Are you (or do you know someone) under 25, creative, and would do some really cool stuff if you (they) could just afford to?
Here. This is for you (or them):
The first application round of the Creative Young Stars Program opened on Saturday 1 June 2013! Applications close at 5pm Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST) on [...]

Hi Rioters,
It was brought to our attention recently that despite having an office in Canberra, we really haven’t done enough to let Canberrans know who we are and what we’re doing in your backyard.
The Big Bangs are an international not-for-profit, running in 11 countries and based right here, in Canberra.
With a volunteer staff of 80 [...]

The other day I was assaulted in broad daylight in the Canberra region. One moment I’m minding my own business, the next I was running for my life. It was a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time and looking at the wrong young man who took offense. I didn’t do [...]

ElectionsACT are pointing out that huge swathes of young Canberrans are not registered to vote:
Only 60% of eligible 18-year-olds and just under 50% of eligible 19-year-olds were enrolled by Friday 14 September. Around 80% of 20-24 year-olds were on the roll.
“Time is running out to enrol. If you have recently turned 18 or 19, or [...]

Rate Canberra: The Biggest Survey of Young People aged 12 – 25 in the ACT!
This 10 minute survey asks about what it is really like to live in Canberra as a young person in 2012. It will help the Youth Coalition of the ACT, the peak body for young people and youth affairs in Canberra [...]

If you’re wandering around Garema Place at noon today, you might want to check out the Youth Coalition’s Youth Homelessness Matters Day (YHMD) event. There will be competitions, performances and stalls- all the usual Garema Place event type shenanigans.
Considering that nearly half of the 105,000 people who are homeless (in Australia) on any given [...]

2012 ACT TERRITORY CONFERENCE: UN Youth ACT invites local students to participate in the 2012 ACT Territory Conference. The conference is a 3-day residential event. It is open to students in years 9 to 12 from the ACT and surrounding NSW schools. The conference provides a fantastic introduction to global diplomacy and the inner workings [...]

Kulture Break the dancing grooving youth outreachers are celebrating their 10th birthday and what screams “PARTY” in this town like a photo op with Arts Minister Joy Burch?
They’ve also put out a media release:
Canberra youth outreach organisation, Kulture Break will celebrate their ten year anniversary with a two-week festival featuring dance performances, workshops and a [...]

Yesterday the ACT Young People’s Plan Progress Report was released, and within fifty-five pages of waffle and spin are some interesting tidbits.
School programs have been fairly successful, with improvements in school sustainability, healthy food programs starting to spread out into a hundred schools, and 22,500 students ACT-wide participating in physical activity programs.
Programs giving money to [...]

Nominations have opened for the 2011 Young Canberra Citizen of the Year:
The Awards are conducted in partnership with sponsors and the ACT Government. The Young Canberra Citizen of the Year Awards provide an opportunity to recognise young people who have made significant contributions in areas including community work, sport, education, science, culture, the arts or [...]

Joy Burch has announced that she’s going to expand care provisions for Youth (note the capital Y) until they’re 25:
Community Services Minister Joy Burch said she would amend the Children and Young People Act 2008 to reflect the increased support available to assist young people transitioning from out-of-home care, such as foster and kinship care [...]

Last week the Human Rights Commission’s report into Bimberi caused a bit of a stir.
Today the Liberals Vicki Dunne is wading in:
Ms Dunne said the report and its 224 recommendations illustrate the extent of neglect of young people in the youth justice system, and abuse of the staff charged with looking after them.
“This review of [...]

Yesterday we had concerns that Boomanulla Oval would have to cease its work with young indigenous Canberrans.
Today we hear there’s some light in the tunnel:
Hi All
I am writing to inform you that Bomber, Col and I had negotiations with representatives from the Department of Prime Minister & Cabinet and the ACT Government with some [...]

Joy Burch is shouting out for nominations to the Young Canberra Citizen of the Year Awards 2011.
“Every day young Canberrans are making amazing contributions to our society, whether or not they realise it,” Ms Burch said.
“These awards celebrate those achievements and allow the rest of us to recognise their endeavours by nominating them for an [...]

This has come across my desk and seemed worthy of your attention:
– Classes at West Belconnen Child and Family Centre Semester 2, 2011
– With award winning photographer, Lee Grant
– Thursday afternoons 3:30-5pm beginning August 4
– Exhibition in Belconnen Gallery, Belconnen Community Centre, December 2011
– Enquiries and bookings: 62640232 Simone.penkethman@bcsact.com.au
– Cost: FREE, places strictly limited, book [...]

Member for Fraser Andrew Leigh has announced his receipt of a petition from the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, which a whole 700 students have been persuaded to sign.
The petition was presented by 23 young Canberrans as part of the Australian Youth Climate Coalition’s (AYCC) campaign encouraging young people to have their voice heard in the [...]

