Youth Resource and Development

The Resource and Development position is funded by the Department of Community Services through the Community service Grants Program.  The position is based at Cranebrook Neighbourhood Centre, Hoskins St Cranebrook. This position works across the local government area (LGA).

The Youth Resource and Development position works within a human rights and social justice framework.  The majority of the work is to support the development of services for the benefit of young people and to look for gaps  in the youth services sector. Much of the works involves providing information and referral options to young people, advocacy and representation on behalf of disadvantaged young people concerning homelessness and domestic violence.

 

Key Areas of Activity Include:

 

Homelessness:

• Each day 1 in every 200 Australians are homeless
• One in every 3 homeless people is a child or adolescent
• every day half the people who request immediate accommodation from the homeless service system are turned away
• 26% of the homeless population are families with children
• 17% of the homeless population are young people aged 12 – 18
• Almost 10% are Indigenous
• There were 105,000 homeless in 2006, (27,374 NSW) - ABS 2006 Census

Janet Linlee – Wentworth Area Housing

 

The Resource and Development position maintains close links with housing support services in Penrith LGA.  We work collaboratively to bring about the best outcomes for homeless young people and to work towards a model of early intervention and prevention programs that target young people at risk of homelessness as well as those already in the service system.

The resource and development position has representation on the Nepean Youth Homelessness Service (NYHS) a 12 month pilot project funded by Premiers and Cabinet which services 10 high and complex needs young people and 14 early intervention low to moderate needs young people at risk of homelessness.  It is a privilege to be apart of this project and to work towards a successful evaluation of the project to enable advocacy for a longer term solution to the issue of homelessness.

 

Nepean Young pregnancy support (NYPS)

This group is a 20 week program for pregnant young Women under the age of 20 years who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. The program is unfunded and provided through a partnership of four services working to meet an identified need and gap in services.

Resource and development works in partnership with Nepean Youth Accommodations Services, Family Planning NSW – The Warehouse and Nepean Interyouth Services to support and provide a program of Ante-Natal education to young pregnant women who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

click here to download the Young pregnancy support flyer.

 

Team Leader:

Recently the Resource and Development position has taken on the role of team Leader for the Northern Community Team. The position is 35 hours per week and is now based at Cranebrook Neighbourhood Centre.  The team leader role assists with resourcing and supporting workers I undertakes supervision and appraisals and day to day assistance of staff based at Cranebrook Neighbourhood Centre.

 

Support for youth services Penrith Youth Interagency (PYI)

This interagency meets monthly and is a key interagency for youth services that cover the Penrith LGA. The interagency rotates meeting places to youth centres throughout the LGA. The interagency has representatives that attend other interagencies and report back to PYI, a planning day is held in November to ensure the interagency remains relevant.

The resource and development position is a member of the PYI Steering Committee who meet monthly to ensure minutes are correct before distribution, have produced the orientation kit for new workers to Penrith LGA and each year in partnership with Penrith City Council we distribute the Penrith Youth Services card.

Minutes of past PYI meeting and meeting date schedules can be found by clicking here http://www.ngo.net.au/pyi/

 

Nepean Domestic Violence Network (NDVN)

The Domestic Violence network is a key partner for the Youth resource and development position as it is a forum from which community activities are planned and community development action is taken to raise awareness within the greater community of Domestic Violence and it’s consequences.  A number of actions and events conducted by the NDVN are now attended by and value added too by the inclusion of the youth sector in all activities highlighting the need to educate and include young people and their relationships.

The Nepean Domestic Violence Network has a web page for women in Nepean area needing assistance you can access the web site here http://www.dvhelppenrithregion.nsw.gov.au/

For fact sheet on Domestic Violence from the White Ribbon Foundation click here

 

Healthy relationships:

A healthy relationships card has been developed for young people by adapting information on a previous pamphlet developed for young people by Domestic Violence and Incest Resource Centre.

http://www.dvirc.org.au/

Young people can find themselves involved in violent relationships through their family relationships or peers.  This position advocates and works with services that work with victims of violence and others to ensure that young people are included in all policies and strategies to act against violence.

Spyns Youth Resource and Development position has created a card for young people titled “Talking About Relationships” to give young people access to information and services to help if they feel that their relationship is an unhealthy one.  The card outlines healthy and unhealthy qualities of relationships and suggestions for taking action if their relationship is not living up to their expectations.

You can view a pdf of the card here

 

Advocacy

As part of the advocacy role of the resource and development position a submission was provided to a Parliamentary inquiry into the needs of 9-14 year old young people in NSW.  The submission argued that school community partnerships was one way of providing resilience and strengths based programs for young people.  The submission can be viewed here

A request was then made to present in person to the parliamentary inquiry and the statement provided in person can be read here

Other action undertaken by this position in collaboration with PYI on the issue of young people and Domestic Violence was a submission to the Discussion Paper on NSW Domestic and Family Violence Strategic Framework 2009.  You can view the submission to the discussion paper here

A verbal presentation was also made in relation to the discussion paper on Domestic and Family Violence when Premiers and Cabinet Office for Women representatives held a hearing on Prevention and Early Intervention in Penrith at the Joan Sutherland Performing Arts Centre.

 

To make contact with Spyns Youth Development and Resource Worker contact:

Laura Williams

Ph: 47 290 442
Email: laura@spyns.org.au or

You can contact us by clicking here