Page 21 - AYC Annual Report 2017 - 2018

Young Women's

Breakfast Club 17.

With the support of Multicultural NSW AYC initiated the “young women’s breakfast club”. The project had
multiple goals, the first being to provide young women with a healthy and nutritious start to the day. In our highly
disadvantaged community this is not always a given. Secondly the project aimed to cultivate a safe and inclusive
space in which participants were able to share their experiences of being a young woman in the world and gain
support from their peers. Thirdly the project aimed to provide young women with knowledge and skills to over-
come the challenges they face and where necessary link them to ongoing support.

Auburn Youth Centre ran this innovative program over a span of 9 months, implementing 4 programs in 3 differ-
ent schools: Granville South Creative and Performing Arts High School, Auburn Girls High School and Parramatta
High School. It was a unique and rewarding experience for AYC staff to integrate a program of this nature into the
school environment. During these 4 programs AYC engaged with over 300 young women born in many different
countries the most common being Australia, Afghanistan, Lebanon, India, Pakistan and the nations of the Pacific
Islands.

After the initial introduction period in each breakfast Club AYC introduced themed weeks. Young women who
regularly attended provided staff with suggestions around what they’d like to know or discuss in the following
weeks. AYC staff then prepared activities and resources to trigger skills development and conversation . Some of
the themes included female empowerment, healthy relationships, communication, female role models, dance
and music with a cultural perspective.

A major outcome of the “Young Women’s Breakfast Club” was the introduction of participants into AYC. The
program was the catalyst for young women to use different programs within the Centre including the Inspire pro-
gram, the school holiday program, drop in activities and more intensive support such as case management and
counselling. The outcomes were multiple and varied however this engagement into further activities made the
program an overwhelmingly success.

We thank Multicultural NSW for their support of this project. We continue to search for a new sponsor for a project
with so many positive outcomes.

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