COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS INITIATIVE

GREATER GEELONG CITY COUNCIL Youth on Board

The City of Greater Geelong has a Youth Service Plan with guiding principles that include being informed directly by youth, having young people at the centre of council business, and working with the council to create and enrich their connection, participation, and overall wellbeing. This integration of a youth voice fed into a unique program for empowering young people in the municipality.

The Youth on Board Program is a youth leadership program where young people become board members of local organisations. The program recruits young people aged 18 to 25 years, trains them in governance, and coaches and supports them to be placed in decision-making roles to ensure there is a validated youth voice in the future planning of local organisations.

Having young people on boards of management ensures that local organisations consider the needs of young people who are emerging as consumers, and this program is providing young people with genuine opportunities to have a voice and to meaningfully participate in civic life.

With four young people joining boards as part of the program in its first six months of operation, the program has since been providing young people with the opportunity to make valuable contributions to local decision making, with the skills and support to influence these decisions. Local organisations are meanwhile benefitting from having a youth voice on their boards of management, diversifying the input influencing their direction and planning and ensuring a key community demographic is being served.

Rather than supplying governance training or making referrals, Youth on Board is a comprehensive and integrated program that supports the journey of a participant’s induction to being a full voting and supported member of an organisation's board. The program features a structured mentoring component where organisations provide a board member to mentor the young people in relevant components of board experience. Acknowledging that young people are the community’s future, the program ensures they are practically equipped to be instrumental in the shaping of the direction of the municipality.