Joy Burch is letting us know the wondrous news that the ACT Youth Commitment has been signed:
Ms Burch said the Commitment establishes a clear goal for stakeholders – from schools right through to employers – to ensure that young people can easily engage in further education, training or employment. To date, more than 130 stakeholders [...]

In light of Youth Week (and Youth Homelessness Matters Day, which was held yesterday), a group of youth homelessness advocates and the non-profit arm of the Virgin Group – Virgin Unite – have launch a national campaign to end youth homelessness in Australia. I thought it would be a good time to bring a face [...]

Chief Minister Stanhope has announced the winners of the “Start-Up” grants for young artists.
“Young artists can face a number of barriers when establishing their arts practice, most particularly in relation to the costs of buying materials, hiring a venue or staging a production,” Mr Stanhope said.
“The $500 ‘Start-Up’ grants will give young artists some [...]

Katy Gallagher is claiming ever greater successes for her health policies with even lower reported rates of drug use in Canberra’s young.
“Key findings from the report indicate there are some encouraging trends in the health and wellbeing of young people in the ACT who rate their health highly, enjoy relatively high levels of employment compared [...]

Back on 8 February there was some mirth at the concept of Andrew Barr’s ACT schools cyber safety summit.
Readers will be thrilled to see these photos tweeted this afternoon by Mr Barr from the summit.
Behold the “student declaration banner”, marvel at the “students delivering their commitments”.

Minister Barr has also put out a media release celebrating [...]

ACT Policing is preparing to deploy a range of resources for the upcoming SkyFire event over Lake Burley Griffin on Saturday night (March 19).
For the first time, ACT Policing is a key supporter of the event as it aims to use the high profile of Skyfire to raise awareness of how excessive alcohol consumption can [...]

The Greens’ Meredith Hunter has announced that she has succesfully legislated to establish the snappily named Child and Young People Death Review Committee.
“This legislation will establish a CYPDRC which will look at trends and systemic causes which contribute to the deaths of children and young people in the Territory,” Ms Hunter said.
“Like other Child Death [...]

The Minister for Young People Joy Burch has announced her response to the discussion paper process kicked off last year on “life transitions for young people in care”.
The ACT Government has given in-principle support to extend the age limit for supporting children in formal foster and kinship care arrangements beyond the age of 18, ACT [...]

The introduction of a temporary fence around the concert area, together with a highly visible police presence, is aimed at ensuring a trouble-free all-ages Australia Day Live concert tomorrow (Tuesday, January 25).
This year, as in previous years, ACT Policing will place a particular focus on identifying alcohol-affected juveniles, with event security instructed to turn away [...]

Katy Gallagher has announced new mental health services:
ACT Minister for Health, Katy Gallagher announced this week that the ACT Government will develop two new Step-Up Step-Down services.
“A Step-Up/Step-Down residential facility for young people aged 18 to 25 years will be delivered to provide care for those experiencing sub-acute mental health symptoms. The service will [...]

The Greens’ Meredith Hunter has launched a discussion paper on improved support for young people transitioning out of care.
Intriguingly Ms Hunter says that care in the ACT turfs the kids out when they turn 18 where other States wait until 21 or even 25. When they leave care:
– 64% do not have a leaving care [...]

[Photo courtesy of Joy Burch's office]
Minister for Children and Young People, Joy Burch, has launched a new skate park at the YWCA Mura Lanyon Youth and Community Centre:
“Discussions with the young people identified the enhancement of the area around the skate park as an area of need,” Ms Burch said.
“The young people consulted [...]

Owen sent in this pic with the following note:
Garema Place, about lunchtime on Sunday saw forty or more young and happy blue clad soles chanting their way through the place. The cards handed out described themselves as the Australian Youth Climate Coalition, no political affiliation, though the back of the card had lots of smileys [...]

[First filed: Jul 16, 2010 @ 17:46]

I’ve just received a very confusing email about something called “Battle of the Backyard Bands” which is a shiny new fundraiser for RSPCA ACT. The email is a media release, I’d link to it on their website but their “most recent media releases“ page runs out in September 2009.
Charities sometimes [...]

I was walking The Stafford last evening when I came across a group of Youths.  For some reason, their idea of How To Spend A Sunday Night was to gather at the local high school tennis courts in sub-zero temperatures, glued to a single glowing i-phone screen as the digits of one of the party flew across [...]

The ACT Children’s Plan 2004-2014 has been updated and relaunched as the ACT Children’s Plan 2010-2014.
(You can read the plan here). The Children’s Plan is all about what Canberra needs to do to be a child-friendly city.
A big chunk in the middle of the report, with lots of “Key Actions” listed, is just a re-publish [...]