Un-Fair ground Conference 2018

We will be bringing local and national thought-provoking ideas to the table to tackle some of our community’s biggest issues impacting young people and the youth sector.

We know we have a lot of great stuff happening in WA, but we also know the reality for young people isn’t getting better, so we need you, your ideas, and your effort to make a change. We know what we have now isn’t good enough – so we need to do things differently. That’s why for this year we’re renaming the conference to Un-fair ground.

Let’s challenge the status quo together and make a real and lasting impact for young people here in WA.

HOW THE CONFERENCE WILL WORK

In 2018, YACWA will be disrupting the traditional conference structure.

We’ll be based at the State Theatre Centre in Northbridge, but for this year – we’re doing things a but differently, breaking out into some of the fun and funky venues of Northbridge and Perth’s CBD to have deep and meaningful conversations that spark new ideas and real ‘doable’ actions.

Not only are we disrupting the physical space of a traditional conference, but we’re also disrupting what we do at one too. We’re tired of conferences that just promote services and that talk ‘at’ rather than talk ‘with’ the audience. We want to use your time, and the time of others in the sector to create something, challenge our thinking and be courageous enough to tell the truth about the challenges young people face.

Each day you will be taken on a journey. We want you to be inspired, think deeply and find your own way to create action.

Each day will have three stages:

1. Be inspired – we will take proven solutions to complex problems from around the world and apply them to WA inspiring and motivating us for the day.
2. Think deeply – we will have deep and meaningful discussions, share ideas and local knowledge, think divergently, and walk away with a better collective understanding of the ‘why’ to each of these important issues.
3. Create action – we will work together to turn insights into action and walk away with a clear direction and purpose.

Over the two days we will be tackling six of our community’s greatest challenges, hearing examples of solutions from around Australia and internationally, thinking deeply into how these issues impact on young people and most importantly working collectively to create action.

This includes:

Day 1: Crisis Point

Day 1 will be focused on some of our most critical issues facing our most vulnerable young
people. We will explore the intersection between the care system, homelessness system and
the justice system, critically analyzing how each of these systems work and need to be
improved to prevent young people from falling into crisis.

Themes: Young People in Care | Youth Homelessness | Youth Justice

Day 2: Universal Change

Day 2 will be focused on some of our most far-reaching and universally impactful issues,
starting off by challenging the education paradigm, the international crisis of youth
unemployment, and how mental health is nurtured in a post-modern world of the internet and
social media.

Themes: Education | Youth Unemployment | Youth Mental Health

You can read more about each of the six conference topics below.

Let’s challenge the status quo together and make a real and lasting impact for young people here in WA.

2018 Topics

[cl-flipbox link_type=”btn” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.yacwa.org.au%2Fmajor-events%2Ffairground-conference-2018%2Fstreams%2Feducation%2F” front_icon_type=”image” front_icon_image_width=”” front_title=”” front_bgimage=”3156″ back_title=”Education” back_title_size=”24px” back_desc=”Do we have the guts to revolutionise our education system?

We are a capable of doing much better– and if we work together– we can achieve this.” width=”360″ padding=”0″]

[cl-flipbox link_type=”btn” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.yacwa.org.au%2Fmajor-events%2Ffairground-conference-2018%2Fstreams%2Fyouth-unemployment%2F” front_icon_type=”image” front_icon_image_width=”” front_title=”” front_bgimage=”3311″ back_title=”Youth Unemployment” back_title_size=”24px” back_desc=”Nationally the rate of youth unemployment is almost double the overall unemployment rate.

We know we can do better, and the time to act is now.” width=”360″ padding=”0″]

[cl-flipbox link_type=”btn” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.yacwa.org.au%2Fmajor-events%2Ffairground-conference-2018%2Fstreams%2Fmental-health%2F” front_icon_type=”image” front_icon_image_width=”” front_title=”” front_bgimage=”3157″ back_title=”Mental Health” back_title_size=”24px” back_desc=”Youth mental health in Western Australia is reaching a crisis point. For young people aged 15 to 24, suicide is the leading cause of preventable death.” width=”360″ padding=”0″]

[cl-flipbox link_type=”btn” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.yacwa.org.au%2Fmajor-events%2Ffairground-conference-2018%2Fstreams%2Fchild-protection%2F” front_icon_type=”image” front_icon_image_width=”” front_title=”” front_bgimage=”3258″ back_title=”Young People Leaving Care” back_title_size=”24px” back_desc=”The Child Protection System, both in Western Australia and nationally, are struggling. It’s time for a concerted effort for systemic change to create improving outcomes for children in care and to smooth the transition when leaving care.” width=”360″ padding=”0″]

[cl-flipbox link_type=”btn” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.yacwa.org.au%2Fmajor-events%2Ffairground-conference-2018%2Fstreams%2Fhomelessness%2F” front_icon_type=”image” front_icon_image_width=”” front_title=”” front_bgimage=”3153″ back_title=”Homelessness” back_title_size=”24px” back_desc=”The estimated 2,000 young people experiencing homelessness on any given night in Western Australia are invisible. The nature of youth homelessness means this figure may be a large underestimation. ” width=”360″ padding=”0″]

[cl-flipbox link_type=”btn” link=”url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.yacwa.org.au%2Fmajor-events%2Ffairground-conference-2018%2Fstreams%2Fyouth-justice%2F” front_icon_type=”image” front_icon_image_width=”” front_title=”” front_bgimage=”3154″ back_title=”Youth Justice” back_title_size=”24px” back_desc=”Western Australia has one of the strongest youth sectors in the world, passionate workers, and a bucket load of ideas. We want to make things better for the young people in our justice system.” width=”360″ padding=”0″]