Good skills

The On Track Cafe catering manager hosted Bass MP Brian Paynter, the Shadow Minister for Training, Skills, Apprenticeships and Young Victorians Steph Ryan, Living Learning chairman Ian Fraser and acting CEO Miriam Cadwallader to the newly opened social enterprise cafe.

By ANEEKA SIMONIS

PROGRAMS offered at a Pakenham youth service provider serve as a state-wide model for other councils looking to bolster their youth engagement efforts.
Bass MP Brian Paynter and Shadow Minister for Training, Skills, Apprenticeships and Young Victorians Steph Ryan made a visit to My Place youth centre in Pakenham on Monday 5 October.
Services available at the council-run youth facility were diverse and impressive, according to Ms Ryan.
“It is a model that is being looked at by other councils, which is a compliment to the work Cardinia Shire Council and their staff are doing in the youth space,” she said.
Earlier in the day, the pair visited council’s newly opened health hub – Toomah Community Centre – where they visited participants taking part in the Work for the Dole scheme.
The group are currently up skilling themselves and developing a newsletter to be published later in the year.
Mr Paynter said the centre, which includes the council’s first social-enterprise cafe, is an asset to the community.
“Toomah offers a terrific place for people to meet in the cafe, learn a new skill with one of the many courses on offer or visit one of the allied health services on site,” he said.
Ms Ryan said the centre gives a “warm feel”.