Time to Try a "Nutha Way" - The Voice of Indigenous Young People

By The Nutha Way Team A joint initiative of the Law Society of WA, Millennium Kids and Media on Mars

Nutha Way is an Indigenous youth leadership initiative of the Law Society of Western Australia focused on building better relationships between young people, their communities, the justice system, local police and stakeholders.

In partnership with Millennium Kids Inc. and Media on Mars, Nutha Way engages with young people in ways meaningful and relevant to them and garners their input to identify issues faced by them in their community. An important feature of Nutha Way is the 25+ year commitment and the ‘skills for life’ approach that aims to build capacity and empower youth led initiatives.

The Law Society, Millennium Kids Inc. and Media on Mars believe in championing the voices of Indigenous

youth and supporting them to pitch their ideas for solutions to the issues identified. This is critical if we are to help change outcomes for young Indigenous people and their communities. This approach also helps Indigenous youth build confidence, find and share their voice, develop community bonds and form partnerships to facilitate implementing solutions.

An example of what building community bonds and partnerships looks like is Nutha Way in Coolgardie. Young

Indigenous people in Coolgardie identified that they need somewhere to go when they need a break. The community realised that the empty house next to the police station would be an ideal location for this and could also function as a place to build a positive, culturally appropriate youth program. Over the last year, the Nutha Way team with the local youth, Elders and the Coolgardie Police have been working with us to secure that house for the Nutha Way team and the local community to use as the Nutha Way Youth Hub. This initiative has received a WA Police Community Grant to run an ‘On Country’ planning workshop with the young people and the local Police to co-design how the Nutha Youth Hub will work.

Another purposeful design element of the program has been connecting young people with Country. Being 'On Country' helps break through barriers, build relationships and creates a safe space to share stories. We take our young people on trips to the Great Western Woodland region along with Indigenous Elders to learn about their history, significant sites in the area, and the role of Woodland custodians.

Quote from Brenden Ah - Kim - Nutha Way Indigenous Leader

“There’s a lot of momentum with this program building positive relationships with the Police. The program breaks down barriers and is a great template for other communities wanting to build better relationships between young people and police.”

Quote from Sergeant Gary Simpson – Officer in Charge, Coolgardie Police

“We used to drive past kids and we’d either get nothing or possibly the bird, but now we drive past and they wave and call out to us. We can stop to have a chat and talk about the basketball program we’ve got going on. The fact that they call us by our first names in itself, is a sign of success.”

While we do not have all the answers to addressing the complex social issues with Indigenous young people in small regional towns, we can see this program making steps in the right direction. Partnering with young people and championing their solutions is a great way to create positive change with, and by, young Indigenous citizens. In consultation with their communities, the journey creates positive reinforcement for them and their longterm futures.

For the first two years in the Goldfields, the program has been funded by Lotterywest and the Department of Justice’s Criminal Property Grants Confiscation Program. It is being delivered by Millennium Kids Inc. and Media on Mars. Based on the success in Coolgardie the Law Society and Nutha Way partners have been invited to run Nutha Way in other regional locations. We are actively looking for ongoing funding and corporate support to maintain engagement in Coolgardie and the Goldfields whilst also potentially expanding to other regions.

More information

More information on Nutha Way in Coolgardie can be accessed via the Nutha Way 2020 Annual Story.

For more information about Nutha Way please visit www.nuthaway.org.au or follow us on:

FaceBook: https://www.facebook.com/Nutha- Way-104342954405582/