Keilor MP Natalie Hutchins is working with teenagers in Melton and Brimbank to tackle issues like cyber bullying, depression and drugs and alcohol. 89576 Picture: CONTRIBUTED
By NATALIE GALLENTI
MOTIVATED youngsters from Melton and Brimbank are working together in a bid to quash the public’s stereotypical view of teenagers in Melbourne’s west.
The newly formed Western Youth Advisory Committee, launched by Keilor MP Natalie Hutchins and Youth Services Project Coordinator Angela Scarpaci, met for the first time last month at the Taylors Hill Youth Centre to discuss issues like cyber bullying, youth suicide, drugs, alcohol and depression.
Students and teachers from Copperfield College, Catholic Regional College, Keilor Downs College and Victoria University attended the event, as well as professional practitioners from Planet Shakers, Schembri and Co lawyers, Caroline Springs Police representatives, Project Rockit, and Melton City Council officers.
Ms Scarpaci said the Western YAC was formed to encourage young people in the West to engage with social and political issues and to provide an organised avenue to allow them to have a voice on matters that are important to them and their peers.
“Students actively engaged with each other and the YAC team, proving that with a little opportunity to discuss the hard facts, all youth can stand young, loud and proud,” she said.
“Western YAC will continue to engage and inform schools about issues that directly affect young people within the western suburbs and how we can overcome them as a community.”
Ms Scarpaci said the next venture the group will be working on is the Post Code project, which is aimed at overcoming stereotypes school leavers from the West are faced with once they enter university or TAFE.
Anyone interested in joining Western YAC can contact Angela Scarpaci via email westernyac@gmail.com
