{"id":64789,"date":"2019-10-31T05:57:36","date_gmt":"2019-10-30T18:57:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/?p=64789"},"modified":"2019-10-30T11:56:44","modified_gmt":"2019-10-30T00:56:44","slug":"youth-advocates-drive-tangible-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/youth-advocates-drive-tangible-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Youth advocates drive tangible change"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>THEY\u2019RE the local pathways to broader leadership that are creating friendships, nurturing professional networking, and even offering barista training.<\/p>\n<p>Open to passionate and dedicated young people between 12 and 25, the Youth Council and Sonika committee both exist to be advocates for the ideas and needs of Ballarat\u2019s young people, and to coordinate events to engage them.<\/p>\n<p>Learning practical, employable life skills, the two groups experience project management, develop a sense of cultural competency and strengthen their media and communication strategies.<\/p>\n<p>This personal development comes from the council and committee\u2019s opportunity to fully plan public events from the ground up, like pop culture convention, PopCon, Youth Week\u2019s environment and mental health event, Thrive, music concerts, and an upcoming Clothes Swap.<\/p>\n<p>Madeline Browney, 21, got involved with Sonika a few years ago to keep busy outside of work during her gap year. She said she\u2019s gained so much from the group.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou get to do things like CPR and first aid, which is really good on your resume, but I\u2019m just a completely different person to who I was before I started Sonika,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019ve got a lot more confidence in myself and my abilities, and a stronger sense of self.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Eloise Amirtharajan, 17, joined Youth Council to experience the organisation and planning of events, and hone a personal skill.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI wanted to prepare things that would actually make a difference in the community,\u201d she said. \u201cBut one of the main reasons I came to Youth Council was because I wanted to improve my public speaking and I\u2019ve been given so many opportunities to speak in front of other people.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMeeting with councillors was really important. They\u2019re the official people in our community who have such a great place in our society, and we felt distant from them, but now we feel like we can trust them and they can make a difference in the lives of young people,\u201d Eloise said.<\/p>\n<p>For Cr Des Hudson, Sonika and Youth Council provide a social context much the same as sport and other structured leisure activities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSeeing that sense of belonging, that sense of team, being able to grow your ideas, be a part of something and to see the passion and smile of people saying, \u2018I got to be part of it&#8230;\u2019 It\u2019s just fantastic,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are so many opportunities engaging young people, the future leaders of tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Every week, Youth Council meets on Tuesday, 4pm to 6pm, and Sonika on Thursday, 4pm to 6pm. Interested people can be involved with both. Visit <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/BallaratYouth2020\"><strong>bit.ly\/BallaratYouth2020 <\/strong><\/a>for applications.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>THEY\u2019RE the local pathways to broader leadership that are creating friendships, nurturing professional networking, and even offering barista training. Open to passionate and dedicated young people between 12 and 25, the Youth Council and Sonika committee both exist to be advocates for the ideas and needs of Ballarat\u2019s young people, and to coordinate events to [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/youth-advocates-drive-tangible-change\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":64790,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-64789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Youth advocates drive tangible change - Golden Plains Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/youth-advocates-drive-tangible-change\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Youth advocates drive tangible change - Golden Plains Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"THEY\u2019RE the local pathways to broader leadership that are creating friendships, nurturing professional networking, and even offering barista training. Open to passionate and dedicated young people between 12 and 25, the Youth Council and Sonika committee both exist to be advocates for the ideas and needs of Ballarat\u2019s young people, and to coordinate events to [...]Read More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/news\/youth-advocates-drive-tangible-change\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Golden Plains Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-10-30T18:57:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/goldenplains\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/23\/2019\/10\/DSC_0053-for-web-1024x683.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Edwina Williams\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Edwina Williams\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/youth-advocates-drive-tangible-change\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/youth-advocates-drive-tangible-change\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Edwina Williams\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1679afe19d0c5817f387b660e66f07e9\"},\"headline\":\"Youth advocates drive tangible change\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-30T18:57:36+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/youth-advocates-drive-tangible-change\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":439,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/youth-advocates-drive-tangible-change\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/23\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/DSC_0053-for-web.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/youth-advocates-drive-tangible-change\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/youth-advocates-drive-tangible-change\\\/\",\"name\":\"Youth advocates drive tangible change - Golden Plains Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/youth-advocates-drive-tangible-change\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/youth-advocates-drive-tangible-change\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/23\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/DSC_0053-for-web.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-30T18:57:36+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/youth-advocates-drive-tangible-change\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/youth-advocates-drive-tangible-change\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/goldenplains\\\/news\\\/youth-advocates-drive-tangible-change\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/23\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/DSC_0053-for-web.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/23\\\/2019\\\/10\\\/DSC_0053-for-web.jpg\",\"width\":6000,\"height\":4000,\"caption\":\"Debriefing: Brodie Kamp, Eloise Amirtharajan and Madeline Browney start to think about their next event, following the recent PopCon. 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