Koorie Youth Council (KYC) acknowledges the Office for Youth within the Department of Fairness, Families and Housing (DFFH) for funding KYC to oversee the Marram Nganyin Youth Mentoring Program.
Marram Nganyin is a youth mentoring program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people aged 12-25 years old and for the last 5 years has been overseen in partnership with Youth Affairs Council of Victoria (YACVic).
KYC would like to recognise and thank our friends at YACVic for their contributions over the past 5 years. We acknowledge their work in supporting the self-determination of the program to ensure Aboriginal programs are led and run by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and organisations.
KYC is now funded to support the entire program and we look forward to supporting the organisations to deliver programs that are community designed and led.
“As Aboriginal people, we know what is best for Aboriginal people. We know how to look after our mob and how to work with our mob to have meaningful outcomes that empower our people, “ Leyla Quartermaine, Ballardong-Noongar, Marram Nganyin Youth Mentoring Coordinator.
Marram Nganyin is a name provided by the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Aboriginal Corporation, meaning ‘we are strong’ in language provided by the Wurundjeri People.
“We are really excited for the next two years of the Marram Nganyin program to be led by Aboriginal people, with and for Aboriginal people and what that will mean for the communities that we work with, especially for the Aboriginal young people involved in the programs.”
Mentoring has been taking place in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities for generations. It is often innate and/or informal, and carried out through the Elders’ traditional role of sharing the wisdom, the knowledge and the spirit. The work of Marram Nganyin and the local mentoring projects seeks to build on this natural mentoring process and combine it with formal structures to further improve outcomes for young participants.
For more information contact:
Leyla Quartermaine
Marram Nganyin Youth Mentoring Coordinator
Koorie Youth Council (KYC)
