Youth taking over industry

A NEW program is putting young people at the centre of industry projects.

The Youth Take Over was developed the four Local Learning and Employment Networks in the Loddon Campaspe region to address problems faced by people entering the workforce after leaving school.

Executive officer at Goldfields LLEN Dave Burton said the goal is to create a pathway between young people looking for work and industries looking for employees.

“The program is a multi-year program looking at reducing youth unemployment and creating pipelines of young workers into our growing industries in the region,” he said.

“Youth unemployment in our region is quite high, we’ve got over 1200 young people in Loddon Campaspe who are unemployed directly after year 12 at this point in time.”

Last year, the LLENs in the Goldfields, North Central, Campaspe Cohuna and Central Ranges regions came up with the idea to have 10 young interns taking over a specific work experience project while being trained and mentoring by an expert.

“The project would be over a six-week period, where they would be developing skills, experience and relevant industry connections which would hopefully lead them to a future job,” Mr Burton said.

Mr Burton said they are currently looking for young people to work alongside the Bendigo Community Farmers Market and the Salvation Army to harvest crops for local hospitality providers and restaurants.

The project will be facilitated by Huntly Organics owner Jordan Collin and Mr Burton said it’s important for young people to engage with an industry leader and see the “paddock-to-plate” process.

“Jordan will be showing them that you don’t need a 500-acre farm to be planting and harvesting a fruitful crop, you can be using micro-farming techniques even in an urban environment, to have potentially a fruitful and profitable microbusiness,” he said.

Mr Burton said he hopes other growing industries, including hospitality, construction, and tourism, will come on board with the program.