Young Mob works with communities where we are invited, our aim is to respond to individual school and local community needs and align to priorities to make a collective contribution. 

Young Mob employs, trains and strengthens local people. Facilitators range in age, knowledge and skills. The team have links to local community, land and culture and are staff, elders and members of the community.

Young Mob includes Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth from 10 to 20 years old. This means youth taking part include primary school leaders from Year 5 up to second-year tertiary leaders, trainees or workers.

The core method of teaching and learning is yarning. Other ways of learning that emerge from this yarning include:  country/place, ritual/meaning, visual/hands-on, observe/listen, respect/strong spirit and story/memory. 

 

There are three different streams:

1. Introductory Young Mob (ages 10-12)
2. Intermediate Young Mob (ages 12-16)
3. Advanced Young Mob (ages 16-20)

 

1. INTRODUCTORY YOUNG MOB

• FOCUS: School years 5-6 and/or introductory intensives with particular groups. Introductory can also work well for year 7 students
• An Indigenous young person shows interest in YM and is placed in YM by the hosting school, community or organization with parent/carer permission.
• The young leader then makes a commitment to fully engage and participate in YM activities.

This stream may be more appropriate for certain contexts e.g. organisations that prefer a reduced version of the program.

 

2. INTERMEDIATE YOUNG MOB

• FOCUS: Years 7-10. Students can participate without prior experience of YM.
• An Indigenous young person either self-selects or is invited by the school, community or organisation that is hosting YM and has permission from parent/carer to participate.
• The young leader makes a commitment to initiate a YM journey and fully engage and participate in YM activities and to take up other leadership and/or learning and earning opportunities supported by YM.
• The intermediate program is the full 10 sessions and a camp.

Students may participate multiple times between years 7-10. An experienced facilitator will tailor the program accordingly.

 

3. ADVANCED YOUNG MOB

• FOCUS: This stream is intended for young people in Year 10 and above
• An Indigenous young person has generally completed Intermediate YM and self-nominates or is
  invited to join Advanced Young Mob. They may be new to the program however and may commence at the Advanced level without having completed Intermediate.
• The Advanced leader makes a commitment to fully engage and participate in YM activities, contribute to their community and take up other leadership and/or learning and earning opportunities. They may have to participate in some activities after school or on the weekend.

A student who nominates to be a part of Advanced YM must first complete the Intermediate YM.

1. Identity
2. Culture
3. Strong Spirit
4. Yarning and Storytelling
5. Indigenous Resilience
6. Social Justice
7. Health
8. Goal Setting
9. Community Contribution and
10. Public Speaking. 

Young Mob has a long history and a big future. The success of Young Mob is seen in its story: Young Mob started in 2006 at Redfern Community Centre – ‘The Block’ and now has grown to be part of 22 schools in Sydney, Hunter Valley and Melbourne regions and we are continuing to grow.

Young Mob is in the city, the regions and out bush. Activities happen at schools, day forums, road trips, camps and exchange trips. Young Mob programs offer experiences to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students from Urban New South Wales and Victoria.

• trained and vetted facilitators, support and learning materials
• the coordination and facilitation of all sessions and beyond school activities (this is free for the young people attending)
• reviews and monitors the program, including annual progress evaluation, which is also provided to schools and families

• collection of permission notes for the program and extension activities 
• a key contact that can coordinate Young Mob requirements within the school and a teacher for in-school sessions and extension activities in line with state duty of care 
• a room or space which can be consistently used for Young Mob 
• the ability to schedule Young Mob sessions into the school program e.g. 1.5-2 hour weekly or fortnightly sessions 
• data that supports monitoring of program impact and change

Our Young Mob program partners with local Indigenous organisations and communities to give young Indigenous people a hands-on opportunity to connect with culture.

Our current partners in NSW and Victoria are First Hand Solutions whose approach is: 

• Hands on solutions - we work from the grass roots
• Hand free solutions - we believe that empowerment comes from people being empowered by the possibility of change within
• Hands together solutions - we work in partnership to make a difference to peoples lives
• My hands - we work together with Aboriginal people to show them how to put their future in good hands - their own