Since its inception in April, 2013, the Youth Action Council has worked to gather the opinions and ideas of young people living and working in the shire.

These thoughts were then discussed, debated and developed to form the Northern Grampins Shire Youth Strategy 2014-17.

Members of the Youth Action Council attended the latest meeting of the Northern Grampians Shire Council and addressed councillors and senior officers on the strategy.

The strategy focuses on four key areas, all of which have achievable actions and outcomes attached to them.

These actions will be addressed by the Youth Action Council over the coming years. The key areas are:

Recreation and events.

Education and employment

Health and wellbeing

Leadership and community connections

Representatives from the Youth Action Council advised at the meeting that from the beginning of the proiject, it was the priority for the YAC to present the strategy in a way that was unique and engaging.

While the strategy focuses on four key areas, there are two in particular that are of major importance to the Northern Grampians region as a whole.

Access to tertiary education is an

important issue for not only young people in the municipality, but the rgion as a whole.

Youth Action Council members advised that the latest data from On Track (a Victorian Government initiative which surveys school leavers who have left school in the last six months) suggests that Northern Grampians Shire's young people continue to fare worse than their peers.

"Only 42.9 percent of our young people attended university after leaving school in 2013, compared with a 54.3 percent Victoran average," Titian Linley said.

"Although this is a worrying statistic, it is greatly improved when compared to 2012 ((17.1 percent compared to a 53.2 percent Victoran average) and 2011 (22.8percent compared to 52.0 percent Victoran average).

"It is difficult to pinpoint exactly how or why this shift has occurred and it would take two to three more years of these higher numbers to be able to determine wheter a genuine change has taken place.

"The YAC is confident that the actions suggested within the Youth Strategy could go a long way to consolidating this change, particularly through the improvement in awareness of pathway options for young people living in rural areas and promoting the concept of mentorship.

"This strategy is something we are quite proud of as it gives a voice to youth in our shire."

The other key topic of note in the report was mental health.

In 2012, the Northern Grampians region reported a higher portion of child and adolescent mental clients compared with other areas of Victoria.

The YAC members also presented a number of quick facts, including the following there were a total of 1,782 young people aged 12-24 years living in the shire. The number of 10-14 year olds living in the Shire is slightly higher than the Victoria and national average.