Community Education Program

PLEASE NOTE: UNFORTUNATELY WE ARE NO LONGER RUNNING THIS PROGRAM, BUT YOU ARE WELCOME TO READ MORE ABOUT IT BELOW.

In 2012, Fusion Canberra developed an innovative youth mentoring and development program called the Fusion Community Education Program.

Based on similar style programs developed elsewhere in Fusion around the country, with the need coming out of research conducted into the needs of the Kambah community, and working in partnership with local high, the CEP is a supported work experience and pre-vocational training program for high school aged young people which helps them build confidence, discover more what they might like to do in life, and get them better prepared for the workforce.

One of the strengths of the program is the way that Fusion Canberra builds a supportive community and hopefully network around each young person. We do this by seeking to recruit adult volunteer mentors and support team from the local community.

The mentors are there to assist participants with some of the technical skills, but mostly to be a listening ear, and to learn themselves from the young people!

We have run 4 programs since Term 4 of 2012, and in 2014 we are hoping to expand and hold 3 over the year. Each program runs during school term, usually from week 4 to week 9 (6 weeks) one day a week.

The workplace streams we have had participants placed in so far are:

• Horticulture/Aquaponics
• Retail (Wombat Wardrobe)
• Bike Repair and Maintenance
• Hospitality/Catering
• Basics of Sound Engineering

The placement streams are really just limited by our imagination or need, and then, of course, the mentors to support young people in that stream.