• Organisation: The Youth Junction Inc.
• Classification: SCAHDS Award, Social and Community Services Level 6 Pay Point 1
• Remuneration: $58.37 per hour ($69,175.25 per annum based on full time equivalent)
• Hours: 0.6 FTE
• Contract Type: Fixed term (duration in line project phases)
• Reports to: TYJ and Target Zer0 Leadership
• Location: Office in Sunshine with outreach to surrounding areas

About Target Zer0

Target Zer0 is a placed-based collective impact initiative that brings together community organisations, service providers, young people and local stakeholders across the western region of Melbourne with the aim to end the criminalization and over-representation of First Nations, multi-cultural and young people in residential care in Brimbank, Melton and Wyndham. Grounded in a systems approach and community-led practice, Target Zer0 works to shift the conditions that drive youth justice involvement. The Safe Spaces Project sits within the Target Zer0 framework as an Innovation Fund initiative.

About the Youth Junction Inc.

The Youth Junction Inc. (TYJ) is a Brimbank based not-for-profit organisation committed to creating positive futures for young people in Melbourne's West. TYJ works collaboratively with young people, community partners, and local stakeholders to address systematic barriers, build community resilience, and develop innovative, youth-focused responses to local need. TYJ is the lead organisation for Target Zer0's Safe Spaces Project, working within a collective impact framework to create meaningful, lasting change in partnership with the communities it services.

About the Centre for Multicultural Youth

The Centre for Multicultural Youth (CMY) is a Victorian organisation supporting young people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds build better futures. CMY has been instrumental in the development of the Safe Spaces project, conducting foundational community engagement and youth inquiry across Melbourne's West that surfaced the need for this work.

About the Safe Spaces Project

Young people aged 10-25 in Melbourne's West experience high levels of social isolation and lack of access to youth-specific infrastructure. The absence of safe and welcoming "third spaces" means young people often have nowhere to gather outside home or school. Existing youth services are often highly structured, time-limited, adult-controlled or inaccessible outside of the traditional 9 to 5 business hours.

Young people are increasingly excluded from public environments, though hostile architecture, over-policing, surveillance, and a lack of youth-inclusive urban design. Target Zer0's root cause analysis found that young people from the western suburbs are over-represented in the criminal justice system in part because of over-policing and under-investment in preventative, youth-friendly infrastructure. Approximately one third of young people in custody in Victoria come from the western suburbs. Young people consistently report feeling invisible, excluded, and unsupported and report they want safe local spaces.

The Solution

Safe Spaces - Community Connections will pilot a place-based, non-criminalizing "third space" co-designed by young people, using existing community infrastructure (online and in-person) and public spaces across the western region. The initiative will include informal peer connection, a "no wrong door" approach to accessing supports and in-kind service delivery from partner organisations.

Critically, the project does not begin with a pre-determined model. The first phase of this project is dedicated to finding out what form the Safe Spaces project should take through genuine co-design with young people. This could be a new physical space, a virtual space, a mobile or outreach model, or simply a focus on reducing barriers to existing spaces. Young people are paid decision-makers involved in all phases of the project from design to evaluation.

Role Overview

The Safe Spaces Program Coordinator is a central role in the delivery of this project. The coordinator will lead community consultation and co-design, coordinate day-to-day project operations, support and mentor a team of two Youth Researchers, and act as the key link between the project's governance structures, partner organisations, and the young people at the heart of the work. This is a relational, community-facing role that requires a genuine commitment to youth-led practice, cultural responsiveness, and systematic approaches to change.

Key Duties and Responsibilities

Project Coordination and Planning:

• Develop, manage, and monitor the project plan ensuring milestones and deliverables are met in line with funder and partner expectations.
• Coordinate the recruitment and on-boarding of two Youth Researchers and the Youth Co-Design Panel in close collaboration with Target Zer0 partners.
• Manage project budgets, acquittals, reporting requirements, and administrative processes.
• Contribute to the development and ongoing maintenance of a risk management plan, incorporating community and lived experience input.

Community Co-Design and Engagement:

• Lead community consultation and co-design sessions with young people, community members, and stakeholders to develop a youth-designed model for the Safe Space.
• Facilitate co-inquiry processes, including safety mapping and asset mapping across Brimbank, Melton and Wyndham.
• Support the development of a shared understanding of safety with and among young people and partner services.
• Actively engage and maintain the participation of the Youth Co-Design Panel throughout the project.

Youth Researcher Support and Mentorship:

• Provide day-to-day support, guidance and mentorship to two Youth Researchers.
• Support the Youth Research team to design and facilitate data collection activities and community engagement.
• Ensure the Youth Researchers are appropriately supported to participate meaningfully and safely, with access to professional development opportunities.

Governance and Partnership:

• Support the establishment and ongoing operation of a Project Working Group with youth representation and Target Zer0 backbone support.
• Maintain effective working relationships with Target Zer0 partner organisations, local councils, community venues and other stakeholders.
• Prepare and present progress updates through Target Zer0 reporting structures.
• Contribute to the facilitation of partner check-ins and collective impact community of practice activities.

Evaluation, Learning and Advocacy:

• Contribute to the development of shared outcome measures and a youth-led evaluation framework in collaboration with Target Zer0 partners.
• Coordinate baseline and ongoing data collection through youth surveys and partner data, consistent with Target Zer0's shared measurement framework.
• Document and share project learnings through youth-friendly formats, community forums, and partner reporting.
• Support sustainability planning and evidence-based advocacy for ongoing funding and policy change.

Selection Criteria

Essential:

• Demonstrated experience in community development, project coordination, or a related field within the social and community services sector.
• Strong understanding of and commitment to youth-led and co-design approaches, experience working with young people as decision-makers is preferred.
• Experience working with young people from diverse cultural backgrounds.
• Understanding of the structural drivers of youth criminalization and a commitment to non-criminalizing, relational approaches.
• Demonstrated ability to build and maintain effective relationships within a range of stakeholders, including community members, partner organisations and governance bodies.
• Strong organisational and project management skills, including the ability to manage competing priorities and meet deadlines.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to produce clear reports and facilitate group processes.
• Current Working with Children Check and Police checks (or willingness to obtain them) and a valid driver's license.

Desirable:

• Understanding of collective impact frameworks and systems thinking approaches.
• Experience in qualitative, participatory, or youth-led research methods.
• Familiarity with the Brimbank, Melton and/or Wyndham community contexts.
• Knowledge of the Target Zer0 initiative or broader youth justice prevention landscape in Victoria.

Remuneration and Conditions

• Classified under the SCHADS Industry Award 2010, Social and Community services stream, Level 6, Pay Point 1.
• Hourly rate: $58.37 per hour
• Annual Salary: approximately $69,175 per annum pro rata at 0.6 FTE
• Superannuation: $8,301 (12%), bringing the total package to approximately $77,476.
• Salary packaging options available.

Should you seek any additional information, reach out to [email protected] using the subject line: Community Connections Program Coordinator - Safe Spaces enquiry via EthicalJobs.