Youth Ambassadors to address domestic violence and bullying in Ballarat

The City of Ballarat Youth Ambassadors will address domestic violence and bullying awareness in Ballarat as their central project for the year.  

The project forms part of the Youth Ambassador’s participation in the ‘Speak Up!’ program, which was developed by the Eureka Centre. The ‘Speak Up!’ program explores Australia’s democratic foundations and the idea of active citizenship through a series of workshops. Following the workshops, the Youth Ambassadors are required to put their learnings into action through the central project. 

The ‘Speak Up!’ program is designed for Youth Ambassadors to develop skills in areas such as project management, cultural competency and media and communication, as well as developing their leadership skills and community networks. 

Recently, the Youth Ambassadors presented their ideas for the central project to City of Ballarat Councillors, who provided feedback. Using this feedback, the Youth Ambassadors landed on two issues to focus their project on:  

1) Domestic violence awareness – Youth Ambassadors will create an infographic providing information for young people about where they can access assistance. They will work with educators to ensure the topic is sensitively approached.  

2) Bullying awareness – Youth Ambassadors will foster student mental health and wellbeing by creating safe spaces in local schools for students to access help.

The Youth Ambassadors will focus on this project for the rest of the year.  

City of Ballarat Mayor, Cr Des Hudson said the Youth Ambassador program was made up of young people who were passionate about being involved in their community, and representing the views, ideas and needs of young people in the Ballarat area

“Youth Ambassadors are involved in community events, advocate for young people in the Ballarat region, inform Council and community planning on consultations, and as part of the program develop a joint youth-led community impact project or campaign,” he said.  

“It’s great to see that the Youth Ambassadors will be focusing their project on issues like domestic violence and bullying, both of which have a significant detrimental impact on our community.

“I look forward to seeing their project come to fruition for the benefit of all Ballarat residents.”