Today I was at the Annual General Meeting of the Youth Workers Association here in Victoria. It was a modest affair with about a dozen die hard youth workers attending of the over 400 members. The Association launched its objectives for the next three years and reading through it I pondered how the objectives would be met with only a dozen youth workers.
One thing holding the Association back was that those without a degree had limited voting rights, if any. This issue has been changed with a simple vote on changes to the constitution allowing those holding a two year diploma the ability to vote. We need to stop trying to keep people out and work out how we can bring the youth work family together.
For us to all work together will be difficult… but it is the only way we will be taken seriously. We have to stop our petty infighting and band together to change the sector for the better. Lets stop the fighting and stand together for the future we want to develop.
Aaron Garth
Aaron Garth is the Executive Director of Ultimate Youth Worker. Aaron has worked as a youth worker in a number of settings including local church, street drug and alcohol outreach, family services, residential care, local government and youth homelessness since 2003. Aaron is a regular speaker at camps, retreats, & youth work training events and is a dedicated to seeing a more professional youth sector in Australia. Aaron is a graduate of RMIT University and an alumnus of their youth work program. He lives in Melbourne with his wife Jennifer & their daughters Hope, Zoe, Esther, Niamh and son Ezra.
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