{"id":112102,"date":"2025-12-16T04:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/lismoretimes\/?p=112102"},"modified":"2025-12-10T22:24:22","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T11:24:22","slug":"rivers-to-ranges-program-connects-youth-to-green-jobs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/lismoretimes\/news\/rivers-to-ranges-program-connects-youth-to-green-jobs\/","title":{"rendered":"Rivers to Ranges program connects youth to green jobs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>THE new Rivers to Ranges work experience program is connecting Northern Rivers young people with green jobs and hands-on environmental employment pathways.<\/p>\n<p>The initiative in Tweed, Ballina and Byron shires will run an eight-week pilot in Term 1 in 2026, designed to give young people aged 13 to 18 a direct path to purpose-driven work in the growing environmental sector.<\/p>\n<p>The program aims to provide practical work experience and develop essential employability skills, connect youth with potential employers and pathways for further training and traineeships, and foster social inclusion through participation in meaningful community work.<\/p>\n<p>The collaborative community effort spearheaded by RiverTracks Incorporated includes initial partners such as Tweed Landcare.<\/p>\n<p>Participants will spend one day per week receiving a half-day training session from a different environmental organisation, focusing on low-risk practical skills in their daily work.<\/p>\n<p>The Northern Rivers region currently faces a high youth unemployment rate, even as the environmental sector expands.<\/p>\n<p>The program is aimed at this gap, supporting young people overcoming barriers such as geographic isolation and lack of practical experience.<\/p>\n<p>The proposed start date for the pilot program is Term 1, 2026. RiverTracks aims for Rivers to Ranges to become a recurring seasonal program and establish paid traineeships and environmental micro-credentials recognised across the region.<\/p>\n<p>RiverTracks youth program manager and program lead for Rivers to Ranges, Christopher Rowland, said the initiative enhanced environmental literacy and provided a sense of stewardship among young people.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe program is designed for youth who are disengaged from mainstream education or seeking meaningful, purpose-driven work,\u201d Rowland said.<\/p>\n<p>River Tracks is actively seeking involvement and support from the broader community, including additional environmental organisations, local employers and businesses, and schools and TAFEs to explore future expansion opportunities.<\/p>\n<p>For information, email christopher@rivertracks.org or visit<a href=\"http:\/\/rivertracks.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong> rivertracks.org<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>THE new Rivers to Ranges work experience program is connecting Northern Rivers young people with green jobs and hands-on environmental employment pathways. The initiative in Tweed, Ballina and Byron shires will run an eight-week pilot in Term 1 in 2026, designed to give young people aged 13 to 18 a direct path to purpose-driven work [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/lismoretimes\/news\/rivers-to-ranges-program-connects-youth-to-green-jobs\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":228,"featured_media":112159,"comment_status":"open","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-112102","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>Rivers to Ranges program connects youth to green jobs - Lismore Times<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Rivers to Ranges connects Northern Rivers youth with green jobs, offering hands-on environmental skills and real work pathways in 2026.\" \/>\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\/lismoretimes\/news\/rivers-to-ranges-program-connects-youth-to-green-jobs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rivers to Ranges program connects youth to green jobs - Lismore Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rivers to Ranges connects Northern Rivers youth with green jobs, offering hands-on environmental skills and real work pathways in 2026.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/lismoretimes\/news\/rivers-to-ranges-program-connects-youth-to-green-jobs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lismore Times\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-15T17:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/32\/2025\/12\/Untitled-design-46-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Sonia Caeiro Alvarez\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Sonia Caeiro Alvarez\" \/>\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\\\/lismoretimes\\\/news\\\/rivers-to-ranges-program-connects-youth-to-green-jobs\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/lismoretimes\\\/news\\\/rivers-to-ranges-program-connects-youth-to-green-jobs\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Sonia Caeiro Alvarez\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/lismoretimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/09aea9c94bfe5bc211e8ba081232a5c9\"},\"headline\":\"Rivers to Ranges program connects youth to green jobs\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-15T17:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/lismoretimes\\\/news\\\/rivers-to-ranges-program-connects-youth-to-green-jobs\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":298,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/lismoretimes\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/lismoretimes\\\/news\\\/rivers-to-ranges-program-connects-youth-to-green-jobs\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/32\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/Untitled-design-46-1.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/lismoretimes\\\/news\\\/rivers-to-ranges-program-connects-youth-to-green-jobs\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/lismoretimes\\\/news\\\/rivers-to-ranges-program-connects-youth-to-green-jobs\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/lismoretimes\\\/news\\\/rivers-to-ranges-program-connects-youth-to-green-jobs\\\/\",\"name\":\"Rivers to Ranges program connects youth to green jobs - Lismore Times\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/lismoretimes\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/lismoretimes\\\/news\\\/rivers-to-ranges-program-connects-youth-to-green-jobs\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/lismoretimes\\\/news\\\/rivers-to-ranges-program-connects-youth-to-green-jobs\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/32\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/Untitled-design-46-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-15T17:00:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"Rivers to Ranges connects Northern Rivers youth with green jobs, offering hands-on environmental skills and real work pathways in 2026.\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/lismoretimes\\\/news\\\/rivers-to-ranges-program-connects-youth-to-green-jobs\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/lismoretimes\\\/news\\\/rivers-to-ranges-program-connects-youth-to-green-jobs\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/32\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/Untitled-design-46-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/32\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/Untitled-design-46-1.