Bankstown Multicultural Youth Service BMYS

HomeBass Youth Facility
Located within the CBD of Bankstown HomeBass provides a base from which many youth services and community activities can be run. It includes a multimedia area with 3 computers with Internet access: a multipurpose activity, meeting and relaxation space: a kitchen, recording studio and office space.

Dropin @ HomeBass Youth Facility
Drop-in provides young people with a safe, supervised and cost free place to hang out & meet other young people. We open HomeBass to young people after school on Tuesdays & Wednesdays 3pm-6pm and Thursdays & Fridays 3pm-7pm. Young people can play pool, surf the internet, play games, participate in a wide range of activities or just hang out and socialise with friends with no cost involved. We also run special activities that not only aim to entertain young people but to also build their confidence & skills, awareness of local issues and increase their community involvement.

Streetwork
Youth workers make contact with young people in their own environment and on their own terms. Streetworkers go into the areas that young people hang out to build rapport based on trust through the provision of support, information and assistance.

Generalist Youth Work
This project provides various programs and activities to develop young peoples skills and self-esteem. It organises activities to raise the profile of youth within the community and runs a variety of creative arts type projects for young people. The project also operates a music/song writing and a recording facility within HomeBass.

Settlement Project Officer
Funded by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, the project officer aims to provide both individual and peer group support to newly arrived refugee youth in the Canterbury-Bankstown LGAs. Homework help, employment preparation and personal development programs will equip the target group with core skills to succeed in educational, training and employment endeavors. The project officer does casework with the clients by helping them with issues such as: Visa concerns; education; legal problems; and any other issues of concern. Youth are encouraged to get into performance, music, and hospitality whilst building skills in creative arts and community festivals.

Homework, Education, Employment, Training (HEET) Assistance
This runs every Wednesday afternoon during drop-in. Young people are provided with assistance with homework, literacy, form filling, job applications and much more.

Seniors for Youth
Senior volunteers from the community work together to provide a café food service for young people during drop-in hours of Thursday afternoons. The main aim of the project is to provide a means by which older people and young people can interact with each other. Young people also get the opportunity to learn from the older people and are exposed to positive examples of community participation.

Hospitality Project
Young people are able to get practical training and work experience in the hospitality sector by working in the youth café and helping with catering for functions. An experienced hospitality officer works with the young people to provide a regular café service for young people in drop-in and to run the youth catering enterprise.

Youth Legal Advice Outreach Service
Solicitors from Marrickville Legal Centre provides free legal support and advice to young people every fortnight during dropin at HomeBass on Tuesday afternoons.

Harlem Live Global Correspondent Project
A partnership with Harlem Live based in Harlem, USA. Local young people are taught journalism skills and then write articles that get published online at www.harlemlive.org under the "International - Asia" section.

Youth Volunteer Program
Young people are provided with opportunities to volunteer in a number of areas including youthwork, hospitality and office work. Once a young person completes 20hours of volunteer work they are provided with a certificate and reference for their resumes.

Community Harmony Youth Project (CHYP)
CHYP provides young people to participate in life changing experiences while building connections with the community. In 2008 fourteen young people got the opportunity to travel to Turkey for the ANZAC Day Dawn Service at Lone Pine accompanied by police officers and community volunteers. For more information go to C.H.Y.P. at (www.chyp.com.au)