<<Updated 1/7/13>>

During the first round of forums, held from November 2012 to February 2013, participants provided a rich source of information and advice about the needs of young people and how services and investment can be provided to best respond to these needs.  The upcoming forums will provide participants with a  summary of the initial forums as well as an overview of progress to date and the opportunity to test the thinking for future directions.

We encourage you to attend these forums and use the report from YANQ's consultations Listening to the Youth Sector in your forum.

A report into the effectiveness of Queensland’s community visitors – people who visit young people in care in an official capacity to monitor their wellbeing – finds that on the whole young people think they play a vital role and are highly valued.

The 20-page document, called Views of young people in residential care survey, presents findings from surveys carried out by the Commission for Children and Young People and Child Guardian in 2011 and 2012. Overwhelmingly, young people who participated in these surveys indicated that their community visitors are accessible, helpful and provide much-valued advocacy and emotional support.

These findings lend weight to claims made in previous qualitative studies about the critical importance of investing time in building trusting, supportive and, ideally, enduring relationships between children in care and their advocates in the interests of safeguarding children and ensuring they are able to exercise their legislated participation rights. The report is available from the Commission’s website at: http://www.ccypcg.qld.gov.au

For more information, contact Julie Harcourt, Director, Strategic Policy and Research Program, Commission for Children and Young People and Child Guardian on (07) 3211 6987 or email: Julie.Harcourt@ccypcg.qld.gov.au

(Source: Youth Field Xpress - June )

And for some good news!

Young Brisbane businessman Joe Andon has been in the Australian this week, with lots of interest surrounding the introduction of a new trampoline model from his company Vuly Trampolines. Joe will be speaking at the AIESEC 'Youth to Business' in Brisbane, and as a young Palestinian immigrant to Australia, Joe's story is an inspiration.

Read more about Joe here - http://www.vulytrampolines.com/blog/2013/06/14/the-australian/#more-3888
Visit Vuly's website - www.vulytrampolines.com

This program is administered by the Australian Sports Commission to help aspiring athletes achieve their goals and reach their sporting potential. The program was a 2007 Federal Election promise and was first funded in the 2008-09 Budget.

We all know that supporting a strong sporting interest can strain family finances, and that is why this program helps individual athletes and teams, including young coaches, umpires and referees, participate in major state and national sporting competitions.

The Local Sporting Champions program is open to young people between 12 and 18 years of age (inclusive), with up to 26 grants of $500 available for individuals and four grants of $3000 for teams for assistance with travel, accommodation, uniform and equipment costs.

Further information is available at Local Sporting Champions : Participating in Sport : Australian Sports Commission. Applications for round one are currently open and close on 30 June 2013.

This program was announced as part of Creative Australia, the Australian Government's National Cultural Policy. The program encourages creative, cultural, academic and community achievement throughout Australia by students and young people, making grants available to assist with the financial cost of participating in artistic, cultural, academic and community activities and training.

Queensland is full of young people who have many great talents and who will use those to make a fantastic contribution to our community once they get the chance to develop those talents further. But in some cases their families find it difficult to meet the extra costs associated with participating in activities, events and training.

The program is open to young people 25 years and under. Funding has been allocated over two years, with 23 grants of $500 available for individuals and four grants of $3000 for groups in each Federal electorate per financial year.

I urge you to encourage people you know who will be interested to apply for one of these grants. Applicants are required to provide a letter of support or selection from a representative of an Endorsing Organisation such as a school, training, arts or community organisation. As such, your organisation could play a strong role in supporting applicants.

A local selection committee will assess each application and provide recommendations to the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. Applications for the first round are currently open and close on 21 June 2013.

Further information is available at www.youth.gov.au.

 The Public Advocate has committed to monitoring the ongoing issue of people with a disability living in institutionalised settings and working collaboratively with key agencies to enable people with disability to live more autonomous lives in the community. Their position statement on Continuing the Deinstitutionalisation of People with Disability in Queensland (see attached) will soon be available on the Public Advocate's website at www.publicadvocate.qld.gov.au. They also are asking for submissions on the topic.

 Protecting Children is Everybody’s Business – Play your Part 

The annual Queensland Child Protection Awards provide an opportunity to publicly acknowledge the efforts, commitment and unreserved energy of many people who make a significant contribution to our community to prevent child harm and neglect.

It is hoped the awards will inspire others to continue to work towards ensuring
the wellbeing of our children.

Click here for the Awards Fact Sheet
Click here for the 2013 Awards Nomination Form

Nominations close July 5 2013

The Australian Youth Forum (AYF) is keen to hear from young people on the issues of youth homelessness and youth mental health.

The AYF encourages young people to get involved in public discussion and gives them the opportunity to make sure their ideas are considered in the development of Australian public policy, programs or projects.

The AYF will use the feedback received from young people to produce an AYF report on each issue. The report will be provided to the Australian Government and posted on the AYF website.

Check out the AYF website for more information and to have a say.

20 June 2013: Queensland’s peak body for ethnic and migrant communities, the Ethnic Communities Council of Queensland (ECCQ), has called on the State Government to be vigilant in ensuring minimal dislocation to some ethnic and refugee communities as public housing is transferred to community management in Logan, Australia’s most culturally diverse city.

Speaking at an ECCQ public meeting last night, Queensland Shelter Executive Officer, Adrian Pisarski, welcomed the transfer of public housing to the community sector but cautioned that defunding of tenant advisory services and the implementation of the Newman Government’s anti-social behaviour policy, which becomes effective next month, may mean increased evictions, and thus homelessness, especially in disadvantaged communities.

ECCQ’s Senior Policy Officer, Fiona Caniglia, called on the government to implement a culturally responsive approach which includes matching larger households to larger dwellings and integrating employment opportunities with the expansion of community housing service providers and the housing stock.

“The pilot location for the transfer of housing stock is Logan, one of the most culturally diverse locations in Queensland and a place where there is a high concentration of public housing,” she said.

“The objective must be sustained housing and providers will need to be culturally competent to address the needs of these communities.”

She said that recent Australian Bureau of Statistics data on homelessness in Australia show a significant increase in CALD representation among homeless people with 75% of the increase in homelessness accounted for by people born overseas.

“Unemployment and low English language proficiency are negatively correlated and low income impacts access to housing and other opportunities to participate fully in society, such as education and social activities,” said Ms Caniglia.

“This is an opportunity to bring about broader changes in the arrangements between public and private housing, such as improvements in infrastructure that create a sense of belonging, further collaboration with stakeholders as well as situations where CALD community members are trained and employed to deliver housing services.” 

She said ECCQ was working to identify and support an implementation process that is culturally responsive to ensure communities have access to affordable housing close to employment and services.  

Mr Pisarski said state and federal governments had, until recently, significantly underfunded, and reduced, public housing “which makes meeting the needs of low-income families, recently arrived migrants and some CALD communities a huge challenge.”

“In 2007 the Federal Government invested heavily in social and affordable housing by marrying the need for housing with the need for an effective economic stimulus package and this resulted in several thousand new dwellings in Queensland,” he said.

“We need to get back to public housing as infrastructure issue rather than a welfare issue.”

View ECCQ's discussion paper, ‘From Strength to Strength: Cultural responsiveness and social housing reforms’.

For more information about ECCQ visit www.eccq.com.au.

Contact

Fiona Caniglia
Senior Policy Officer
fiona.caniglia@gmail.com
Phone: 0400 1964 92

Carrie Barnett      
Media & Communications Officer         
carrieb@eccq.com.au            
Phone: 07 3844 9166