Ballarat and District Aboriginal Co-Operative chief Karen Heap said it is crucial services engage with young people while they are in some form of education system to prevent them from falling into a cycle of disadvantage.

YMCA Ballarat currently supports more than 60 young people each week in Ballarat in the practical skills program. The program, which the YMCA hopes to expand, engages young people in programs like barista courses to give them practical skills and job opportunities. 

“Those in a long term cycle of disadvantage can lack positive role models that normalise the everyday occurrence of going to work, while others might have parents who wish to help them but aren’t sure where to start,” Ms Phillips said.

“There is also a very clear socioeconomic disadvantage associated with poorer health outcomes, so youth employability can change not just someone’s employment but their own health and that of their families.”

Ballarat youth crime figures are alarming – with males aged 16-17 years involved in 60 per cent of alleged youth offences from October 2014-15, but social workers say this is often intrinsically linked to entrenched disadvantage.

“We know that employment and education are two of the most effective methods of changing someone’s life and that’s what the practical skills program aims to address,” Ms Phillips said.

YMCA has reviewed statistics from the Dropping off the Edge report 2015 which Ms Phillips said “highlights the matrix between juvenile convictions, families on low incomes, criminal convictions, housing stress and long term unemployment”. The report found Wendouree was in the top quarter of most disadvantaged suburbs.

“It is a long term approach that can often be difficult to measure, but working with schools and local agencies is critical to achieve any concrete success to ensure we are reaching all those we can and who might benefit the most,” Ms Phillips said. 

Ms Heap said engagement programs needed to be youth oriented.

“If young people aren’t ready for year 10 then we shouldn’t be putting them through year 10. We are setting them up to fail – we need to keep them in school as once they get out of school it is very hard to re-engage them.”