City of Ballarat Youth Engagement
Understanding perspectives of young people with disabilities
The Challenge
The City of Ballarat recently received funding from VicHealth to undertake an audit of community facilities, from the perspectives of young people with disabilities. The purpose of the funding was to better understand the lived experiences of young people and identify actions to make public spaces and buildings more accessible, welcoming and inclusive. Council identified an opportunity to undertake targeted engagement with young people as part of the development of the Ballarat Community Infrastructure Design Guidelines (being led by CoFutures).
CoFutures was engaged by Council to design and deliver an engaging program of activities and workshops with groups of young people with disabilities across Ballarat.
What We Did
- Developed an experience-based engagement plan, based around community facility tours and capturing participant perspectives though interactive activities.
- Dedicated stakeholder outreach and a communications campaign designed to raise project awareness.
- Designed accessible engagement collateral tailored for different youth audiences including kindergarten, primary school and secondary aged children.
- Facilitated a program of engagement with community organisations across Ballarat.
- Reviewed engagement findings and prepared an insights report.
Outcomes
The feedback and insights gathered throughout this engagement program will be used to directly inform aspects of The City of Ballarat’s new Community Infrastructure Design Guidelines. In particular, feedback provided by young people with disabilities will inform the development of a guide to designing ‘safe and inclusive community facilities’, to be used by various departments and teams across Council.
