General News
30 March, 2023
Healthy future jump started by funding
An $8000 funding injection is set to help young people kickstart a healthy future in the shire, with positive signage and portable equipment soon to become available locally. A collaborative idea of Sports Focus and the Central Goldfields Shire...
An $8000 funding injection is set to help young people kickstart a healthy future in the shire, with positive signage and portable equipment soon to become available locally.
A collaborative idea of Sports Focus and the Central Goldfields Shire Council, the funding as part of VicHealth’s JumpStart! program will see signage and decals installed at local walking and cycling paths and open spaces, as well as soccer equipment rolled out into the community.
Sports Focus project coordinator Tamara Ferguson said the idea is to bring open spaces to life and encourage young people to get active.
“We’re going to be developing some positive signage to help teach young people and children where they can play and be active, as well as what types of things they can do in certain spaces,” she said.
“What we’ve seen for a long time is signage around what you can’t do, so the idea is to use positive signage and information for young people and families.
“We’re also going to use decals on walking tracks to show people how far they’ve walked which provides another aspect to active recreation.”
The project will be rolled out in Dunolly’s Gordon Gardens first before it’s introduced in Maryborough, however specific locations are yet to be decided.
“We’re super excited to see this come to fruition, we’ll have the sporting equipment very soon and we’ll make a start with signage in Gordon Gardens in the near future,” she said.
“We’ll also be working closely with the youth council to determine where best we can use this funding in Maryborough and what’s going to work well for young people.
“We wouldn’t be able to do this if it wasn’t for our partnership with the Central Goldfields Shire Council, this is about our partnership which is benefitting the community.”
Central Goldfields Youth Council member Ned Cotter said the project is a step towards engaging young people with local events and activities.
“Having sporting equipment available at local events will bring more young people to those events,” he said.
“The issue is getting kids my age to come to events and get involved, if there are things there that interest them, then they’ll come.
“The idea to have decals on walking paths is quite cool, I think that will be really effective in getting people of all ages more involved and active.”
Member for Ripon Martha Haylett said the program would benefit young people in the community.
“This fantastic program has been created by a local organisation within the Maryborough region, specifically to help improve the health and wellbeing of young people in our community,” she said.
“I encourage young people and their families to see what’s on — this project is a great chance to try a new skill and make new friends along the way.”
The local initiative is one of over 300 to have been supported by JumpStart! so far, with more than $7 million shared amongst projects state-wide.
