The Department of Communities has released its Beyond 2020 – WA Youth Action Plan, aimed at assisting young people aged 10-to-25 recover in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The plan draws on years of consultation, as well as work done during the COVID-19 emergency phase.
In a statement, the Department said the plan outlined how the State Government was supporting young Western Australians and the communities they lived in, as it was beginning to recover from the pandemic and its consequences.
The Department said young people had been affected by compounding issues such as job losses, insecure employment, social isolation and limited access to digital technology.
“During the state of emergency, the State Government worked with the youth services sector through the COVID-19 Youth Taskforce and listened to the Ministerial Youth Roundtable to understand how the pandemic was affecting young people’s lives,” the Department said.
“We heard from young people that there was a profound sense of hopelessness and anxiety; worry not only for the immediate health and wellbeing of both their loved ones and the community but worry about what the future holds.”
The Department said that through all those difficulties, the pandemic presented an opportunity for Government to pull together and focus on the social issues that were most important to the State and its young people.
“Young people account for almost 20 per cent of WA’s population, with 21 per cent living in regional Western Australia,” it said.
“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people account for six per cent of the population, while an estimated 11 per cent identify as LGBTIQA+ and two per cent have a disability.”
The Department said that to complement the launch of the plan, COVID-19 Youth Recovery Grants of up to $10,000 were available for Local Governments and community organisations to implement projects that engaged young people in creative ways and helped achieve positive outcomes.
The 25-page Youth Action Plan can be accessed at this PS News link.
