Thursday 17 May 2012
12.00 pm − 1.00 pm
Brotherhood of St Laurence
67 Brunswick Street, Fitzroy
Fr Tucker's room
Contact:
Kristine Philipp
Email:
kphilipp@bsl.org.au
Phone:
9483 1364
Despite the best efforts of governments and portfolio departments at state and federal levels, Australia still faces a substantial challenge in addressing the stubborn levels of youth disengagement and social exclusion. How can we ensure that all young people are offered the opportunities to enhance their economic and social well-being? As a work in progress, this presentation will highlight the gaps in the current approach and propose the key principles and actions that would support a more effective and efficient youth policy framework. It brings together evidence from the Brotherhood’s service innovation and policy analysis to influence a national reform agenda, a new ‘Youth Offer.’ Assumptions that the ‘youth’ problem can be addressed through punitive conditionality agreements that target individual behaviour change distracts from a needed focus on the risks and obstacles located at the structural, systemic, and community level. Under this new social contract, a coherent policy would ensure that all young people have the necessary supports and services to more fully participate in society.
Joseph Borlagdan is the Research and Policy Manager for the Through School to Work transition. Joseph gained a PhD in Sociology from Flinders University in 2005, and joined the Research & Policy Centre as a Sociologist in 2011. In previous roles he worked as a Research Fellow for the Australian Drug Foundation, and as a Senior Researcher at the National Centre for Education and Training on Addiction. Joseph has also lectured in the Sociology Department of Flinders University, and the Communication School of the University of South Australia. Joseph has contributed to long-term, large-scale research about young people in the health and alcohol and other drug fields. His work in these areas seeks to increase the understanding of young people as active agents capable of positively impacting upon the cultural, social and economic conditions in which they find themselves.
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