The Rotary Club of Terrigal has been working in collaboration with NDIS provider Social Futures to mentor a group of young people with disability to create social events. It was identified that there were no local opportunities on the Central Coast for young people with disability to get together, enjoy live music, have a drink if they chose to and make new social connections.
“While supporting young people to learn new skills we work alongside them to facilitate opportunities to meet and socialise with other young people in their community,” says Maggi Vincent.
Social Futures Gosford creates inclusive communities and helps bridge the gap of social isolation. They connect people to the support they need when they need it.
Social Futures contacted the Rotary Club of Terrigal in early 2022 with the view of working together to support social inclusion on the Central Coast.
Over the past 15 months, the club has supported a group of six young people to plan and host four inclusive dance parties – the Waves Inclusive Dance Parties.
Monthly meetings are held with all committee members, which includes a representative from Terrigal Rotary, where meeting procedure, marketing, planning, funding avenues and evaluation of the project is discussed.
The theme for each dance party, planning and purchasing decorations and marketing for each event, including speaking to local media, is all undertaken by the young people with support from both Social Futures and Terrigal Rotary.
Live music was seen as an important factor for the dance parties and the committee members liaise with the bands to choose music that meets the taste of those attending.
Terrigal Rotary members attend each event, helping with setting up and taking payment at the door.
“It is so rewarding to see the outcomes at each event with numbers attending growing to over 200 at our latest social dance,” says Maggie.
Feedback from attendees and carers is gathered at each event to ensure the committee is responsive to the needs and wishes of those young people attending.
The committee was recently approached to start an inclusive dance party on the north end of the Central Coast.
If you would like to know more about this project and how you can support social inclusion in your area, contact Maggie Vincent via maggieandjamie@gmail.com