Get Off Your Butt And Get Involved!

Councillor Clare O’Neil was Australia’s youngest female mayor at just 23 years old. She initiated the Youth Participatory Leadership Program because she wanted to give young people the opportunity to make a difference in their community. The idea of this program was to give a group of young people the training, resources and opportunity to put their heads together and create something. One thing we chose to create is this magazine, Y-links.

There were three stages to the program: a leadership training camp, one on one mentoring with a professional adult and then developing our own community project. At camp we got to know each other, completed leadership and project management training and learnt how well we could function with barely any sleep! After the camp we met our mentors who came from places like Lend Lease Dandenong Plaza and Parkmore Shopping Centre, SE LLEN, Bendigo Bank and Council Business Units. With our mentors we stretched our skills, contacts, networks and met some really cool adults who taught us a bunch of things like media, management, public speaking, communication and, sometimes, sorting out our love lives.

Our first idea for a community project was a local talent quest. But then we decided that we wanted to do something different, which would make a lasting impact and help young people realise just how many things are around to get involved in. We wanted young people to realise that there’s more to do than hang out at the shopping centre, there’s heaps to benefit from getting involved in programs, and there’s a stack of services and agencies for young people that you can contact when you need help and support.
In between weeks and weeks of work and meetings and getting distracted with each other’s social lives, we used all the things we’d learnt to put together this magazine and also a Web Site. We hope they both advertise what is out there for young people and give you a place to express all the issues that young people face.
Through this program we’ve gained confidence, skills, met heaps of people who really care about young peoples issues and had exposure to the business world. There are heaps of programs like ours that you can get involved in too - just check out the directory pages to see what’s happening for young people in the City of Greater Dandenong.

Young people aren’t the future. We are now. What we have to say matters. What we are capable of is change, growth and life. Don’t feel sad because of the way the world is. Feel excited about what you can do about it. We want to thank everyone who has helped us get this together, especially our mentors, Alison Fitzgerald, Keith Williams, Lisa Fleming, Clare O’Neil, Craig Osbourne, Tim Tamlin and Shannon Cheal.

You’ll have to excuse us now while we catch up on some sleep. We’ll leave you with this: Get off your butt and get involved!!