YWCA Mura Lanyon Youth and Community Centre, ACT

Mura, Lanyon Youth and Community Centre is a youth centre for young people aged 12 –25 and a community centre that is accessed by various community groups. Mura will celebrate its 5th birthday this year.

The Youth Centre houses the Beanbag project and is a central part of the activities at the youth centre.

Young people use the Beanbag centre to: Access the internet – both for personal use like email access to researching for homework; Write job applications and resumes; To make short films and to Complete homework. Since the Beanbag centre has been introduced Mura:-

• Has had an increase in attendance.
• Been able to introduce film projects as we did not previously have the technology to do so.
• Been able to assist young people to gain a range of computer skills eg how to use internet, basic word processing etc.
• There has been an increase in young people using computers in the centre in general.

Young people have been able to make several film projects from the initial filming right through to editing and producing their own DVDs. These have been entered into competitions and been used in wider community projects. This has given young people a great sense of achievement. They have been able to express their ideas and feelings and present them in a way that they had not previously been able to do.

This has also enabled them to connect and participate in community projects that have assisted them to expand their worlds, as Lanyon somewhat isolated, being located on the edge of Canberra. Many young people don’t get the opportunity to travel far. By making DVDS and using the internet they have been able to connect up not only with their own community but a much wider community.