With overwhelming support Central Highlands Regional Council endorsed the Central Highlands Youth Strategy and Action Plan at Monday’s council meeting in Capella.
The strategy aims to increase council’s service provisions toward youth development and honour council’s recognition that youth are a valuable asset to the community.
Over a five year period it seeks to engage the youth in the region to gain a regional perspective of their needs and address them through inclusive decision making processes and engagement campaigns.
Council’s Youth Development Officer Joshua Clutterbuck said the strategy’s action plan has a broad set of actions to achieve its goals.
‘We will focus on building stronger relationships with and reaching out to service partners across the region and attract youth involvement in community reference groups and consultations,’ he said.
‘We’d like to see youth not only participate in council business, but also encourage groups to be pro-active and run their own events.
‘It’s not going to be about sitting down with pens and paper working through policy and framework.
‘Achieving an ongoing dialogue between youth and council will ensure that we leverage on each other’s input for the betterment of the whole community.’
Council started developing the Youth Strategy early 2017. Feedback from over 900 people contributed to development of the action plan.
The Central Highlands are a young community with a median age of 33, of which around 19 per cent are youth aged between 10 to 25 years. Queensland’s median age is 37.