In 2023, Brighton Council agreed to progress the Bridgewater Youth Hub in partnership with the Tasmanian Aboriginal Legal Service (TALS). A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the project was endorsed by Council and signed in December 2023.
Brighton Council and TALS are committed to consulting with the communities of the Brighton local government area on the development of a Youth Hub in Bridgewater.
What is the Youth Hub?
The Youth Hub will be a physical space that aims to be a place-based solution to:
• Meet the needs of youth in the community.
• Provide a lens to prevent and divert youth from contact with the justice system.
• Provide services for the 12-25 year age group.
• Support the high Aboriginal youth population of the community, including those they interact with.
• Be led and run by community following initial support of TALS and Council.
This is essentially a justice reinvestment project that will begin by bringing the community together to identify the best way to nurture and grow our young people, prevent and reduce young people’s contact with the criminal justice system, and using the strengths and voice of young people, cultural knowledge, lived experience and data, to design what will work best for our youth.
Bridgewater Youth Hub Project Team
The project team provides specific strategic advice and subject matter expertise to TALS and Council, ensuring genuine consultation across community occurs and that the inputs from community are an accurate reflection of what is expressed by community.
The project team acts as an advisory and support mechanism and does not have the delegation to make binding decisions.
The project team consists of eight (8) positions as follows:
- Two (2) young community (12-25 years)
- Two (2) community members
- One (1) TALS representative
- One (1) Brighton Council representative
- One (1) community services organisation representative
- One (1) education representative from Department of Education, Children and Young People (DECYP)
The project team will meet on a monthly basis and support a transition to a community led and run operation as soon as reasonably practicable.
Have your say….
Share your thoughts on a community youth space in Bridgewater by completing our survey here. You can help shape our community’s vision for a youth hub designed by young people, for young people. It will only take 10 minutes and we will share the findings with you as the vision comes to life.
Contact Us
If you would like further information on the Bridgewater Youth Hub project or simply want to have a chat and share your thoughts and ideas, please feel free to contact Joselle Griffin from TALS.
Joselle’s email is jgriffin@tals.net.au