State Government initiative funded through the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development.

The aim of Youth Partnerships is to design and test new ways for services across all youth sectors to work together more collaboratively to support vulnerable young people aged 10 to 18 years. The key goals of Youth Partnerships are to improve engagement in education and training; and to reduce the escalation of problems for individual young people.

Over three years, the Government will support service providers to work together to ensure that there is a greater focus on early intervention; clear entry points into the right services at the right time, including tailored education options; and establishment of a Common Practice Framework to support services.

The initiative is funded until mid-2014.

Youth Partnerships is a whole of Victorian Government initiative involving representation from the Departments of Education and Early Childhood Development, Human Services, Justice, Health, Premier and Cabinet, Treasury and Finance, Planning and Community Development and Victoria Police in all levels of governance. State Government representation is supported by the involvement of Local Government and community service agencies working with vulnerable young people.

The central and local level input from these representatives will ensure a coordinated and integrated support system is established for the benefit of vulnerable young Victorians.

The needs of young people, and the services available for them, differ from area to area. Local agencies are best-placed to know local needs, what works ‘on-the-ground’ in supporting young people, and what gaps and issues in service provision exist.

Seven locally based demonstration sites have been established to test new ways of working collaboratively and sharing information to ensure comprehensive support is provided to young people.

The work occurring in each of the demonstration sites is managed by a locally based project officer and governed by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD) Regional Director in partnership with the Department of Human Services (DHS) Regional Director.

The Wyndham and Hobsons Bay Youth Partnerships project is overseen by the Local Governance Committee whose role it is to endorse the strategic direction, project and funding decisions and communicate these decisions to the central secretariat. Members of the group include:

DEECD
DHS
Victoria Police
Wynbay Local Learning and Employment Network (LLEN)
Wyndham City
Hobsons Bay City Council
Department of Health

Sitting underneath the Local Governance Group is the Advisory Group whose role is to recommend strategic direction, project and funding options to the Local Governance Group for their endorsement and support the projects throughout the demonstration period. They also assist in the development of working groups to support individual projects. Members of the group include:

DEECD
Department of Health
Department of Human Services
Wyndham City
Hobsons Bay City Council
Local Learning and Employment Network (LLEN)
Victoria Police
HealthWest Primary Care Partnership
Student Support Services Officers
Westgate Community Initiatives Group (WCIG)

The Governance Group has approved three key projects which are currently underway in the Wyndham and Hobsons Bay area. They are:

Access and Service Coordination Project
In School Support Project
Alternative Education Project

For more information about the Youth Partnership Initiative please contact:

Karen Kennedy
Project Officer Youth Partnerships
Department of Education and Early Childhood Development

kennedy.karen.n@edumail.vic.gov.au