Lithgow Sprint and the Big Fix are working with the community, primarily young people, to gather stories and provide a variety of training in community and farming innovation, regeneration, mental health, resilience, sustainability, marketing and digital media.
Stories are being shared as part of a broad community campaign with the objective of rallying community spirit, and encouraging activities and behavioural changes that will help ‘change the story’ of Lithgow’s future.
To date, the project has engaged groups of youth to participate in Permaculture and Social Enterprise design courses, educating them on the maintenance and development of sustainable and regenerative social enterprises, providing them with the opportunity to diversify income streams for farming families, and has created a non-formal, enjoyable, community-centred free learning environment that inspires disengaged young people to participate in changing their future.
Additionally, Youth Mental Health First Aid courses have been held to encourage young people to recognise signs of at-risk peers and instill them with the knowledge to know what to do and say to someone they may be concerned about.
In May, the Lithgow Pluriversity course celebrated its first lot of graduates at Lithgow Transformation Hub. Graduates gave presentations on their designs, providing outlines of the social enterprises they envisage will meet the critical needs of the Lithgow community. These included composting kits, life-coaching, a creative platform for young people to connect and a range of solutions to improve homelessness.
Two young graduates went on to make their social enterprises a reality with one commencing a plumbing apprenticeship with the dream of increasing the number of grey and blackwater recycling systems in Australia and another partnering with a local organisation to build a permaculture social enterprise in the Capertee Valley.
The project experienced some interruptions due to COVID-19 but we look forward to hearing about other achievements in the near future!
