Shaping the future, project-by-project

THE Committee for Ballarat’s 2022 leadership program, Future Shapers, concluded earlier this month, with participants presenting the community projects they developed throughout the year.

With the support of strategic partners and local organisations, four groups of participants worked on projects like the Ballarat Urban Food Farm, a sleep bus, the Give Better Together DIY Guide, and Active Kids.

“There was a noticeable difference in children’s participation in sports coming out of two years of COVID,” said Active Kids group member Josh Waight.

“We wanted to support children to co-design a program and give them the ability to have their say on what they would like to play.

“We’re working with Sports Central and the children at Yuille Park and Lucas primary schools on a pilot program, and we have identified the different sports they wanted to play, and shared ideas about activities they can do at home and school.”

Mr Waight said Active Kids has received funding from Special Olympics and is all about creating healthy habits early, in the hope that young people will maintain them.

“History and stats show when a child commences sport between the ages of six and 10, they remain at those clubs and activities as they continue on in life,” he said.

“Sports participation is really important, and often about a lot more than just the exercise and game. It also helps to create young leaders.

“If we can encourage children to be more active in life, we can also improve their sense of community spirit.

“We would love to see similar program across additional schools into the future and for this co-design model to continue on.”

The Ballarat Urban Food Farm project was designed to address food security and aimed to determine whether an inner-city growing space, led by not-for-profit Food is Free, would be a viable and achievable initiative.

In the sleepbus Ballarat group, Future Shapers participants worked to address homelessness, as their research found people sleeping on the streets across the city has increased by 55 per cent within the last year.

Their goal was to raise $100,000 to buy a sleep bus where people could safely stay every day of the year.

The aim of the fourth Give Better Together DIY Guide project group was to link businesses with not-for-profit organisations to help them make a difference and boost their capacity.