Co-designed youth employment program promotes self-determination and community empowerment

If you want to tackle the barriers to employment for young Indigenous people, you must ask the communities themselves what they are and how they can be overcome.

Thanks to everyone from the 14 communities we visited in the Riverina region during February and March, for coming to our community engagement sessions and speaking candidly about what is happening where you live and what you need to help change the lives of your young people.

Following these impactful meetings, On-Country Pathways now has a community co-designed youth employment program concept ready to submit to the Commonwealth Government’s Indigenous Skills and Employment Program for funding by the April 12 deadline.

The regional townships identified six key barriers to Indigenous youth employment:

• transport
• social and emotional wellbeing
• being job ready
• lack of cultural safety
• access to mentors and role models
• lack of local opportunities/awareness of opportunities.

Four programs have been co-designed to challenge these barriers:

• Driver-mentor program – to help young people get a driver’s licence
• Work experience – to assist with job readiness
• Job placement – leading to employment
• Community development – to ensure ongoing sustainability when funding for the programs ends.

Click here to view the details.

Find out more about the Indigenous Skills and Employment Program.