February 2010 Edition
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Events and Activities Coming Up:

Regular opening hours of Tuesday to Friday 1.30 – 7pm and Saturdays 12noon – 7pm

For Your Information

Tamworth Youth Interagency 2010 Meeting Dates:
Wednesday 10th March 2010 10am
Wednesday 9th June 2010 10am
Wednesday 8th September 2010 10am
Wednesday 8th December 2010 10am
All meetings take place at Tamworth Youth Centre - The Youthie, PCYC Building Corner of Peel and Darling Streets TAMWORTH NSW 2340.
World of difference: Applications are now open, apply before 7 Feb 2010. The Vodafone Foundation Australia are giving 5 Australian’s the incredible opportunity to work for the charity of their choice for one year. To enable you to do this we’ll pay your annual salary (up to $50,000) and expenses (up to $25,000). To apply complete the online application form describing how you will make a world of difference for your chosen charity, the application form can be found at www.vodafone.com.au/personal/aboutvodafone/worldofdifference.

Express Your Reality Art/Writing Competition: Oxfam Australia and Culturalista magazine are teaming up to present the Express Your Reality Art/Writing Competition. 2 X $500 prizes are up for grabs, plus other great prizes, plus the chance to have your creations exhibited as part of Oxfam's Refugee Realities Simulation. Submissions close February 28th. For more details visit the website at www.culturalista.org.au/expressreality. Entries can be in any written or artistic style; poems, photos, sculpture, paintings, anything! Entrants must be current or former refugees or asylum seekers. Please direct any questions to expressreality@oxfam.org.au or contact Dustin on 0428385272.

Give up alcohol for a whole month? We double dare you! FebFast is a national health and charity campaign that dares Australians to banish the booze during February, the shortest month of the year. After the indulgent festive season, FebFast gives your liver a break while raising money for organisations that help young people with serious alcohol and drug problems. Giving up grog for 28 days can seem daunting to some, so in 2010 FebFast “double dares” you – sign up for FebFast with a friend, partner or family member and do it together. Funds raised from FebFast go to The Australian Drug Foundation, Youth Substance Abuse Service (VIC), Ted Noffs Foundation (NSW and ACT), Mater Hospital Adolescent Drug and Alcohol Withdrawal Service (QLD) and several community organisations. During February, FebFasters will receive a range of discounts and goodies including free Step into Life group fitness sessions, discounts at GNC LiveWell stores and Endota Spa, and concession price tickets at Moonlight Cinema. Kick-start your fundraising by paying the $25 ($10 concession) registration fee, then create your own page where your friends and family can donate online. All donations over $2 are tax deductable. While FebFast is a challenge, we don’t want to spoil the party – participants can purchase a date stamped ‘Time Out Certificate’ to celebrate a special occasion with alcohol. Take up the challenge and sign up today at www.febfast.com.au.

 Think before you post: ‘Think before you post’ is the theme of Safer Internet Day 2010, the international cybersafety event supported in Australia by the Australian Communications and Media Authority. Safer Internet Day is the annual event which aims to raise awareness about the safe and responsible use of online technologies by children and young people. It is organised by Insafe, an international network for internet safety.  The ACMA will hold a number of activities in the lead up to Safer Internet Day which takes place on 9 February 2010. For more information about Safer lnternet Day and the Cybersmart program or for copies of internet safety resources, please call the Cybersafety Contact Centre on 1800 BB0 176 or email cybersafety@acma,gov.au. The cybersmart website can be found at www.cybersmart.gov.au.

Breakthrough - Emerging Indigenous Musicians Recording Initiative: Breakthrough provides an opportunity to expose the talent and creativity of Indigenous musicians to national and international audiences. Breakthrough aims to take Indigenous contemporary musicians to a wider listening audience by providing up to $25,000 to three emerging Indigenous musicians to produce a high quality CD suitable for commercial release. This funding can assist with recording costs, production and engineering fees, mixing, mastering, design work and printing, as well as associated publicity and media costs. Music provides an important vehicle for emerging Indigenous musicians to express their creativity and culture and Breakthrough offers them an opportunity to professionally record their music. It is evident that there is a lot of talent present in the Indigenous contemporary music sector and we encourage all emerging Indigenous musicians to apply for the Breakthrough funding and bring their musical talents to the attention of the mainstream music industry. Applications for Breakthrough funding close at 5pm on Friday 19 February 2010. For more information go to www.arts.gov.au/indigenous/breakthrough or ring 02 6275 9615.

Youth Services Toolkit: In 2009 Communities NSW Sport and Recreation developed a free online resource called Youth Services Toolkit which is aimed at assisting community youth workers and sporting clubs. Our aim is to have this resource widely used throughout the community to help empower sporting clubs and volunteers. The website can be found at www.youthservicestoolkit.com.au.

Inquiry report about children and young people: The NSW Parliamentary Committee on Children and Young People recently released a Kids' Version of its inquiry report about children and young people 9-14 years. As the full inquiry report is about 350 pages long, the aim of the Kids' Version is to make the findings of the report more accessible to children and young people, particularly those aged 9-14. Feedback was sought from children and young people in this age group  about the 4 page Kids' Version while it was being developed. Two versions with the same text but different graphics were produced, as they appealed to different subgroups of children and young people. Copies of the Kids' Version can be viewed via the Committee's website at www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/children.

To make a contribution to this newsletter contact:
Stephen Blanch
Email: s.blanch@tamworth.nsw.gov.au
Phone: 02 6766 4645
Fax: 02 6761 2727
Web: www.theyouthie.org