1. Delivering ‘a youthful and enthusiastic city’ Youth Strategy 2010-2015 Draft EMT Presentation 3 March 2010 Community Services Branch
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7. Basic demographics - concentrations of different age groups Australian Bureau of Statistics 2006 Census
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Editor's Notes
Thanks for making the time for me to present on the Draft Youth Strategy that is being prepared for Council by Community Services branch.
The purpose of this presentation is to inform EMT about: 1. Key trends effecting the ways young people experience Brisbane in 2010. 2. Programs delivering our 2026 vision for young people. 3. Proposed new initiatives identified in the DRAFT Youth Strategy. The outcomes we want from you are: 1. Some feedback today about the broad strategic directions we are proposing. 2. Make sure the relevant people in your division have got their heads around the strategy and the implications for their work – and provide feedback on the DRAFT Strategy – 2 weeks. 3. Cr Knapp wants us to meet with the other chairs individually in the lead up to E&C. I ask that you provide advice about how to approach these presentations, in light of other matters they are considering – and brief your Chairs in preparation for our discussions with them. 5. Provide advice for our presentation to E&C.
This will be Council’s third youth strategy – building on the achievements of the previous two since 1998. In that time Council has built a national and international reputation for innovation in engaging young people. The initiatives proposed in this strategy for the next 5 years will continue to enhance our standing as a leader in local government youth programs.
Let’s start with some basic demographics. We work with the Australian Government definition of Youth – between the ages of 12 and 25. In the latest census there were 200,000 in Brisbane – 21% of the population. There were another 138,000 children aged 0-11 – meaning that 36% of Brisbane people are aged 25 or under.
Brisbane young people are culturally diverse. At Sunnybank High, for example, students speak 57 languages And in the average Brisbane classroom, there are 2 or 3 students who are not Australian citizens.
Young people are an important part of Brisbane’s workforce, … especially in retail and hospitality when they are younger … but then in their early twenties moving into professional, health, manufacturing, construction, education and training roles.
There are, of course, young people in every suburb. But if you map the top 10 suburbs for each age group, you can see that there are particular concentrations: School age young people in Aspley and Bracken Ridge there in green, The Gap and Ashgrove in brown, and the suburbs inland from the bay this side of Wynnum there in pink. There are concentrations of uni students in the western suburbs around St Lucia. Young professionals in their early 20’s show up in 2006 moving into the inner city. And then this big band of growth in the outer southern suburbs, across all ages from 0 to 24 – with high levels of cultural diversity and some pockets of disadvantage.
I thought we might look at trends by way of a quick quiz. Could I ask you to jot down your answers to these few questions? [click] Which of these activities is in decline among Australian children aged 5-14?
What is the leading cause of death for Australians aged 12-25?
How many people do you think there might be on Facebook who are “from Brisbane” and “under 26”?
What percentage of Queensland 15-17 year olds live in single parent families?
True of false? In 2007, 90% of Australians aged 17 had a mobile phone girls use mobiles more than guys those young people who are less well off use their mobiles more than those from wealthier areas Young women were more likely to use the internet for communication; young men were more likely to be playing online games.
Let’s see how you went. Australian young people are spending less time playing computer games - and more time at music, dance and drama lessons. Unfortunately, suicide is the leading cause of death, and traffic accidents are second. There are 480,000 people on Facebook who are “from Brisbane” and “under 26” 29% of 15-17 year olds live in single parent families True - three years ago, 90% of Australians aged 17 had a mobile phone True - girls use mobiles more than guys True - poorer young people use their mobiles more True - sad, but true - boys would rather shoot the interesting people they meet online.
Our 2026 vision starts with the words “Brisbane is a youthful and enthusiastic city…” There are a lot of young people that we work with who are passionate about Brisbane and love our 2026 vision. The purpose of this strategy is engage young people in that vision. We see this very much as a 2 way thing. Firstly - to ensure that that young people benefit from the whole of Council’s vision. But also that Council benefits from young people’s contribution across the organisation.
[Go over the next 4 slides quite quickly – their purpose is to communicate that: - everyone’s favourite program has been included Council is delivering a significant range of programs that engage young people across the whole 2026 vision the delivery is being lead by work units across the organisation In developing the Youth Strategy we have done a comprehensive review of the good ongoing programs, and the new initiatives that we go on to propose are necessary additions.] Let’s just take a moment to review what we are already doing. We are already doing a lot across the organisation to engage Brisbane’s young people in Council’s 2026 vision. Part of the Strategy is about communication what we are already doing.
