Young people get job-ready in Hobsons Bay, VIC
The Hobsons Bay Local Drug Action Team (LDAT) used the Alcohol, Other Drugs and Young Adults LDAT Toolkit to guide this Community Action Plan.
The project partners are Laverton Community Integrated Services Inc. (LCIS), Fire Rescue Victoria, MiCare Settlement Service and Victoria University.
The target audience is at-risk young people in the southwest suburbs of Melbourne.
Local challenge
LDAT lead organisation, LCIS, provides an Emergency Relief and Crisis Intervention service in the Hobsons Bay and Wyndham regions where it noted a recent increase in clients presenting with alcohol and other drug (AOD) issues.
A Hobsons Bay City Council report showed that over 60% of adults in Hobsons Bay have an increased lifetime risk of alcohol-related harm, and 46.2% of people are at increased risk of alcohol-related injury – higher than the Victorian average of 42.5%.
Solution
For its fourth Community Action Plan, the LDAT designed an activity focussing on education and job-readiness skills for young people, to strengthen protective factors against AOD harm.
This project targeted at-risk young people, giving them the chance to participate in one of 12 job-readiness training sessions and four AOD education sessions, which were informed by resources from the ADF and Positive Choices.
Community events raised awareness of local AOD organisations and services and encouraged young people to enroll in the training sessions.
Impact
From late 2023 to mid-2024, the LDAT delivered 16 training sessions including AOD education, Responsible Service of Alcohol, customer service and construction inductions, reaching 277 young people.
In the evaluation, 94% of participants reported an increased knowledge of AOD harms and 90% reported they were more likely to seek help or support others to seek help if they need it.
The LDAT also ran four community events including Careers Day, Multicultural Celebration, Harmony Week, Refugee Week Photo Competition and Expo, where a highlight was a visit from Western United players.
Of the 550 young people who attended, 92% reported an increase in knowledge of local AOD organisations and services and 88% felt an increased social connection to their school or local area.
As of late 2024, ten young people had already found a job following the training.