Territory has huge line-up of youth activities
TERRITORY Families is continuing to improve support services and access to engaging activities for young people across the Northern Territory, in partnership with local youth service providers.
These improvements include the delivery of more youth activities during the Christmas school holidays, with events in Alice Springs, Katherine and Palmerston made possible by the availability of extra funding through targeted initiatives such as the Youth Innovation Grants program.
Territory Families Office of Youth Affairs has also introduced a new online tool this year to assist youth service providers to promote their school holiday and after-hours activities on the Territory Families’ Youth Affairs Calendar page of the NT.GOV.AU website. Organisations can submit details of their activities online and once approved, these will be added to the NT-wide Youth Affairs Calendar.
There are also dedicated event calendars for Alice Springs and Palmerston that are available for downloading from the Territory Families’ Youth Affairs Calendar page. These targeted programs aim to engage young people in fun and safe activities, to help keep kids off the street and assist in making our communities safer for everyone over the holidays.
Territory Families’ Youth Outreach Officers, located in all regional centres, will also be working rostered shifts over the next six weeks, to keep in touch with young people, promote the school holiday programs and provide support or referrals when needed.
Other new youth initiatives include the funding and recruiting of two Youth Programs Coordinators in Palmerston and Alice Springs that are co-located with local office of the Department of the Chief Minister. Work is also continuing on the development of a youth services framework to ensure a partnered approach to the delivery of youth services.
In Tennant Creek, a local organisation has been engaged to facilitate a stakeholder workshop in January 2018 to establish a service support model for young people in the area through the Barkly Regional Council and associated non-government organisations.