What is your connection to Brimbank?
Given that the Youth Junction Inc. manages the Visy Cares Hub, which is a centre for young people, we are very connected to a range of community organisations, as well as Brimbank City Council. I am also a resident of Brimbank, so I am also personally connected to the area in my day-to-day life and work.
What do you like best about the area?
Brimbank doesn’t always have the best reputation, but what some people don’t understand is that there is a great sense of community in Brimbank and this is often overlooked as people tend to focus on the negatives. I think we look out for one another and blend well as a community, which I feel stems from the cultural diversity.
What could make the area better?
I definitely think that we could have more sporting and recreational facilities for not only disadvantaged young people to access, but also the broader community. I also feel that we are in desperate need of more housing solutions for the homeless, as there has been a recent growth in visible homelessness around Brimbank in the last few years.
Where is your favourite place to go for a feed in Brimbank?
As the Visy Cares Hub is a co-location
of services right in the centre of Sunshine,
there are many places we like to go for a spot of lunch i.e. The Granary Cafe, Cafe Mambo, Chub’s Kebabs and really you can’t go past
the famous Sunshine Vietnamese pork rolls.
What is your role at the Youth Junction, and why did you start working there?
My role at The Youth Junction Inc. is front desk administration where I manage the main reception for the building, but I also assist with our training programs. I have a long history with the Visy Cares Hub and the services it holds as I was a client 10 years ago. They assisted me through a difficult time and as time went on I volunteered to pay it forward for all their help. Seven years later the CEO offered me a traineeship as The Youth Junction Inc.’s receptionist. The Youth Junction Inc. gave me the opportunity to achieve my goals of becoming a youth worker.
What is the highlight of working in this space?
The highlights I feel are very much based around the young people we assist to watch them progress and become better versions of themselves. We have had hundreds of past clients/participants of our programs come back just to say thank you for all the help we have given them over the years and how we gave them the strength to overcome their difficult circumstances.
What additional support does The Youth Junction need to help more people?
As we are a not-for-profit organisation the biggest need to support our young people is funding. We must apply for grants for us to continue our work, more funding would assist us with more programs, employees and resources for the influx of referrals entering the services we offer.
What would people be surprised to know about you?
As I am in charge of the site tours I have found most people are surprised to hear that over the 12 years the Visy Cares Hub has been open we have grown to be the largest not-for-profit co-located youth service centre in Australia. When the Visy Cares Hub opened its doors in 2006, the building started with only seven services and over the years we have reached up to 21. We like to describe the building as a one-stop-shop for disadvantaged young people from the western suburbs and we are proud to be working with them and helping them to positively change their futures.
