Growing Connections through the Clontarf Foundation
Date: 02-Sep-2022
One of the focus areas from our Water Skills Forum in June was to engage with high school students to promote the water industry as an exciting career path. Instead of competing with a myriad of other industries vying for the same target market, we identified the Clontarf Foundation as a possible connector.
The Clontarf Foundation has academies inside high schools across Australia to provide support to male year 11 and 12 indigenous students to assist them with building a sustainable life through education, employment, and sport.
Over the past two months, we met with the QLD Partnerships Manager and QLD Zone Manager to discuss the potential of forming a partnership with qldwater. The water industry is already a popular vocation for Clontarf students in Western Australia and the Northern Territory, so naturally we were keen to learn more.
We were invited to visit a school with an academy to see how it is run and to observe one of their Employment Forums, and on 25 August, Anna Mehonoshen and Des Gralton attended the South-East Queensland Employment Forum at Bond University.
There were approximately 30 students from three schools that host Clontarf Academies along with Clontarf staff and Employment Officers from Southeast Queensland.
The students were well prepared and extremely well-mannered, starting and ending each new introduction with a handshake and a thank you before moving on.
The event was hosted by two Clontarf students who welcomed everyone to the forum before an acknowledgement to country and the original custodians of the land that we were meeting on.
The forum provided seven Clontarf Industry Partners the opportunity to discuss training and employment opportunities with the students. Groups of students rotated to each of the partner’s tables where they had seven minutes to speak with the students. The partners had promotional materials to hand out and would talk about specific programs on offer like cadetships, traineeships, apprenticeships, or higher education pathways.
Former Gold Coast Suns player and now Indigenous Pathways Manager, Jarrad Harbrow, was a special guest speaker who shared his story from young student to professional AFL player. His message was one of finding your life pathway and working hard to make your dream come true. Jarrad spoke of the hardships he faced early in his life and then his decision to move away from his home and extended family to pursue his dreams.
As observers, we didn’t talk directly with students about employment and training opportunities within the water industry but agreed that this would be a wonderful opportunity for employers from water service providers and councils to be involved with as a regional group to offer insights about the water industry to students who are keen to find a sustainable career.
We were pleased to also get very positive feedback from Cairns Regional Council who have built a great relationship with Clontarf in their region. Although no students there have worked in the water sector as yet, we hope that the relationship will grow to include our sector over time.
We hope to build a couple of pilot programs in other regions to grow and nurture this relationship over time.
If you would like to learn more about the Clontarf Foundation and what we are doing in this space, please contact skills@qldwater.com.au