The voices of youth in Broken Hill are louder than ever thanks to the establishment of the Broken Hill Young Leaders Team, who celebrated their first birthday today and outlined some key initiatives for 2020.
The Young Leaders, Chief Executive Officer of the Y Susannah Le Bron and members of the community came together at the Broken Hill Youth Hub today to mark a year’s worth of achievements.
“The Young Leaders team has grown from 4 to 14 members and in just 12 months they have established themselves as progressive and active change makers,” the Y Chief Executive Officer Susannah Le Bron said.
“They’ve run a number of amazing community events, developed a recycling program and strengthened their relationships with local government and Landcare to ensure young people have a voice in the community.
“Our Young Leaders have a particularly strong interest in the environment and sustainability, and earlier this year lobbied hard to bring the film 2040 to Broken Hill for a public screening.
“I’m so proud of what these incredible young people have been able to achieve and see them as a shining example for our five other Young Leaders teams across the state.”
Current president of the Broken Hill Young Leaders Kelsie Mitchell said the experience has been extremely rewarding.
“I’ve really enjoyed meeting lots of people from the community and seeing how different organisations can come together. It’s really inspiring that so many people in Broken Hill are willing to help out the young people and help us set up a better future,” Kelsie said.
Kelsie said the team’s environmental focus responds to the unique challenges within their community.
“Broken Hill has some very unique environmental issues such as the drought, the water crisis, coping with climate change… when we’re thinking about how to practically tackle these challenges, it’s really inspiring to know that we have people who are passionate and want to make a difference.”
Some plans include two more skateboarding events due to the popularity of Totem Skateboarding in Mental Health Month this year, where 50 young people learned to skateboard.
Other activities planned for 2020 include advocating for more resources to combat underage drug and alcohol consumption, continued liaison with Council and lobbying for more free activities in Sturt Park, the promotion of Y programs Uplift and Teen Gym and the further development of the Youth Hub to become the centre in which young people can gain information about employment, training, education and career advice.
MEDIA CONTACT: Madeleine Clarke on 0400 974 816 or Kate Hancock on 0439 427 522
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