What are the aims of this site?
When initially established in 2002, there were no similar services in Australia. While there is a great deal of information 'out there', it is very time consuming for the average person to find it.
Youth issues span a very wide range of subject matter. Consequently, finding data relating primarily to youth means having to go to a variety of different specialist sources.
This site is seeking to provide a one-stop information service where youth service providers, practitioners such as youth workers and health workers, policy-makers and educators, and young people themselves, can 'go first' to quickly find reliable data, sorted by subject matter and continuously updated.
The specific outcomes we seek:
- More efficient use of resources i.e. a reduction of the time and financial resources that new and existing projects and services will be required to invest in researching their individual areas of concern.
- Support for special-focus projects
People setting up and maintaining special projects and programs will have a source to go to where they can find research-based information and statistics relevant to their subject area. - Contextualisation of youth issues
Service providers and policy-makers will be better able to synthesise information (because it is presented at one site) and see the inter-connectedness between complex issues, for example, education/ employment/ homelessness/ health. Raising awareness of 'interconnectness' is a primary aim of all ACYS projects. - An increase in young people's understanding of statistical data
Through the use of our site, we hope school students and young people accessing the site will develop an understanding of the uses of statistical data in subject areas that have real relevance to them. - A countering of the stereotyping of 'youth as a problem'
The wider community will have easy access to data that does not represent youth as a 'problem' but as a diverse group affected by the same social and economic influences as adult populations. - A raising of the profile of youth research
Access to (and knowledge of) the wider world of youth-relevant research will be opened up through 'Youth Facts and Stats' links to original sources of information located throughout Australia and overseas.