City of Greater Geelong’s youth survey received nearly 3800 submissions with the overwhelming number of respondents being young people.
The Geelong Youth Survey received 3790 submissions mostly from young people, as well as parents, those working in education and community members.
Consultation was extended to allow for more people aged 12 to 25 to tell council what they value and the challenges they face, and for the City to identify key themes around their wellbeing, education, employment, leisure and safety.
Council received 3611 responses overall, the largest it has had from this age group for an engagement.
Schools that had more than 200 students complete the survey were Belmont High School, Bellarine Secondary College, Clonard College and North Geelong Secondary College, with Kardinia International College just shy of 200.
Parents, carers, guardians and interested community members made up 128 of the responses and 51 came from people working at an educational facility or with young people.
The Youth Development team will now filter and analyse the data, with an engagement report to be released in the coming months. Preliminary analysis suggests that the top three issues of concern that young people reported were school and study pressures, mental health and wellbeing and cost of living or financial stress.
Councillor Melissa Cadwell, Women & Community Life portfolio chair, said young people from across the region were behind making the survey a success.
“A big thanks to Vocational Major students at Belmont High School, Clonard College and St Joseph’s College Geelong who worked with the City to promote and encourage the uptake of the survey,” Cr Cadwell said.
“We also acknowledge the immense work of our Youth Council members and other young people connected with our programs who supported and promoted the survey at their schools and within their own networks.”
