YOUNG ACHIEVER

Nominations in the category must relate to recognisable achievements in the Local Government sector. Nominees must be up to 30 years of age, working in Local Government and have attained or achieved outstanding results.

Judging Criteria

➢ Level of achievement ➢ Specific contribution ➢ Leadership qualities ➢ Level of commitment shown to driving change

Winner

➢ Kate James, Banyule City Council

High Commendation

➢ Sid Wynen, Casey City Council ➢ Melanie Bennett, Glenelg Shire Council

Finalists (listed in alphabetical order by Council)

➢ Tanarly Hood, Baw Baw Shire Council ➢ Jessica Moody, Casey City Council ➢ Francesca Grossi, Melton City Council

WINNER Young Achiever

BANYULE CITY COUNCIL KATE JAMES

Kate James joined Banyule City Council seven years ago, starting a stellar journey as a Youth Engagement Officer. From day one, she has forged successful relationships at Council and in the field pioneering work in leading and embedding practices around gender equity; delivered innovative advocacy and wellbeing activities with Australian-Somali young people; and educational programs on body image.

She has presented at numerous youth sector conferences and sat on several regional working groups to share her considerable expertise. Her passion, drive and commitment to advocate for young people and her strategic approach is both admired and unrivalled and she has developed and implemented programs that have hit the mark and made a real difference.

“Kate has been an innovator in a number of areas that have had a direct positive impact on young people. Her work with the Somali-Australian community has helped counteract negative stereotypes and allowed for greater service access for the community. She has created exceptional resources to address the issue of gender equity and been a leader in cross sector collaboration in this space. She’s a fabulous asset to our organisation and young people,” said Allison Beckwith, Council’s Director of Community Programs.

At a key time for the local community, Kate stepped in to challenge community misconceptions about young African-Australian people delivering the Shaping Our Fate project in 2018. It saw more than 100 culturally diverse young people (predominantly of Australian-Somali background) actively engage in training and leadership opportunities. Kate is passionate about gender equity and strives to address stereotypes and inequality. She successfully advocated for gender equity to be embedded as a Banyule Youth Services portfolio; has conducted in-house workshops for Council employees; held several International Women’s Day events and has also been asked to support and train other local Councils to undertake work to embed gender equity.

Kate has been involved with planning two intersectional northern region events addressing gender equity and respectful relationships. She supported young people to develop a publication called Do Not Judge this Book by its Cover that challenged gender norms. The publication has received great acclaim, exhausted its first print run and features in the Parliamentary Library.

Kate also developed a unique evidence based workshop attended by 800 young people who identify as female, focusing on body image and the impact of social media on self perception.

An exceptional young leader and asset to the Banyule community, Kate has provided ongoing significant leadership within the Banyule Youth Services team and across the organisation and the whole sector. She is hard working, passionate and ethical and continues to deliver best practice, innovative and outstanding results for the young people her work touches.

Kate inspires all those who work with her both internally and externally to strive to achieve excellence. She is unfailingly positive and this approach is visible through her actions which inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more.

HIGH COMMENDATION Young Achiever

CASEY CITY COUNCIL SID WYNEN

Sid Wynen has played an instrumental role at Casey in supporting and guiding the community to champion Council’s advocacy efforts which has led to rebuilding effective and influential relationships with State and Federal counterparts and attracting approximately $3.8 billion in state and federal investment.

At just 25 years of age, Sid has repositioned community engagement and advocacy at Council so both are now a core element of various teams and individual’s day to day work. He has overseen a 308% increase in Casey’s community engagement platform as a result of the community feeling more influential and empowered to speak up for what they want.

Sid was instrumental in redefining Council’s advocacy strategy in the lead up to the 2018 Victorian State Election, and in partnership with more than 3,000 Casey residents, saw over $1 billion in direct requests funded and approximately $2.6 billion in indirect funding from the re-elected Victorian Labor Government.

In the short time frame of the Federal election, Council received about $200 million in election commitments/funding.

Sid supported the Council to develop a more non partisan approach, which led to the rekindling of long lost, influential relationships with State counterparts, while also empowering residents to become active participants in Casey’s advocacy.

He is regarded as a strong and influential leader across the organisation. Without his contributions at the City of Casey, the community, which is at the core of every level of government, would not have experienced the outcomes and benefits by way of transport and infrastructure that it has today.

GLENELG SHIRE COUNCIL MELANIE BENNETT

Ready for the next step in her career and keen to connect with a local community, Melanie Bennett relocated to regional Victoria from Melbourne three years ago, securing the position of Human Resource Coordinator with Glenelg Shire Council.

Already a successful human resources practitioner, she quickly established a reputation as an inclusive and influential leader. Melanie has recently been appointed as Team Leader Organisational Development, where she leads a team of three professional staff.

