FUN WITH FRIENDS: Jordan Richards, 11, Shaniece Kosloff, 12, and Britnie Moyle, 12, at the YHQ on Tour event. Pictures: Daniel Hartley-Allen
ENGAGING young people in their own communities is the idea behind YHQ on Tour.The free event put on by City of Ballarat Youth Services kicked off at the Wendouree West Youth Centre on Saturday.Running from 11am to 2pm the day included skate ramps, the YMCA games trailer and DJ Me So Harney.Free pizza was included for lunch for participants.City of Ballarat youth services coordinator Larelle Kuczen said YHQ on Tour provided a great opportunity to get out in the community and see what was going on there."It's great to be able to engage with young people in their own community and not expect them to come to us all the time," Ms Kuczen said.The Wendouree event comes at a good time for the well-used Wendouree West Youth Centre, which ran out of funding in December for its full-time staff member.Ms Kuczen was impressed with the enthusiasm of local participants.With plans to run similar events in Delacombe and Sebastopol in the coming weeks, Ms Kuczen said in the future the program would branch out into lots of different areas.Further events include one at Delacombe at the Doug Dean Reserve on Saturday, February 20, from 11am to 2pm and Sebastopol at Marty Busch Reserve on Saturday, February 27, from 11am to 2pm.