Youth-Led Transformation at NMCC

In 2024, The Huddle, in partnership with The Y and the City of Melbourne, established a Youth Advisory Group (YAG) with the goal of strengthening trust between young people who engage with the North Melbourne Community Centre (NMCC) and the staff and managers who operate the facility.

Participants in the YAG undertook a tailored capacity building program, which included The Huddle’s Game Changers program, to enhance their career development and guide the design of a project to create an accessible Games Room for community use, while also establishing and communicating Conditions of Entry and Standards of Behaviour for users.

Paving the Way Forward, a Victorian State Government initiative, provided funding to operationalise the Game Room project. These partnerships provided the young people participating in the YAG an opportunity to manage a real-world project which would have immediate impact within the community, while also providing valuable career experience and skill development.

When asked to reflect on her time as a YAG member, Inas Adil said, “The Youth Advisory Group offered me an opportunity that proved to be deeply meaningful and transformative. It was in this space that I was not only heard but valued as a young person who is able to make decisions about our societies.

Participating in discussions, giving feedback, and taking part in even creating new projects made me learn how to advocate for change and gave me my needed self-confidence.”

Allysha Morris, Centre Manager for The Y at the NMCC worked directly with the YAG to help shape and bring their ideas to life. “The Games Room Project has been a powerful example of what youth led community spaces can achieve when built on trust, accountability, and creativity,” she said.

“Collaborating with the young women as they developed their survey questions and helped shape ideas for the bookings and open day was inspiring. Watching the young men cheer on their mates as they cut the ribbon, and seeing the smiling children creating, playing, and connecting, was genuinely wholesome. It was a reminder of why inclusive, safe, and engaging spaces like this matter.”

The initiative also aligned closely with the City of Melbourne’s values of youth engagement, inclusivity, and community driven solutions. David Rowe, Melbourne City Baths Manager at City of Melbourne was involved in the collaborative project and said, “Over the course of 10 weeks, the YAG process fostered strong partnerships between the YMCA, the City of Melbourne, and the broader community. The collaboration was marked by mutual respect, shared goals, and a genuine commitment to youth-led outcomes.

The Games Room, which now contains comfortable couches, a PlayStation 5, kids games, tables, chairs, computer access, table tennis, card games, lockers, a quiet Study Room and Makers Space is now available for use by the community who helped create it. The YAG hopes it will be evidence of what strong young voices can achieve when given the chance.

“Seeing our ideas taken seriously and implemented was one of the most fulfilling aspects of being a part of the group. The concrete results of our efforts and knowing that young people's opinions were influencing actual results was empowering. My conviction that youth participation in decision-making spaces is crucial has been strengthened by this experience. It has motivated me to keep up my advocacy efforts and keep trying to improve my community,” Said Inas.