" Breaking the cycle "

Policy document proposal for 15 to 18 year old youth.

This programme could work in conjunction with a Cranbourne youth curfew

By - Steve Beardon / and Rev Paul Creasey-Uniting Church, Cranbourne.

We believe we need to look at introducing in Cranbourne, and then throughout our municipality of Casey, a mentoring programme through local businesses, i.e. panel shops - which there are plenty of in Cranbourne, Bunnings, K-Mart, Safeway etc, to take on troublesome and unemployed youth on a temporary employment basis, (ranging from 1 week up to 12) so as to give these young adults the opportunity to learn some skills, and through attendance, receive a reference which would assist and put them in good stead to find more stable work. Not only this, these trainees would be exposed to the work environment, taking the scare factor out of it, instilling confidence and self esteem in them. Even as an adult you only have to be out of work a couple of weeks before you start to lose your own confidence, so I can imagine how difficult it is for those who haven't even got through the door of their first job.

If we don't help young adults, we only bring problems upon ourselves as a society through isolating these youth, who quickly become disenfranchised from society and turn to gangs, with the follow- on affect of an escalation into further antisocial behaviour and a possible life of crime. The bottom line is we want penalties handed out for every crime, but also want to give first time offenders every opportunity to get to stay on track.

Youth who are constantly targeted by police congregating around parks drinking, discharging fireworks, scrawling graffiti, would be suited for this scheme. The age group predominantly would be between 15 - 18. These are the percentage who have dropped out of school and would be targeted for such a scheme. As you know many of these young adults are not seeking professional careers, but certainly enjoy lifting a car bonnet and working with their hands.

Difficult as it seems - it shouldn't be, and propose that payment of this traineeship / mentoring programme be directly the shared cost of Local, State and Federal Governments, ensuring that all three utilise and pour their resources into a combined effort. During the initial traineeship, we do not want to burden the employer with any direct financial cost.. Issues such as Work Cover and Super could easily be covered by the Council and would equate to less than $16 a week per individual with the remainder being paid through State and Federal governments. (We have been advised Federally-the national community crime prevention program has funding for projects such as the one we are proposing). Payment to the trainees is crucial in order to give them dignity and pride for the hours they will be attending. Ideally, as many are possibly already receiving unemployment benefits, we would be seeking an increase in that level for the period of this traineeship, more in line with a sustainable wage. We have already consulted with local business providers, and there are a number of businesses lining up to be seen as the first in Victoria, and possibly Australia, to pilot such a scheme here in Cranbourne, with the result of providing every opportunity for our youth in Cranbourne to gain useful employment. Importantly, we recognise that many we are targetting may, or will have deficiencies in reading and writing, as well as the disciplines required of a work environment. These issues will be assessed before placement, and ongoing assistance provided in co-operation with the employer. Companies such as Carter Holt Harvey, who have a multicultural workforce, often already take this into account and offer assistance in reading and writing.

We have met with Mr Robert Doyle, (Liberal Party Leader-Vic) who came to Cranbourne in Nov 2004 to meet with us and business leaders in our region and we are hopeful of parliamentary support for this programme to spread across the State.Also as recently as May 2005 we presented our programme "Breaking the Cycle " which encompasses 12 to 15 year old youth as well to State Police Minister-Tim Holding.. We believe we've laid the groundwork for a fantastic programme, and see an immediate opportunity for local councils to take on trainees through Customer Service outlets, and the like.

Having visited and researched HAND BRAKE TURN in Dandenong, we are proposing to replicate their success in assisting youth, including young offenders, achieve full time employment. Our model and proposition would differ from HAND BRAKE TURN by placing these youth directly into local businesses, cutting the need for expensive building rent, equipment, staff and associated overheads, bypassing as much red tape as possible. This would allow for a more one on one approach ensuring maximum resources and dollars are spent on the participant instead of on the bureaucracy.

We are proposing a strategy of direct access to the work environment. One of the problems Cranbourne youth face is a lack of public transport which not only puts employment opportunities at a disadvantage but does add to the youth crime rate and boredom within our town - hence the need to base the programme where it can be accessed-locally.

