Investigating a potential Youth Hub in Ballarat

If you have ideas for Ballarat’s own dedicated youth hub that will make a difference to the way young people connect, grow and feel supported, then the City of Ballarat wants to hear from you.

The City of Ballarat is currently seeking input from young people, the youth sector and broader community to help shape the development of a potential youth hub in Ballarat.

The feasibility study will be carried out to determine what would be needed to create a potential youth hub in Ballarat’s CBD that could house multiple youth service agencies in one on-site location.

The study will investigate opportunities to improve infrastructure that supports young people having safe places for social connection, skill development, creative programs, information sharing, and bringing together key support services.

It is important to note the development of a youth hub is not yet confirmed, with the feasibility study designed to determine how a hub might look and operate if it were to proceed.

The need to further investigate and improve accessibility to youth infrastructure in the form of a youth hub has been strategically identified within City of Ballarat’s Youth Strategy 2022–2026 and Community Infrastructure Plan 2022-2037.

There is not currently a dedicated multi-purpose, multi-agency youth hub in Ballarat, although the City of Ballarat does offer youth services at facilities including the Arts Incubator on Camp Street and the Wendouree West Recreation Reserve.  

The YMCA also has offices at Barkly Square, while Headspace has offices in Camp Street.

City of Ballarat Mayor, Cr Des Hudson encouraged as many people as possible to share their thoughts about a potential youth hub in Ballarat.

“We really want to hear from all people in the community, whether you are a young person, involved in the youth sector or even if you are part of the broader community,” he said.

“Our ultimate goal is to improve the provision of infrastructure for young people in Ballarat.

“The first step is to engage with the community to determine what is needed and what might be possible, so we really do want community feedback.”

Three separate surveys have been created to gather feedback from residents and are currently hosted on the City of Ballarat MySay page throughout October.

All surveys can be taken anonymously and take about five minutes to complete.

There will also be two community consultation sessions held at the Art Gallery of Ballarat on 17 October for people to interact face-to-face. The Youth Sector consultation will be held from 10am-2pm and the session for people aged 12-25 will be held from 4.30pm-6pm.

The Youth Hub Feasibility Study surveys are now live on the City of Ballarat MySay website. People interested in attending the community consultation sessions can also register via the link on the MySay page.

Consultation closes at 11.59pm on Tuesday 31 October.