For example, in working towards a smart and prosperous city, Human Resources recruit apprentices, trainees and graduates, and run a range of community employment programs to get disadvantaged kids into jobs. Disaster Management are helping to recruit young volunteers into the SES, and Community Safety have programs encouraging responsible use of alcohol. This important ongoing work is supported by the Youth Strategy. We assume it will continue.
As you can see, while my branch has carriage of the Youth Strategy, it is being delivered by work units in branches across the organisation. NES and LAS are making special effort to engage young people in their environment programs, … and City Planning have young people participating in their Neighbourhood Planning, Urban Design and Public Art programs.
Our ongoing programs are engaging Brisbane’s young people in creative ways, … and facilitating connections for them as global citizens who are increasingly the city’s ambassadors on the world stage.
In putting together this Youth Strategy, we spent a few months last year: running 13 workshops with 140 young people from schools and youth groups across Brisbane (Participants aged 13-24, including Indigenous, African, Pacific Islander, homeless - in groups at Runcorn High, Sunnybank High, Mt Gravatt PCYC, Brisbane Youth Service, Visible Ink Valley, LMYAC, Young Mothers for Young Women, Southside Ed, Acacia Ridge Community Centre, Visible Ink Zillmere, and Lynx Youth Space at Wynnum) getting input from external stakeholders like state government, community, sector peaks and universities (Participants from: UQ, QUT, BYS, Logan City Council, Department of Communities, Queensland Health, Education Queensland, Contact Inc, Red Cross, Youth Outreach Service, Jabiru, Inala Youth Service, QPASTT) and finalising an Action Plan for implementation of the strategy with representatives of all branches on the recently established Cross Council Reference Group on Social Inclusion. Our next steps are: to get feedback on this draft from you, from the chairs, and then present the DRAFT Strategy to E&C And then to finalise the strategy, and the action plan that will guide its implementation. [wave Action Plan]
A quick scan of other local government shows that they are doing a lot of different things in this space. The City of Melbourne established a specialist youth arts centre on the river near Federation Square last year, and are expanding their program that gets property owners in the inner city to make vacant building space available to artists. Sydney are focused on employment – with a talent agency for indigenous young actors, and support with getting a drivers licence. Geelong have a new showcase public plaza with a program of youth events, and their own awards in youth week. Vancouver have a program that engages young leaders in the business of local government.
The Strategy proposes 4 new lighthouse projects that deliver on the priorities of this administration: A Showcase public space design and animation project that is about managing the pressures of growth. We’ve been discussing this with John Clarke in City Planning. A proposal to establish a new Visible Ink space in that southern growth corridor that responds to the cultural diversity, need for employment programs, and need to affirm community identity and cohesion in that region. A project with Brisbane Transport to reduce mischief on routes that carry lots of young people by engaging them in bus design and employment opportunities . We’re developing this proposal with Sherry Clarke. And a new initiative - the Fresh Futures Dialogues - to tap the passion and talent of our high achieving young people and get them working alongside us to achieve our vision.
The draft strategy is a detailed document with a lot in it for you to digest and give feedback on. Today I just want to look at each of the 2026 themes - highlight one key finding, the strategies that we have identified to guide our response, and one key initiative for so you can see where we are going with some of these things. For example, we know that mental illness is a real problem – 1 in 4 young people experience a mental disorder, and suicide is a real problem. Our 2026 vision says Brisbane will have the lowest rate of depression, particularly among our young people, in the OECD countries. That’s quite a challenge! Last year we worked with key people from the state Child and Youth Mental Health Service and the University of Queensland to identify how Council could respond. That discussion has kicked off The Resilience Partnership , which does a number of strategic things to give Council staff the skills to promote mental health with young people, and use our libraries, website, staff bulletins etc to get their health and well-being messages out.
