Partnership between Country Education Partnerships Rural Inspire and Go Nagambie

With a number of rural communities experiencing a growth in population as people move from capital cities to seek a lifestyle change, and remote work arrangements those rural communities that are within transport distance from them are seeing a number of people move to these places for a better work-life balance.

Nagambie is one of these rural communities – With a population of around 3,000, about 1.5 hours drive from the CBD, located on the beautiful Lake Nagambie, this rural community has experienced one of the fastest growing rural communities over the past couple of years.

John Beresford, convenor of the Youth Futures Project shared:
“Nagambie has a number of vibrant and expanding industries that provide a breadth of employment opportunities covering equine, horticulture, viticulture, tourism, health and community services, and hospitality industries – and with the growth in population there is also a growing demand for the building and construction industry.”

Nagambie is also unique in the Victorian context with the town not having a secondary education located within it, with young people having to travel up to an hour to attend their secondary education each day. Young people within the Nagambie community travel to several different schools to attend their secondary education, and the impact this has on the local community is significant, especially in relation to employment opportunities.

Go Nagambie is the local economic and community development organisation and at a recent event attended by over 120 local businesses and community organisations there was much discussion about the increasing employment needs of this growing community, and the real interest to support the young people within the Nagambie area to gain a greater understanding of the career opportunities and pathways that exist within their own local community.

Commencing this month the Youth Futures Project aims to initially conduct research via local businesses to gain access into valuable insights of future career opportunities for local youth and explore the possibility of partnerships between them and Nagambie young people.

The research will look into expanding business sectors within the area and forecast both employment shortfalls and industry growth. This invaluable data will provide local youth insights into future career opportunities available to them.

At the same time, Rural Inspire will facilitate its highly regarded Rural Youth Ambassador program involving young people from the Nagambie community in considering their aspirations and potential career journeys that are available to them within their local community.

“The focus of the Local Rural Youth Ambassadors is to engage with young people within an identified rural community to explore their learning and after school aspirations and to encourage them to chase their dreams through the development of locally determined initiatives and programs.” – Phil Brown

“Country Education Partnerships Rural Inspire initiative was seen as a real opportunity to increase the aspirations and awareness of young people within the community.” John Beresford shared.

Working together, Go Nagambie and Rural Inspire will look at innovative ways in which the young people of Nagambie (and the surrounds) can access job opportunities and career pathways that may be unbeknownst to them, as well as collaborating with the local industries to provide mentoring programs and skill training opportunities.

Read the full article here https://www.gonagambie.com.au/the-community-voice