After many years of hard work and commitment, Southern Shoalhaven Youth Services Inc is now widely recognized as an integral youth service provider on the South Coast.

This status sees the service well accepted and supported by our local community, ensuring continued growth, improved services and increased youth participation.

The community on many occasions in the past year has rallied to support our endeavors to provide a quality and diverse range of activities, programs and services.  This support has come in many ways through donations, financial and in kind and has allowed us to dare to dream.

They are extremely passionate, committed and proud to be a part of such a valuable organisation that is supported by our fantastic community based management team, young people and our wider community.

The Foundation is a “National Model” for a new approach to youth development.
We have created a template to be replicated in other regional centres around Australia.
The Dunn & Lewis Youth Development Foundation is a youth, community and government supported organisation created to serve the fast-growing NSW South Coast and surrounding regions.

The Foundation was established in 2003 by Ulladulla’s Gayle Dunn as a consequence of the death of her son Craig Dunn, his friend Danny Lewis and 86 other Australians in the Bali bombings in October 2002.
Gayle’s vision for nurturing local young people, her practical approach and leadership have inspired a groundswell of support across all parts of Australia and overseas.

The Foundation together with many supporters are steadily turning their dream of building the Dunn & Lewis Memorial Youth Entertainment Complex into a reality. Young people were consulted on their most pressing needs and how the complex could be designed to meet those needs.

The outcome is a unique facility and a breakthrough approach to young people’s well-being in many regions. The building at Ulladulla is a multi-purpose youth facility of world-class standard which will become self-funding and a national model for youth development.

Whitelion supports young people to build better lives for themselves and helps make our community a more inclusive and safer place.

Each year thousands of young people are disconnected from our community due to abuse and neglect, drug addiction and poverty. These young people have often had horrific life experiences with few positive role models and are caught in a 'cycle of discouragement' that is very hard to break. Many of these young people end up in Out-of-Home Care and in some cases in the Youth Justice System.

Whitelion opens doors to opportunities, relationships and community for young people involved in the Youth Justice System or at risk of involvement. This is achieved through role modelling, mentoring, employment and indigenous programs, outreach services, and through prevention programs run in rural and metropolitan communities.

Jamanee Gunya is a non-profit organisation set up to run courses in Aboriginal culture. They run an Indigenous Health Weekend Workshop for University students and any money raised goes toward running courses for Indigenous youth. Situated on the South Coast of NSW, Jamanee Gunya also runs one and three day culturalawareness tours for visitors.

Jamanee Gunya also offer courses for Aboriginal youth who are either in need or would benefit from learning about their own culture. Many teenagers have low self-esteem particularly Aboriginal youth who choose not to identify or be proud of their Aboriginality. 

The Nowra Youth Centre offers an outreach/street beat service in conjunction with our night time Drop in hours of service. You will know the Nowra Youth Services, from their Habitat Youth T/Shirts or jackets.

The Nowra Youth Centre is located on the corner of Plunkett and Berry Streets in Nowra.

They have also recently opened a Community Centre in the Bomaderry Plaza, which is open Monday to Wednesday, 9am to 12pm.

They are here to support young people within the local community.

Blueprint Shoalhaven is about all of us being part of planning the future for our region. Living and Learning in the Shoalhaven is future opportunities for more education and training; jobs and career options to grow our Shoalhaven.

The Shoalhaven Youth Advisory Committee (YAC) was established in 1996. This was a result of Council’s consultations with the community, including young people, who recommended that Council set up such a Committee to represent the interests & views of young people to Council & the community.

Since 1996, over 60 local young people have participated in the Youth Advisory, both as nominated youth reps and as invited guests. 

The Milton Ulladulla Times Newspaper is a wonderful supporter of the youth in our local area and continues to provide support, promotion and reviews of local youth events within the region.

Kids Help Line is Australia's only free, confidential and anonymous, 24-hour telephone and online counselling service specifically for young people aged between 5 and 25. Counsellors respond to more than 10,000 calls each week about issues ranging from relationship breakdown and bullying to sexual abuse, homelessness, suicidal thoughts, and drug and alcohol usage.

The service aims to empower young people by assisting them to develop options, identify and understand the consequences of a particular course of action, facilitate more productive relationships with family and friends, and provide information on local support services.  Kids Help Line counsellors are fully qualified professionals who undergo additional accredited training at Kids Help Line.