“The Hangout” at Zac’s Place in Yass officially begins Thursday the 25th of February.
The program is a collaborative initiative aiming to provide the youth of the Yass Valley with a safe space to hang out, catch up with friends and make new ones.
“The Hangout” will initially run on one Thursday every month up until June 2021 as a trial period, and its future beyond that point will depend on its success according to Community Planner, Helen Maskell-Knight.
“The Working Group would like ‘The Hangout’ to operate more than once a month, but whether it does will depend on the young people of Yass Valley seeing value in it,” she said.
The Yass Child, Youth and Family Interagency Group formed a partnership with Ginninderry, the Yass Valley Council, Anglicare, Capital Region Community Services and Zac’s Place for the common cause of bettering the lives of the Yass youth.
“Ginninderry is providing seed funding to get the initiative off the ground, Zac’s Place is providing the venue and skilled staff, Capital Region Community Services and Anglicare are providing staff and resources, Yass Valley Council completed an online survey of young people and lodged an application for a Youth Opportunities Grant,” Maskell-Knight said.
The idea for the program came from responses provided in a Yass Valley Council survey from May 2020, in which young people were asked to identify the activities that they would like to see occurring within their community.
From there, ideas for what could be done were discussed, the partners registered their interest and plans for “The Hangout” event commenced.
Emma Sckrabei, the Training and Employment Manager at Ginninderry said the decision for Ginninderry to get involved with the initiative was a simple one.
“These young people want people to be doing something for them here in Yass, why don’t we come together and talk about what we can do for them,” she said.
She also said that ‘The Hangout” is particularly aimed at those who lack the experience and support of community engagement.
“In Yass, young people often play sport and through sport are able to make new friends, but if you don’t play sport there are not a lot of other safe areas to go out and meet people,” Sckrabei said.
The event is aimed towards those aged between 12 and 17 and will be a relaxed setting, with barbecued food and music.
The first event at Zac’s Place, is limited by covid restrictions to a maximum of 35 people.
Text Ros today at 0406 379 561 to register your interest and save yourself a spot at “The Hangout” on February the 25th.
Max O’Driscoll
