Hawkesbury-Nepean Youth Services Receive Excellence Award Funding

Winners of the 2021 FMA-NRMA Insurance Project of the Year Award, the NSW State Emergency Service (NSW SES) and Infrastructure NSW (INSW), are providing their $10,000 cash prize to Platform Youth Services. 

The winning project was the Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley Community Resilience Program.

Given the higher probability of flood risk for those in low-lying areas and the additional complexities for young people at risk/rough sleeping, NSW SES and INSW have nominated the prize be utilised to support a targeted approach to build flood resilience in this community.

Platform Youth Services (platformys.org.au) is a dedicated youth support service that works across the Penrith and Hawkesbury LGAs. The service provides assertive youth outreach, case management, early intervention and youth refuges and transitional housing for young people at risk.

Maree Abood, Head of Hawkesbury-Nepean Valley Flood Risk Management Directorate, said staff from Platform Youth Services have attended flood awareness training workshops in both Hawkesbury and Penrith, and have been early adopters of the communities of concern program objectives. Key staff at Platform are enthusiastic about increasing the capacity of their staff to build disaster risk reduction into their workplace and increase flood preparedness amongst their client base.

“The existing relationship with client facing workers where trust and relationships are already in place is likely to increase the success of this work” Ms Abood said. “A key requirement of this work must focus on building flood awareness and preparedness for the sector and workers who support this target group, in order to address the sustainability of this work into the future.”