Council has partnered with Crazy Ideas College (CIC) to support the Social Innovators Program as it continues to build momentum and impact in its second year running.
Supported by local businesses and the community, young people from Ararat College and Marian College will work together to complete the program in Term Two of this year. The Social Innovators Program, a unique initiative led by Crazy Ideas College, blends elements of human-centred design, future-thinking, and innovation methodologies.
This innovative approach equips young people with the skills and confidence to create services, programs, and products that enhance the lives of their fellow citizens.
The success of the Social Innovators Program is made possible through the strong partnership between Council and Crazy Ideas College together with support from local stakeholders such as AME Systems and Central Grampians LLEN. These partners recognise the value of connecting their businesses and communities to a pipeline of talented young people, and are instrumental in bringing actionable projects to life.
Over 60 Year Ten students will complete the program on the 5th and 6th of June at Alexandra Oval Community Centre. Across the two days, students will discover new insights into issues they care about, generate crazy good ideas, prototype how these ideas could work within the community, and present compelling pitches that inspire action to a panel of community partners on Friday afternoon.
The program connects the local community and business partners so that teams can extend their thinking and act on great ideas. Community partners will provide feedback to teams as they develop their ideas, and connect teams with the right people and resources so their ideas can be brought to life.
As the program progresses, teams will continue to collaborate with community and business partners.
Our community's student ideas have previously addressed themes around environmental care, health and well-being, community connectedness, and learning innovation; this year's crazy ideas will be showcased on CICBeyond, an online platform run by Crazy Ideas College which is designed to share, celebrate, and connect these ideas with the community.
"Crazy Ideas College are fantastic at igniting young minds and nurturing students' truly ingenious new ideas," says Ararat Rural City CEO Dr Tim Harrison. "We saw some incredible work from our students during the CIC program last year, and can't wait to see the inventive ideas they develop and present to our community partners this time around."
