New youth mentoring employment program for Townsville

Published Saturday, 24 June, 2017 at 08:10 AM

Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations, Minister for Racing and Minister for Multicultural Affairs
The Honourable Grace Grace

Young jobseekers and recently employed young workers in Townsville are set to benefit from a new mentoring program to help them gain and retain employment.

Employment Minister Grace Grace announced the $900,000 Sticking Together pilot program would soon be rolled out in Townsville.

Ms Grace said 90 young jobseekers and recently-employed young people aged under 25 would be selected across three sites in Queensland – Townsville, Logan and Cairns - to participate in the pilot (30 participants per area).

“Those selected will be provided with one-on-one coaching and mentoring support for 60 weeks,” Ms Grace said.

“The coaches will also work with employers to help them deal with situations that can lead to an employment relationship breaking down.

“This is about building the skills, confidence and resilience that can help young jobseekers and workers cope with situations both in and out of the workplace.

Sticking Together couldn’t have come at a better time, with the highly successful Back to Work jobs program receiving an extra $50 million in funding for regional Queensland.”

Minister Assisting the Premier on North Queensland and Member for Mundingburra Coralee O’Rourke said young people in Townsville deserved the best start to their working lives.

“Townsville is bubbling with new opportunities and we want to encourage our next generation to flourish by helping them get into the workforce,” Mrs O’Rourke said

“There is no denying the impact of unemployment on our region. Our government knows this and is seeking to turn this around by giving 30 local people expert mentoring.

“We’re making sure everyone can get into work through initiatives like this, as well as our Back to Work program which is already supporting almost 1,000 jobs in North Queensland, many of them in Townsville.”

Member for Townsville Scott Stewart said that young Townsville jobseekers were crying out for more support, and that’s exactly what Sticking Together will deliver. “The pilot will focus on young people aged under 25 years who are facing challenges to enter, and remain, in the workforce,” he said.

Member for Thuringowa Aaron Harper said:

“Some participants will be facing multiple barriers to employment, and they’ll benefit greatly from the one-on-one mentoring this program provides - particularly here in Townsville.”

Ms Grace said not-for-profit organisation SYC would deliver the pilot program.

“For over 50 years SYC has been working with disadvantaged young people, whether that be to find a safe place to sleep, develop new skills, gain and sustain employment, finish school or reconnect with their families,” she said.

“The Sticking Together model was rolled out in four trial sites across South Australia and Victoria in January 2017.

“Queensland has benefited from the early learnings from these trial locations, and from leveraging the co-design, research and implementation work already undertaken.”

Media contact: Martin Philip 0427 919 548