National Youth Week happens every year in April and is celebrated across Australia as a week that is run ‚by young people, for young people.’
It started in 1989 and recognises the resilience and contribution of young people to Australian society. For those aged between 12-24, Youth Week is an opportunity to take part in live events and competitions, share ideas and voice concerns about what matters to them, showcase their talents, and celebrate all the unique contributions that the youth bring to our communities, both locally and nationally.
Our goal at CityCare is to see resilient young people who are empowered to pursue their potential and step confidently into a future they have the power to shape. The outcomes of our CityCare youth programs aim to see young people equipped, confident, connected and contributing. The Youth programs we run throughout the year aim to achieve this, and during National Youth Week, our teams run specific Youth Week Events across the country with these goals in mind.
In NSW our community workers will be running two free ‘3 ON 3’ basketball events in partnership with other community organisations. We ran the first event on Friday, 14 April at PCYC South Sydney and will be running the second one this Thursday, 20 April at PCYC Blacktown. For information on the Blacktown event, visit https://www.nsw.gov.au/youthweek/events/3-on-3-basketball
A special thank you to the NSW Police for their partnership and involvement that help make these events possible.
In previous years, these events have been very successful, bringing a high level of engagement and allowing young people from different backgrounds to come together and participate in different events. A CityCare NSW community worker shared about one of last year’s events:
“PCYC Blacktown staff said it was great to see youth from different ethnicities in the same building and environment, because they’re the ones that usually fight. The basketball games and ‘fades and braids’ space created common ground for them.”
We are looking forward to similar success stories from this year’s events. We hope to see you there!