Youth Advisory Board: Promoting Innovation and Giving Youth a Voice

On November 26, 2019, Communities@Work launched the inaugural Youth Advisory Board (YAB), facilitated by Andrew Chenery, Chief Executive Operations and Finance Officer and Lee Maiden, Chief Executive Officer.

Youth Advisory Board (YAB)

Updated: 26 August 2020

Communities@Work launched the Youth Advisory Board (YAB) in 2019. It comprises a voluntary group of passionate young employees from across the organisation, who provide insights to the executive board about youth issues, both within the organisation and the broader Canberra community.

Their remit is to research the issues affecting and important to the young people within Communities@Work and the wider community. They report their research to our Executive Team, who use this information to inform policy and professional development opportunities. The YAB members also develop and implement projects, business cases, proposals, and policies under the guidance of the Executive Team.

The Executive Team also provides the Youth Advisory Board members mentoring and ongoing support – and provide access to the Board of Directors for 6-monthly briefings. For our YAB members, this formal structure provides them with a great addition to their on-the-job training and provides opportunities to develop leadership and management skills, alongside adding diversity to our governance and supporting the organisational growth through creative ideas and strategic input.

The YAB forms an important component of the strategic focus of Communities@Work on innovation and sustainability, supporting our formal professional development program, and helping to develop our next generation of leaders.

The initiative is significant as part of a greater strategic focus on innovation and community engagement for Communities@Work. It is not only important for ongoing and continuous improvement, but is key to our workforce strategy to maintain long-term success and drive positive organisational change to create positive social impact in the community – one among the many initiatives in our Strategic Plan 2019-2022.

Find out more about the Youth Advisory Board and its members here.

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