Green Job Pathways Trainees Rate Program At 89%
Despite severe Covid interruptions, the Green Job Pathways program, a key Moving Feast initiative, has worked with a total of 49 young people over the last two years. These young priority job seekers have been a part of STREAT’s intensive program where they receive over 1,000 hours of support and employment, including their shifts on site across the Green Job Pathway partner sites.
Five young people have gone onto employment in the horticulture sector, with others finding employment or returning to training in other food-system roles such as hospitality, retail and labouring. The trainees rated their horticulture work experience at 89% overall. "It was really lovely [learning about horticulture], and the amount of freedom I had with it. Getting your hands dirty was therapeutic," one young person told us.
Not only has the program been a resounding success for the young people, but the teams who facilitate the work experience. One horticulturalist said: “Having young people working in horticulture is so much fun. We get to see the inspiration, connection, joy and groundedness that comes with working with plants and the earth. It is the benefit that we experience every day as horticulturists and its quite beautiful to watch that transfer to young people. When everything around us is unstable, digging your hands into the dirt is the surest way to calm and ground yourself.”
This program has built on STREAT’s successful youth programs in hospitality, and operates in collaboration with Moving Feast partners, who provide training sites, including CERES, Melbourne Farmers Markets, Collingwood Children’s Farm, Cultivating Community and STREAT.
The Green Job Pathways initiative has also facilitated professional learning and development sessions to be offered to staff from our partner sites. Training has been delivered by STREAT’s youth programs team, on the following topics:
· Hacks for Working with Young People,
· Cultural Awareness (delivered by Koori Heritage Trust),
· Trauma-Informed Practice,
· Alcohol and Drugs in the Workplace,
· Youth Justice.
We look forward to sharing more success stories, as the joy and opportunities of learning and earning in the food system is experienced by more young people who face a range of barriers.
Learn more about STREAT’s youth programs on their website and find out more about the Moving Feast’s strategy and approach below.
