Camden's Youth Cafe

Camden's Youth Café, Camden's newest youth facility, opened its doors on 7 March 2007. The Youth Café provides a relaxed, informal space for young people 12-18 years. The space has a range of active and passive areas so young people can choose to take part in activities, meet friends for a chat and a coffee, relax, study, get information or read some of the new youth library resources available.

The Youth Cafe is based upstairs in the Youth Space of Narellan Library, corner Queen and Elyard Streets, Narellan and operates on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday afternoons from 3.30-6.30pm.

The Café is staffed by a Coordinator and Assistant who provide a program of activities as well as information and referrals for young people.

For a copy of the current Youth Café program click here.

Click here to view that Camden Youth Cafe brochure

To view images of Camden Youth Cafe, please click on the links below

For more information, please contact the Youth Café Coordinator on 4645 5071 or email.

The Camden Youth Café provides an opportunity for local young people aged 12-18 years to socialise in a safe, supervised and supportive environment. The Youth Café is fitted out with comfortable, modern furniture, PS2, Nintendo Wii, 2 computers with internet access, pool table, latest youth-related magazines and youth library resources including board games and graphic novels (comics). Low-price food and beverages are also available. There are also kitchen facilities available for use.

The Youth Café is staffed by a Coordinator and Assistant, providing regular programmed activities, information and referrals for local young people. Programs and partnerships have been developed with other community organisations including Traxside Youth Health Service, Camden Area Youth Services (CAYS) and with Council's Camden Library Service Youth Librarian, Cultural Development Coordinator and Environmental Education Officer. A program of activities has been developed and distributed to local high schools. Each month this program is developed in consultation with the young people, with many creative and fun ideas of activities to run. These range from monthly open mic nights, to creative art workshops, BBQ's, pizza and movie afternoons, health-related workshops and activities, to PS2/Pool/Wii competitions.

The Youth Café service has been promoted through local high schools, radio and newspapers, youth services, community newsletters, youth-related local businesses, flyers and banners as well as through feedback competitions. The Youth Café has been well received in the community with positive feedback received from young people, parents and community members. This has also been reflected in the statistics for utilisation of the space by young people. Between 14 and 30 young people visit the Youth Café each afternoon it is open, with up to 70 young people each week. When the Youth Café first opened on 7 March 2007, 109 young people visited the Youth Cafe (12 days operation in total) which is a positive response from the community.

Since the Youth Café opened, a number of key projects and events have been established. Every 6 months, a band night is held called "effectU8" with local bands playing and free BBQ's held by the Rotary Club of Camden. Other projects include the ARTSTART grant Photography Workshops that were held in June 2007, where young people had the opportunity to produce photograms with Camden Creative Studios and have their works published in the local South Western Artistic Youth (SWAY) magazines. Another project that the Youth Café has been successful in was the creation of an Aerosol Art project, where young people had the opportunity to learn airbrush techniques with a professional artist and create a picture to hang in the youth space. This was a grant provided from WSN Environmental Solutions.

National Youth Week is from 5-13 April 2008 and Camden Youth Café took a lead role in organising a music festival for young people in the Camden LGA. This festival, titled "Underground Frequency: Festival of Music" was organised in partnership with Youth Action Policy Association (YAPA), Traxside Youth Health Service, Camden Council, Camden Youth Café, Camden Area Youth Services (CAYS), Wollondilly Council and MAA Arrive Alive. Underground Frequency featured performances from seven local bands, song writing workshops, henna tattooing, free BBQ, Krispy Kreme donuts, free transport to and from the event, healthy smoothies and dips and free skate board competitions and demos.

For more information about the Youth Café and it's services please contact 46455071 or youthcafe@camden.nsw.gov.au, or check out www.myspace.com/camdenyouthcafe.