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630,\"caption\":\"Some of the young RiverTracks participants. Photo: ULEFONE\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/lismoretimes\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/lismoretimes\\\/\",\"name\":\"Lismore Times\",\"description\":\"Free local news\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/lismoretimes\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/lismoretimes\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/lismoretimes\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Lismore Times\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/lismoretimes\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/lismoretimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/32\\\/2024\\\/08\\\/logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/prod\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/32\\\/2024\\\/08\\\/logo.png\",\"width\":770,\"height\":96,\"caption\":\"Lismore Times\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/lismoretimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/lismoretimes\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/09aea9c94bfe5bc211e8ba081232a5c9\",\"name\":\"Sonia Caeiro Alvarez\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9cace2e03473b84f33675a59e75dc06ee663a004ebfc7d0df824c406cfe7577f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9cace2e03473b84f33675a59e75dc06ee663a004ebfc7d0df824c406cfe7577f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9cace2e03473b84f33675a59e75dc06ee663a004ebfc7d0df824c406cfe7577f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Sonia Caeiro Alvarez\"},\"description\":\"\u200bSonia Caeiro Alvarez is a journalist with the Times News Group, covering Tweed Shire community news and arts and culture across the Northern Rivers.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\\\/lismoretimes\\\/author\\\/soniacaeiroalvarez\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Rivers to Ranges program connects youth to green jobs - Lismore Times","description":"Rivers to Ranges connects Northern Rivers youth with green jobs, offering hands-on environmental skills and real work pathways in 2026.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/lismoretimes\/news\/rivers-to-ranges-program-connects-youth-to-green-jobs\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Rivers to Ranges program connects youth to green jobs - Lismore Times","og_description":"Rivers to Ranges connects Northern Rivers youth with green jobs, offering hands-on environmental skills and real work pathways in 2026.","og_url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/lismoretimes\/news\/rivers-to-ranges-program-connects-youth-to-green-jobs\/","og_site_name":"Lismore Times","article_published_time":"2025-12-15T17:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/32\/2025\/12\/Untitled-design-46-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Sonia Caeiro Alvarez","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Sonia Caeiro Alvarez","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/lismoretimes\/news\/rivers-to-ranges-program-connects-youth-to-green-jobs\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/lismoretimes\/news\/rivers-to-ranges-program-connects-youth-to-green-jobs\/"},"author":{"name":"Sonia Caeiro Alvarez","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/lismoretimes\/#\/schema\/person\/09aea9c94bfe5bc211e8ba081232a5c9"},"headline":"Rivers to Ranges program connects youth to green jobs","datePublished":"2025-12-15T17:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/lismoretimes\/news\/rivers-to-ranges-program-connects-youth-to-green-jobs\/"},"wordCount":298,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/lismoretimes\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/lismoretimes\/news\/rivers-to-ranges-program-connects-youth-to-green-jobs\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/32\/2025\/12\/Untitled-design-46-1.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/lismoretimes\/news\/rivers-to-ranges-program-connects-youth-to-green-jobs\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/lismoretimes\/news\/rivers-to-ranges-program-connects-youth-to-green-jobs\/","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/lismoretimes\/news\/rivers-to-ranges-program-connects-youth-to-green-jobs\/","name":"Rivers to Ranges program connects youth to green jobs - Lismore Times","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/lismoretimes\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/lismoretimes\/news\/rivers-to-ranges-program-connects-youth-to-green-jobs\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/lismoretimes\/news\/rivers-to-ranges-program-connects-youth-to-green-jobs\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/32\/2025\/12\/Untitled-design-46-1.jpg","datePublished":"2025-12-15T17:00:00+00:00","description":"Rivers to Ranges connects Northern Rivers youth with green jobs, offering hands-on environmental skills and real work pathways in 2026.","inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/lismoretimes\/news\/rivers-to-ranges-program-connects-youth-to-green-jobs\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/lismoretimes\/news\/rivers-to-ranges-program-connects-youth-to-green-jobs\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/32\/2025\/12\/Untitled-design-46-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/32\/2025\/12\/Untitled-design-46-1.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"Some of the young RiverTracks participants. Photo: ULEFONE"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/lismoretimes\/#website","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/lismoretimes\/","name":"Lismore Times","description":"Free local news","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/lismoretimes\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/lismoretimes\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/lismoretimes\/#organization","name":"Lismore Times","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/lismoretimes\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/lismoretimes\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/32\/2024\/08\/logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.timesnewsgroup.com.au\/prod\/uploads\/sites\/32\/2024\/08\/logo.png","width":770,"height":96,"caption":"Lismore Times"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/lismoretimes\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/lismoretimes\/#\/schema\/person\/09aea9c94bfe5bc211e8ba081232a5c9","name":"Sonia Caeiro Alvarez","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9cace2e03473b84f33675a59e75dc06ee663a004ebfc7d0df824c406cfe7577f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9cace2e03473b84f33675a59e75dc06ee663a004ebfc7d0df824c406cfe7577f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9cace2e03473b84f33675a59e75dc06ee663a004ebfc7d0df824c406cfe7577f?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Sonia Caeiro Alvarez"},"description":"\u200bSonia Caeiro Alvarez is a journalist with the Times News Group, covering Tweed Shire community news and arts and culture across the Northern Rivers.","url":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/lismoretimes\/author\/soniacaeiroalvarez\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/lismoretimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/lismoretimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/lismoretimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/lismoretimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/228"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/lismoretimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=112102"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/lismoretimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/112102\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/lismoretimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/112159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/lismoretimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=112102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/lismoretimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=112102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/lismoretimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=112102"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesnewsgroup.com.au\/lismoretimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=112102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}