Young artists are still struggling to find an audience and earn a living in Brisbane. Although the ‘great southern exodus’ of five years ago seems to have slowed, many still move interstate and abroad in search of a more appreciative audience, a more supportive community, and a wider range of economic opportunities. Our strategies are to build pathways for emerging artists to earn a living from their work, and to support them to take their work to wider local and global audiences. Council has a range of programs that provide exciting opportunities, like the Lord Mayor’s Creative City and Emerging Artists Fellowships. The proposed extension to this work that would require additional budget is identified in blue. What our Creative Communities Team want to do over the next few years is to provide clear pathways so young artists can build ongoing careers in their field, earn a living while staying here - and make Brisbane a base for a national and international practice.
We know that Brisbane has many smart young people who are achieving national and international recognition . They go interstate and overseas, get their awards, have amazing experiences, get excited about making a difference – but come back to their desk on Monday morning. This strategy and project are about connecting with them, linking them into Council, and engaging them in an ongoing dialogue that gives them opportunities to put their ideas into action and at the same time engages them and us in an ongoing dialogue that refreshes our vision.
As you saw on the map, the population of young people in that growth corridor across the outer southern suburbs has gone through the roof. We are keen to get out there with a new Visible Ink youth space. We’d have a little team of youth workers, with a focus on cross-cultural and employment programs for young people at risk, and getting the wider population of young people involved in running local event that build a sense of pride and community cohesion.
Our Green Heart community team in NES have been doing some good work with schools across the city. The strategy is to engage as many young people as we can across the city in learning how to make Brisbane more clean and green – by designing curriculum-based learning opportunities that teachers can deliver, and identifying and supporting young sustainability advocates to take leadership roles with their friends, families, schools, and communities. The CitySmart Schools crew are keen to add a small grants program - that would enable some of our most innovative schools to implement new sustainability initiatives that the students would understand as a part of our 2026 vision for a clean and green city.
Our consultation with key stakeholders told us that we have to do something soon about contested public space. We have an increasingly diverse population of young people, who are feeling less welcome when they are out and about; we have media and public perceptions that are quick to label their behaviour as anti-social; we have increasing densities that are bringing more and more people together in more and more crowded public spaces; and we have developers who are building public spaces that don’t work well for a wide variety of users. The opportunity that we have is young people who are early adopters of high density lifestyles – and they are in a position to help us to redefine how we think about the public space in these growth neighbourhoods. The idea of this project is to go to the community and to work with them to design and build 2 great child, youth and senior friendly public spaces in our growth corridors, over the next 5 years, that will showcase the best in design. Then our Creative Communities Team will bring these spaces to life with public art and performances that celebrate local expressions of Brisbane’s unique identity and culture.
Brisbane Transport report 20-30 incidents each week where (mostly) young people have put a bus out of service - damaging it by tagging, slashing seats, scratching windows, smashing windows and fittings, and kicking panels. Repairs cost $2M per year. We also have problems with passengers abusing drivers, and throwing rocks at buses. BT are very concerned that someone is going to get seriously hurt or killed. These incidents are concentrated on several suburbs, in particular in that southern growth corridor. This project would identify those bus routes that carry large numbers of young people and have a lot of incidents. We would get our youth outreach workers to connect with those young people who are regular passengers. The idea is to build relationships with a group of peer leaders – and get them involved with the local bus workshops. Some would be in groups designing the interior and exterior of buses, so that they tell their stories. Others would get jobs as trainees and apprentices with the workshops – repairing damage. We might even get some of those big young pacific islanders on board as drivers. Its hard to play up when you’ve got some ownership of the bus, and your cousin is the driver.
The last initiative that I want to show you is this one. We had about 80,000 international students in Brisbane last year – and the numbers are going up dramatically. They are highly visible, and some are vulnerable and become victims of unscrupulous landlords and rip off. They are keen to socialise with locals, but can struggle to make links. This project would link them with services and support they need, and connect them with business and professional networks in their field.
Thanks for listening. This is what I am hoping you will do from here: 1. Give us some feedback today about the broad strategic directions we are proposing. 2. Provide more detailed feedback on the DRAFT Strategy from your areas – by 19 March. Let me know how we can best facilitate this – you might want to send us comments, or have us attend a regular meeting, or ask us to convene a special meeting with particular people – the important thing from our end is to get this right – so you let us know how to best get your feedback. 3. Brief your Chairs in preparation for our discussions with them in the week of 22 March. 4. Provide advice for our presentation to E&C.
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