Page 489 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 20 February 2019

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can to support our kinship carers to provide safe, loving, nurturing homes for children in care.

ACT Youth Week—youth empowerment

MR PETTERSSON: My question is to the Minister for Children, Youth and Families. Minister, ACT Youth Week will be held from 12 to 21 April. How is the government empowering and supporting young people to make this year’s Youth Week a success?

MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I thank Mr Pettersson for his question and his interest in Youth Week. Each year the government supports events and activities during Youth Week through the Youth Week grants program. Last week, I was pleased to announce the successful recipients of this year’s grants. The grants were awarded to support activities that promote inclusion and celebrate the diversity of young Canberrans.

Among the successful applicants are the Sunset Festival, which will see a number of youth engagement services from across the ACT collaborating to provide a fun afternoon in celebration of Youth Week. The event will have live music, DJs, food, skating and street art demonstrations, sports activities and prizes. The event will be an opportunity for youth services to provide important information directly to young people in a safe and comfortable setting and will provide young people from across the ACT with an opportunity to engage in a number of fun activities that they may not otherwise have access to.

The AIDS Action Council’s encampment program organises camps for young LGBTIQ-identifying people and facilitates activities that allow the participants to explore and discuss relationships, histories and health in a fun and non-judgemental setting. Encampment is entirely youth led, being organised and facilitated by a group of LGBTIQ and questioning volunteer mentors aged between 18 and 25 years.

Members who are fans of the humans of New York photography project may be very interested to hear that this Youth Week will feature our very own humans of Tuggeranong photography exhibition, which will include photography of young people taken during a workshop organised by YWCA Canberra Clubhouse.

These are just some of the brilliant youth-led initiatives that will be realised for this year’s Youth Week and that the government is proud to support through the Youth InteractACT Youth Week grants program.

MR PETTERSSON: Minister, how does the government help the community celebrate the individual achievements of young Canberrans?

MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I thank Mr Pettersson for his supplementary question. The government is currently seeking nominations for this year’s Young Canberra Citizen of the Year awards, which will launch Youth Week.

As members would be aware, these awards recognise the achievements of young Canberrans between the ages of 12 and 25 across six categories: the Young Canberra


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