Melanie champions a values based culture and is passionate about helping people and seeing them succeed. Since her appointment to Council, she has built an impressive list of achievements including:

• Configuration and implementation of a new award winning e-Recruitment online system

• Playing a key role in the development and delivery of organisational values across the organisation • Successfully delivering Council’s Trainee and Apprenticeship Program

• Developing and implementing an annual work experience placement program for year 10 and 11 students from secondary schools across the Shire

• Participation in the Future Leaders of Industry Working Group

• Graduating from the Leadership Great South Coast Program 2018, recognising and developing leadership talent from the region.

Melanie embraces opportunities for change; she is always thinking strategically and exploring new ways of working more effectively to improve the organisation.

FINALISTS Young Achiever

BAW BAW SHIRE COUNCIL TANARLY HOOD

Tanarly Hood was employed as a Youth Officer at Baw Baw Shire Council nine months ago. In that time she has delivered a high standard of work that is supported by her authentic engagement with the community and commitment to learning. Outside of work, she excels in sport and represented Australia at an international basketball competition.

Tanarly is a proud GunaiKurnai woman who demonstrates respect for her culture, her Elders, her peers and for herself.

The Youth Officer role at Baw Baw had been dormant for many years when she took it on. Her first challenges were to re-establish the State funded FReeZA program, ignite youth networks in the community and within Council, and create a FReeZA committee using community volunteers aged 12-25 years. To complicate that, Tanarly had been accepted into the in depth 21 day Gippsland Leadership Program, and selected for the Australian Indigenous Basketball Inaugural All Nations Cup team, that was competing in New Zealand seven weeks after her first day at work and right before Youth Week.

Tanarly took this all in her stride prioritising her tasks. She quickly established a FReeZA Committee, led the community to deliver a successful Youth Week program, and supported the FReeZA Committee to deliver its first live outdoor music event.

To recognise Tanarly her for who she is, and for what she has worked hard to achieve – is to also recognise other young people she has inspired and worked alongside in her professional and sporting roles.

CASEY CITY COUNCIL JESSICA MOODY

Jessica Moody, the City of Casey’s Arts Access/Inclusion Officer, works to ensure communities in Casey and beyond can enjoy and participate in the arts and cultural precinct of Bunjil Place.

She leads and encourages Council teams to come together to ensure a workplace that prioritises access and inclusion.

Since Jessica commenced in this role, she has worked to reach the objectives of creating greater access and inclusion in Casey’s arts programs and in the Bunjil Place precinct in general. Outcomes have included Auslan interpreted shows; captioned performances; multilingual labels in art exhibitions; and training sessions for Council’s internal teams and the wider arts community.

Innovative features include a working telecoil system to assist the hearing impaired during theatre shows and relaxed sessions (to support children on the Autism spectrum) at Bunjil Place. As a deaf person, Jessica encounters barriers every day. These may be situational, attitudinal, structural, and/or physical. On top of managing these barriers, Jessica has been required to account for challenges associated with implementation, as the various stakeholders endeavour to balance the considerations of access and inclusion, while ensuring they meet their own job specific responsibilities.

Venues take many years to achieve the service standard that already exists at Bunjil Place, something Jessica has achieved in just 18 months of operation.

Whilst Jessica has an access role in the Arts and Culture team, she has respectfully challenged the organisation to optimise for inclusivity and has driven various best practice outcomes to fruition, successfully embedding them into standard operating practice at Casey.

FINALISTS Young Achiever

MELTON CITY COUNCIL FRANCESCA GROSSI

Francesca Grossi is a young woman who has made a tremendous impact during her relatively short Local Government career.

She is a tireless advocate for cultural understanding and inclusiveness and will do whatever it takes to facilitate wider understanding of marginalised communities and provide those communities with support and opportunities for collaboration.

Everything Francesca does is done with passion. She infuses all her work with enthusiasm and a genuine desire to be of service to both Council and the communities she works with.

Francesca has taken the lead on many initiatives that have helped celebrate the wonderful cultural diversity within the municipality and has enthusiastically met every challenge she has encountered.

She helped to develop the 2018 "I Belong" calendar; delivered the best Reconciliation Week event in Council’s history; and was part of the planning team for Council’s highly successful Intercultural Cities Symposium that formed part of a three municipality Intercultural Cities Summit featuring international speakers and academics well known in promoting the benefits of interculturalism.

Her contribution to Council was recognised with the 2018 Emerging Star Award in the annual staff achievement awards and she was accepted into the Elevate program, an internal leadership development course.

Francesca’s passion for work and commitment to the community is unparalleled. She is a humble and gracious team member who approaches all her work with dedication, commitment and empathy. The Melton community is extremely privileged to have such a tireless champion working on their behalf.

AWARDS