Helping rural youth to thrive

Youthrive works with rural youth providing scholarships, opportunities, mentoring, workshops, virtual connections and wraparound care. 

The briefing was part of a breakfast series that Speaker Maree Edwards has been conducting to raise awareness about the community work and achievements of various organisations from across Victoria. 

‘As a regional MP, I'm acutely aware of the challenges that face young people in developing skills and contributing to their communities and Youththrive have done outstanding work in closing the education gap between rural and metropolitan students through scholarships and mentoring programs,’ she said.  
 
Andrew McGuckian, Youththrive CEO, said while it is a privilege to grow up and live in rural Victoria, it also has its challenges, which often involve young people having to relocate away from their hometown to a regional city or to Melbourne. 
 
He said while Youthrive supports young people with scholarships, their wraparound care program is also vital. 

‘Peer support, connection to our alumni liaison staff who are there on the end of the phone if needed, is all about wrapping around the young person and supporting them through their journey,’ he said. 
 
‘And we've had a couple of really great success stories this year where some of our scholars who've taken a break from study have been really struggling. We're thrilled that they're going to return to study and complete their degree programs next year.’

“ 'We have real strengths. Regional people are resilient, we are genuine, we are caring and those are really important attributes to have.' ”

Chris Dempsey, Youthrive program participant

Katherine Wagner told the briefing that Youthrive had helped her family through signifigant hardship.

'Seven years ago my mother was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and became a full time wheelchair user,' she said.

'As a result, my dad became a full time carer and suddenly my younger brother and I became part of a low income family and struggled with a lot of new responsibilities and the ability to afford certain things. The Youththrive Scholarship provided the financial support which allowed me to go to university.'

Courtney Casey has used her time as a Rural Engagement Coordinator to help connect young people from some of the smallest town in the state with Youthrive.

'Working with Youthrive and delivering branch out workshops in beautiful small towns across Victoria like St Arnaud, Maryborough and Murtoa has given me an incredible sense of purpose,' she said.

'Many of these smaller rural schools often miss out on these kinds of opportunities and we've seen that visiting them leads to more young people applying for our scholarships, which is really exciting.'

Xander Gragasin struggled when his family relocated from the Philippines to a small Victorian town.

'It was hard being 6,000 kilometres away from family and friends, but over time I slowly learned how to speak English,' he said.

'At the end of high school, I got a phone call from Youththrive saying that I got a scholarship. My parents were jumping up and down. I remember crying a little bit hoping it wasn't a dream. They were probably more excited than me.

'With this scholarship, I decided that I wanted to study criminology at La Trobe University so that I can become a police officer and keep people safe.'

Chris Dempsey said the program helped him feel proud of being from rural Victoria.

'We have real strengths. Regional people are resilient, we are genuine, we are caring and those are really important attributes to have.'