Fair Go For The West: Mt Druitt street mob’s Dreaming
A MOUNT Druitt youth outreach program is aiming to safeguard the future of at-risk indigenous youth through a program promoting their past.
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A MOUNT Druitt youth outreach program is aiming to safeguard the future of at-risk indigenous youth through a program promoting greater understanding of their past.
The Street University, which has been helping disadvantaged children for almost a decade, now hopes to expand its work to help keep indigenous students in school longer through the Deadly Dreaming Project’s emphasis on helping indigenous youths to understand their culture.
The Mount Druitt campus of the Street University, established by the Ted Noffs Foundation, aims to launch the project to target indigenous high school students who are disengaged and disconnected in society and at risk of dropping out of school and coming into contact with the juvenile justice system.
Indigenous facilitator Jai Pittman says research and successful past programs show that getting indigenous children to connect with their culture and to enhance their cultural identity through dance, music and art improves their outcomes.
“A program like Deadly Dreaming is so important because it gives the children greater self-importance and confidence as they come to understand their culture better,” Mr Pittman said.
“A lot of kids out here find it hard to be connected to their culture because they face challenges and sometimes negative stereotypes.”
The program was voted as a finalist in the Indigenous Excellence category of The Telegraph and NewsLocal’s Champions of the West awards, a grants competition for the Fair Go For The West campaign with 14 categories, each offering a $10,000 grant.
Street University Mount Druitt manager Julie Dubuc said the Deadly Dreaming program, and others like it run by the Street University, could help reverse negative outcomes for indigenous children in society.
“There is a gross representation of indigenous children in the juvenile justice system and statistics show they have poorer health and lower school retention rates,” Ms Dubuc said.
“Programs such as Deadly Dreaming can really help to reverse these issues in society through a greater exposure to their culture.”
If they win, they will use the $10,000 to provide resources to facilitators to take the program into more schools. The children will be taught about their Aboriginal culture, their identity, language and elders, and will focus on the arts as a way of positive expression.
“The aim of the project is to enhance the school retention rate among indigenous high schoolers and reduce their contact with the juvenile justice system,” Ms Dubuc said.
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