Group set to tackle youth issuesBy Dion Teasdale

COMBATING youth unemployment and drug addiction, and improving services and activities for children are some of the initiatives of a new group in Millgrove.
The Millgrove Children’s and Youth Group has outlined a raft of ideas for addressing the lack of resources for the youngest members of the Millgrove community.
Some of the initiatives include tackling alcohol and substance abuse, poor school retention rates and the lack of employment opportunities for young people. The group is also keen to raise awareness of and improve access to education, sporting and extracurricular activities for children in the town.
Convenor of the group River Valley Church pastor Andy Bennett said a number of initiatives were already underway.
“We are looking at staging a carnival in March next year that will showcase all of the services and activities available to children and young people in and around Millgrove,” he said.
“One of the problems we have here is that not everybody in the community is aware of the services available to children and teenagers and a carnival will help address this.”
Mr Bennett said the carnival, which is likely to be held at the Millgrove campus of Millwara Primary School, would offer a ‘smorgasbord’ of afterschool activities children and young people can engage in.
He said the Children’s and Youth Group, a subgroup of the Millgrove Residents Action Group (MRAG), was also working to establish a range of new activities.
“We’d love to set up a cooking club, a music club, an art club, homework clubs and an after school tutoring program for students in Millgrove,” he said.
Mr Bennett said the group was also keen to see the development of the reserve opposite the Millgrove shopping strip.
“It would be great to see the creation of a large playground facility with fencing and a pedestrian crossing to make it safe for children,” he said.
Addressing the lack of sporting clubs and other special interest groups based in Millgrove specifically set up for teenagers is another major focus for the group, Mr Bennett said.
“Young people in Millgrove have to travel to other towns along the Warburton Highway to access sporting clubs and we’d like to create more activities in our own town for our own youth,” he said.
Mr Bennett said the group was also hoping to attract young people to its committee.
“Abuse of alcohol and other substances, particularly cannabis, and high rates of unemployment are major issues for the young people of Millgrove,” he said.
“We want to engage with the youth in the area and work with them to address these problems and improve opportunities and create better outcomes.”