By KATELYN PINAL
ECHO Incorporated in Emerald has been given a big State Government boost.
The youth and family services centre will receive $150,000 as part of the government’s Engage program that helps young people live active, healthy lives.
Gembrook MP Brad Battin announced that Echo would be receiving the money to help fund its Impact Mentoring program.
“These programs build on the Napthine Government’s commitment to give young people in the Gembrook electorate more opportunities to get involved in their local community and to develop skills that will help them in education and along employment pathways,” he said.
Wayne Collins of Echo Incorporated said that the program is funded by the government and that the grant allows the program to run for another three years.
The Echo Youth and Family services mentoring program has been running for 13 years. It was renamed Impact Mentoring in 2012.
It offers one-to-one mentoring for children from 12 to 18 who may be at risk, experiencing family troubles or not connecting with school. Usually the child is identified by the school.
The program aims to connect about 25 children every year to a community volunteer to help the young people develop their self-esteem and learn life and employment skills.
The children and their mentor work on a project of the child’s choosing to encourage conversation and teamwork.
As part of the program, children are taken to many different places. They go to work visits to see the reality of getting a job by talking to employers about what they look for.
In their mentoring program, 90 per cent of children went on to finish year 12 and go onto further learning which Mr Collins said is because of the experiences they gain during the program.
“It’s exciting to see the change in the young people. They say they’re going to leave school in year 10, get Centrelink and live like a king but by the end they realise that without qualifications they are not going to get anywhere,” he said
The program also runs a camp at the end of the year which is designed to give children new experiences.
To finish, they have a graduation at which the community comes together to celebrate the children’s achievements.
Mr Collins said that it all comes down to letting the children know that their community cares about them.
“We just want the young people to know their community loves them.
“We can talk about resilience and things like that but it comes down to love,” he said.
