Onkaparinga Youth Committee (OYC)
The OYC is an active group of young people aged 12-25 years. They meet regularly to advocate for young people and drive change in our community. The OYC listens to other young people within our region, and represents their views to the Mayor, Elected Members and other interested groups.
The City of Onkaparinga provides support and development to OYC members including access to training, on-going mentoring and professional development opportunities.
Members who are required to attend monthly meetings held across the Onkaparinga region as well as ad hoc and planned youth related events where possible.
If you are curious and would like to know more, please contact Joshua Stokes, Community Development: Youth Coordinator on 0468 552 891 or email youth@onkaparinga.sa.gov.au
The OYC are currently recruiting new members for 2025! If you are interested in coming along to one of our meetings, meet the current crew, see what a typical agenda might look like and say hi, please get in touch!
The Your Voice Matters Campaign
Over the last two years, over 600 young people in the Onkaparinga region have been a part of the ‘Your Voice Matters’ consultation. Through school focus groups and online surveys, we have been asking 'what matters to young people?'. The Onkaparinga Youth Committee (OYC) were integral to the Your Voice Matters project during its development – assisting the Onkaparinga Youth team to ensure the survey was community development focussed, empowering and inclusive.
The primary objective of Your Voice Matters is to utilise the feedback we have received from young people and together, create a plan of action for the OYC moving forward. In line with the community engagement plan, our purpose is to:
- Ensure that young people have an opportunity to participate in the development of youth services in our city.
- Connect young people in Onkaparinga with decision makers and discover new ways to support young people in our community.
- Inform local young people about the project and how it will impact them.
- Strengthen our relationships with young people and schools and build confidence in young people to have their say on important issues affecting them.
Phase One of the consultation was over 2020/2021 and included a large online engagement survey with support from the Community Engagement team. The OYC and Youth team also worked together to deliver small scale focus groups within a number of schools and tertiary groups to unpack questions such as ‘If you had a magic wand, what change would you make that would be a big difference for you in the City of Onkaparinga’ and ‘What stands in the way of you living your best life?’.
Phase Two of Your Voice Matters continued on the 29 June 2022, where over 40 young people from schools FLO providers and tertiary institutions across Onkaparinga came together at Aldinga Payinthi College for our final Your Voice Matters Forum. Using a NOISE Analysis tool, the young people who attended brought fantastic insight into the key themes that had been overwhelmingly identified throughout our engagement: Mental Health, Climate Change and the Environment, and Access and Inclusion. An online survey also accompanied this engagement for those who could not attend the forum in person.
The Onkaparinga Youth Committee are working hard to analyse and respond to the feedback and recommendations in this report so stay tuned and subscribed to our mailing list for some exciting new projects and upcoming events and activities.
See below for the full report including emerging themes and all recommendations for the Onkaparinga Youth Committee.
Your Voice Matters final recommendations(PDF, 576KB)