The "3 Strikes And You're In" policy

1. Identifying
2. Training
3. Employment

Identifying means that we will work with local schools and the courts, to find young people who may qualify for this programme. Courts and police could direct Cranbourne offenders through diversion programmes. Youth identified thru a curfew may also be invited to attend this programme.

The training module will begin with a pre-employment course to address matters such as;

The intention of this pre-employment programme is to prepare the candidate for future employment.

Training will continue during the employment phase with students being required to spend, if required, one day a week at the training facility. (existing training facilities or Churches in Cranbourne can be used as a training facilities). At the successful completion of the training module the trainee will be given a certificate of completion. At the completion of the pre-employment course the student will be required to sign a contract with the employer. This will ensure that the trainee undertaking employment training will be aware of the expectations of employment, and that the employment trainer will be aware of the learning competencies that the trainee needs to learn/fulfil in order to complete the second phase of the programme.

The employment phase will be a set period of time (1 - 12 weeks) with ongoing support. Both employer and trainee will be given skill criteria that must be met in order for the trainee to receive a certificate of competency. At the one-day per week return to the training centre, we will discuss the new working environment and the learning process that has been undertaken, and counseling and learning assistance will be available. The coordinators of the programme will meet with employment trainers in order to ensure that competency outcomes are being fulfilled and discuss the progress of the trainee.

At the completion of all three modules, trainees will be required to attend the training centre to review the learning process and to assess outcomes. At the successful completion of the course trainees will receive three certificates;

Objectives for the programme------to provide training that leads to long-term employment, or alternatively, a return to school or learning facility. To provide skills and competencies for future employment. To prepare trainees with basic understanding of requirements of future employers. To give experience to trainees of a work environment. To provide local industries with potential employees or apprentices who understand the basic requirements of the industry they have chosen. To provide young people with hope, and direction. To help young people become productive and contributing members of the local community. To identify local trainee providers and industry specific skilling. To provide a diversity of trainee experiences. Skilled shortages in our area are vast with shortages in trade based businesses, hospitality, and service industries. In the long term we would like to see a southern industry plan embraced and supported by all levels of Government, focussing on the benefits a future Port of Hastings will offer. Currently here in Cranbourne, we have one of Victoria's highest school drop out rates. We stress the need to develop and encourage industry, trade schools and even the establishment of community colleges to our region.

Administration….. Administration of funds for the Cranbourne Youth Traineeship Program could be administered through the Uniting Church of Cranbourne (a Registered Training Organisation) or similar. We have also opened discussions with Council to be a partner in this project. We also believe access to Council's youth workers will ensure minimal overhead for our scheme. As mentioned earlier, there are employment providers already established in the area such as the Casey Café who have counsellors through their youth training programme. (Casey Café is established in Cranbourne and a training facility for the hospitality industry).

History…... In the past we have worked with young unemployed youth and gang members in an attempt to impact positively on their lives. We developed a programme (Adopt A Railway Station) involving troublesome unemployed youth in the cleaning and greening of Merinda Park Rail Station in Cranbourne. This programme lasted 3 years with the first Sunday of every month being dedicated to its upkeep. Together, the Stationeers joined forces with the Cranbourne Chamber of Commerce and community to lobby the State Government for the upgrading of Cranbourne Rail Station to premium status, which would include staff and security. We won this battle in 2002 and it was here in Cranbourne that the State Campaign was launched for all Melbourne Rail Stations to be remanned. Cranbourne was also declared Victoria's first graffiti-free city in 2003 after the community resoundingly supported our campaign for an anti-graffiti strategy. Since then 62,000 square metres of the unwanted scrawl has been removed across our municipality. So we are used to working with the youth and believe we can have an even more long lasting impact through this proposal with the goal of providing the opportunity for long term employment and the benefits that it brings

Thank you

Rev Paul Creasey-Uniting Church of Cranbourne-0417563357

Steve Beardon -0404014142

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