Wollongong Youth Forum plant seeds for the future!

Local young people are taking action and greening our city as part of the Wollongong Youth Forum!

Initiated in 2024, the Wollongong Youth Forum is a two-year pilot program, run in partnership with Wollongong City Council Youth Services and The Foundation for Young Australians. Designed to empower and upskill young people between the ages of 12-17, the program supplies a group of democratically elected students from the Wollongong Local Government Area (LGA) the space, support and budget to elevate young people’s voices and enact real change.

Coordinator Youth Services Katie Kapp said she is proud to see local young people take this opportunity.

“Through Youth Services, we provide foundational support, guiding them in how to hold meetings, how to keep effective and useful records, what the processes are in creating and executing projects like this, but the energy and passion is all their own,”

“Being able to provide them this experience and help to develop their skills is invaluable. But ultimately, they are the ones doing the work and using the tools we provide to do amazing things.”

Now in their second term, the elected Youth Forum members are working hard to champion a project that addresses the concerns of local young people, after conducting extensive consultations across the Local Government Area.

Forum representative Fatima Al Taleb, said they had identified access to healthcare and support services, social and mental health, environmental degradation and climate change as the key issues facing local youth.

“We’re looking towards the future and uncertainty of what the environment looks like and repercussions for us and the world we live in.”

“Tiny Forests are a proven project that we could build on by bringing it to where young people are and thereby gaining maximum exposure and involvement.”

Tiny Forests comprise of a diverse selection of native vegetation, planted closely together in a manner that replicates the layers of a natural forest. Benefits of this greening effort include restoration of local biodiversity, providing a habitat for animals and insects and helping maintain clean air and water.

“As young leaders, we were able to present the project to Keira High School with an allocated budget through the forum, which was great because it comes at no financial cost to the school. It was then a process of involving key stakeholders from within the school and council to plan and deliver over the course of the year from consultation through to delivery”

After months of work, today the forest was officially seeded in a small section of Keira High School. With guidance from Wollongong Botanic Garden staff, several classes of high school students got involved in placing, planting and mulching the new addition to their school grounds.

Forum members also got down in the dirt and planted a wide variety of indigenous greenery, including Bleeding Heart (Homalanthus populifolius), Prickly-leaved Tea Tree (Melaleuca styphelioides) and Grey Myrtle (Backhousia myrtifolia). These native plants came from wild sourced seed, grown and raised at Wollongong Botanic Garden.

“It’s really exciting to bring the school community together and shine a light on both environmental issues and the positive contribution of young people.” Fatima said.

“This is a project that contributes to community greening and will be a legacy for generations to come, providing an attractive and healthy environment for people and wildlife.”

To the wider experience with Wollongong Youth Forum, Fatima said it has been good to see how some of council works and that getting skills to develop projects and run official meetings will support her and the others in their future direction and careers.