8 June 2017 – Media Release
It’s an ambitious goal: to make Cumberland the best place in NSW to be a young person. Yet this is the aim behind Council’s new Youth Strategy, which was adopted at Council’s June 7 meeting.
The strategy was eight months in the making and involved an intensive program of engagement, including consultations with youth advisory groups and youth services, visits to schools across the area, audits of council owned facilities, focus groups, open forums and an online survey.
Overall, more than 1,600 young people from across Cumberland provided input to the strategy, identifying five priority areas:
- Employment
- Education
- Health and Wellbeing
- Community Connection
- Safety
“If I had to summarise the new Youth Strategy into a single line it would be this: we aspire for Cumberland to be the best place for young people in NSW,” Cumberland Council Interim General Manager Malcolm Ryan said.
“Cumberland Council is a young Council in more ways than one. The organisation recently turned one and in the area we work, 1 in 5 people are aged between 12 and 25. The vibrancy, creativity and energy in the area owes a lot to our young people.
“Under the new Youth Strategy we will work with whoever we can to make it easier for young people in our area to find a job, get an education, feel safe, stay healthy and be active in their community.
“The strength of the youth strategy owes a lot to the innovative way the initial consultations were carried out. An interactive social media campaign ‘Shape Cumberland’ was created and driven by the Cumberland Youth Collective, a group of promising local young people.
“They used creative methods, insider knowledge and their own networks to engage at a level that Council Officers cannot. This resulted in excellent data to base the strategy on.
“At Cumberland Council we are firm believers that young people are not just the future – they are an integral part of our community today.
“The Youth Strategy reflects this belief and we look forward to working with young people to make their vision for the local community a reality.”
