Locally prosperous futures.
The future of work is changing. Young people in your local area will be expected to recognise opportunity, take initiative and innovate in the face of challenges. We have a collective responsibility to help them prepare as the future leaders, employers and skilled workforce of the local community.
Young Change Agents are a leading national youth social entrepreneurship education provider working with councils around Australia to help young people see problems as opportunities through entrepreneurship.
Councils can lead youth entrepreneurship within the community with their connection to local business, schools and other community organisations.
As your support partner, we can provide a tried and tested model to engage and manage community stakeholders in delivering entrepreneurial education solutions that are specific to your community’s needs and with the aim of building locally prosperous futures.
YOUTH ENGAGEMENT:
Empowered Participation.
In 2020 Young Change Agents worked in partnership with the City of Logan to develop Catapult, a youth social entrepreneurship program empowering young people to lead conversations around change.
We brought our national experience working with youth, industry and councils to support the City of Logan in building its vision for the future.
The program is now in its second year running in 2021 after a highly successful launch in 2020.
CITY OF THE FUTURE:
City of Logan
The City of Logan has one of the highest growth populations in the country bringing both opportunities and challenges.
In fulfilling their vision for the city, they needed to develop a strategic approach for youth employment including greater access to a wider range of work experience, volunteering activities with links to industry and local economic development opportunities.
As an innovative first in Australia, they share some of their reasons for developing Catapult.
Creating a line of sight for youth entrepreneurship.
If they can see it. They can be it.
Entrepreneurship is a conceivable pathway for youth when they can see and experience it within their communities.
Councils can provide the connections with youth and those in the community who want to help them, expanding opportunities for youth leadership development and economic development.
Young Change Agents offer programs and enhanced support to engage more young people from diverse, cultural and socio-economic and academic backgrounds.
Engaging local businesses to create new communities.
Connecting local businesses with local talent creates a line of sight for young people and local talent pool for businesses.
Find out how the City of Logan engaged local businesses and how this is propelling the development of new communities centred around youth development.
Building locally prosperous futures with…
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Parramatta City Council
Leadership Development at the Annual Youth Forum
Young Change Agents worked with City of Parramatta Council to create a workshop that was both a youth leadership opportunity and a generative approach to garnering insights from young people about their challenges and hopes for the future of their community. Young people conducted empathy interviews and used the insights from those conversations to ideate solutions to identified opportunities and issues in their community.
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Tweed City Council
Co-designing the Tweed’s Youth Outdoor Recreation Action Plan
Young Change Agents worked alongside Tweed Shire Council to design and deliver a co-design process that not only empowered young people to create the Tweed they want to see, but also built the capacity of everyone involved; participants, young leaders and Council staff.
Co-design workshops were delivered across four priority project areas, informed by the Outdoor Youth Recreation Survey conducted by Council in the same year.
These priority areas included:
Bike facilities
Skate facilities
Events & activities
Outdoor spaces
The co-design project engaged 43 young people, 6 youth facilitators, 5 industry experts and 8 Council staff across various units of council.
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City of Melbourne
Youth Engagement at the Melbourne Knowledge Week Eco-Design Challenge
Young Change Agents worked with the City of Melbourne and CQUniversity to host a one-day environment-focused design challenge for 50 young people from Melbourne. Young people were tasked with ideating solutions on how young people might encourage the local council and their community to engage in responsible consumption and production in the future. They then pitched their ideas to a panel that included the City of Melbourne’s Climate Resilience team.
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La Trobe City
Youth Engagement and Supporting Young Mothers to Become Wealth Creators at the 2.5 Day KYPP Workshop
La Trobe Valley has one of the highest rates of single mothers in Australia. Young Change Agents worked with La Trobe City to teach young mothers aged 12-21 entrepreneurial skills, enabling them to become wealth creators and launch their own businesses. The 2.5 day workshop, involving young women associated with the Kurnai Young Parents Program (KYPP) encouraged young single mothers to set themselves up as positive role models for their children and build a secure, confident future through social entrepreneurship.
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Logan City Council
Supporting Young People to become Wealth Creators and the Leaders of Tomorrow through the Catapult Program
Young Change Agents worked with the Logan City Council innovation team to support the development and delivery of the Catapult Program. In its first year, the program engaged 88 students and 28 teachers from four schools in the Logan region. The program included a two-day intensive social enterprise design workshop, followed by a six-week program, including teacher immersion, professional development, and capacity building. The program culminated in a regional showcase event, bringing together outstanding student teams from all four schools.
The Catapult Program is an example of a program designed to support economic participation and foster the next generation of social entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs. Throughout the program, young people were able to engage with their local community, develop their leadership skills, and gain capabilities that will help them succeed in their future careers and endeavours.
Building resilience and future wealth generators.
Developing social entrepreneurial skills amongst young people not only gives them the foundations to be future wealth generators, but cultivates resilience and builds their capacity/skills to lead advocacy efforts.
2020 CATAPULT WINNER // Hoblo
Hoblo were the winners of Catapult 2020 and in 2021 coming back to mentor the next round of students. Mark, one of the team members of Hoblo shares his experience and the positive impact of Catapult, leaving him with the desire to help others like him.
Young people have a strong sense of pride and belonging with their communities. Fostering community spirit was just one of the positive outcomes from the program.
CATAPULT // Outcomes and insights.
In its second year, the City of Logan provides a reflection on the impact of Catapult in the community. Download the full case study here
Find out more about how Young Change Agents can help your council.
Start something today.
We can work with you in a way that suits your specific needs.
Here are some ways councils have chosen to start with us.
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Co-design challenge
YCA works with councils who want to engage young people in key decisions on programs and services that are designed for them.
We work with council youth engagement and economic development teams, Urban/Space/City planners , and more.
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Programs and Events
YCA runs a variety of programs and events for young people and educators. They focus on empowering young people to identify problems, reframe them as opportunities, and develop solutions using a business lens.
These can be run directly for councils local libraries, schools or start-up hubs!
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Social Enterprise in a Box
This program launches a retail social enterprise within the community, providing a real-world experience of working in a venture for students. Students are empowered to design products for the store, provided with digital "currency" and additionally to learn financial literacy and sustainability
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360 Partnership
We work in partnership with councils to strategically develop and execute initiatives that aim to build local talent through social enterprise. These programs can focus on creating future entrepreneurs who run their own enterprises and innovators who can solve problems within organisations.
