From left: Amy Kovaks, Kim Bush and Rhonnie South in a pre-COVID-19 photo of the Eurobodalla Shire Council’s Employment Revolution team. Photo: Supplied.
Eurobodalla Shire Council’s Employment Revolution project has secured funding to extend its youth jobs project for a further 12 months.
The Eurobodalla Employment Revolution partners with local employers, government, agencies and education providers to connect job seekers with employment and training opportunities.
The project has two focuses: filling jobs in health and community services, Eurobodalla’s fastest growing employment sector, and connecting people aged 15 to 24 with training and job opportunities.
While the component that focused on the health sector wrapped up in June, 2020, the NSW Government recently allocated $150,000 to continue the team’s work to improve employment outcomes for youth in the region.
Out of 182 entries, the Employment Revolution project won the Community Partnership and Collaboration Award as part of the NSW Local Government Excellence Awards, in the 60,000 population and under category.
Council’s community development manager Kim Bush was thrilled by the news of the award, although she’s even more thrilled by the project team’s achievements.
“This award is testament to the role of local government in being able to collaborate and partner with existing organisations and businesses in our community to deliver improved local employment outcomes,” she said.
“In such a short time, the small but hardworking team was able to make a real impact in improving unemployment in Eurobodalla and upskilling our local job seekers, while, importantly, working with industry to support local workforce needs.”
One of Employment Revolution’s original targets was to get 50 young people into jobs to reduce Eurobodalla’s local youth employment by three per cent.
“We ended up helping 88 young people into jobs – a fantastic achievement – and we also helped another 110 people into jobs in the health and community services sector,” said Ms Bush.
Some of the project’s initiatives during the past 18 months included a youth traineeship program; a successful health jobs expo; a 70-page health and human services career guide; a Eurobodalla Jobs and Training Facebook page; weekly jobs and training email updates; and ongoing personalised support and advice to businesses and job seekers.
Ms Bush said the team is planning to open a ‘youth job shop’ in Moruya soon. It will also go on to compete at the National Awards for Local Government later in 2020.
The Eurobodalla Employment Revolution is funded through the Australian Government’s Regional Jobs and Investment Packages and Regional Employment Trials Program, as well as the NSW Department of Education and Eurobodalla Shire Council.
For more information about the project, visit Eurobodalla Shire Council’s website or the project’s Facebook page.
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