Vibrant, engaged and future-focused young people are the corner-stone of any healthy and functioning community.

Since 2003, the board of the Central Ranges LLEN has been closely monitoring the labour market, employment, income and education status of all 15-24 year olds across the Macedon Ranges, Mitchell and Murrindindi Shires.

We are pleased to report that in the board's recently published environmental scan 2008-2011, the number of 15-24 year olds across the Central Ranges LLEN region who have been most at risk by being out of work, not in training and not earning an income, has been reduced by a massive 40%.

In some individual communities across the region, the reduction measured has been up to 75%!

According to the Business Council of Australia's own calculations in their 2002 report "The Cost of Dropping Out", this would save the community just on $20 Million dollars in productivity, health and justice related costs. Not to mention what this means for the life chances of individuals who are able to reconnect to learning or employment!!!

The board congratulates all of the Government, Catholic and Independent schools, TAFE's, Adult Community Education providers and Community Agencies across the CRLLEN Region for what can only be described as a stunning result in supporting some of the most disadvantaged young people in our community.

This has come about by these groups establishing programmes, partnerships and often incredible dedication by individuals to better align educational opportunities with the real needs of young people. There is still a lot to do, but these results are extremely encouraging.

These reductions are well in advance of the "average" or background changes in the youth population.

The board works closely with, but is independent of, all government and private sector education and training providers. We are funded by, but as an independent incorporated association, are independent of state government. This allows us to independently monitor how our communities are going compared to others around the State. We take this independence very seriously to ensure we can work with all sectors and all government jurisdictions.

All communities, no matter how large or small have a responsibility to nurture and assist in the transition from youth to adulthood, from school to further education and employment.

The new 2008-2011 Environmental Scan is now complete and will be circulated to all association members before the end of the year. It is the intent of the Central Ranges LLEN Board to assist in improving the understanding in our communities about the challenges and opportunities facing our young people and to continue to vigorously and aggressively advocate for the needs of young people across the CRLLEN Region.

The subtitle of the new scan is Our Communities, Our stories.

As part of this work, we are developing a series of tools that will help us see complex information and data about our communities in new and easy ways to understand .

We are providing you with a "sneak peek" of some of this work, in what we call our Skills Dashboard. Details can be found by following the link below:

Andrew Hocking

Chairperson

www.centralrangesllen.org.au/dashboard

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