Ten young Claymore and Airds residents hugged each other after graduating from a training course that will provide them with job opportunities in the construction industry.
The 10 graduates – Aaron Rako, Tasileta Poutasi, Andrew Poutasi, Desmond Poutasi, Cigdem Ali, Emily Adams, Huldah Chan Check, Paul Cooke, Thomas Borland and Uresh Mendis – were on an emotional high during this morning’s special graduation ceremony in the Airds community centre in front of family and friends.
Aged between 15 and 31, the group said in a statement during the graduation that the Skills Exchange course was “life changing’’ and something that “brought them out of their comfort zone and offered plenty of challenges to overcome’’.
Five of them have already been offered positions with contractor Western Earthmoving, which is undertaking civil works to enable future residential development at the Newbrook project near Airds.
The other five will be connected with labour hire companies such as My Gateway – which attended this morning’s graduation – to help them in their job search.
The students participated in an eight week training course at Claymore to gain a Certificate II in Resources and Infrastructure Work Preparation.
The Skills Exchange program is a partnership between Landcom, Land and Housing Corporation and TAFE NSW that aims to give back to social housing communities by enabling residents to gain new skills to help them enter the workforce.
Landcom chief executive officer John Brogden attended this morning’s ceremony.
“This the first time Landcom has been involved, in a small way, in this sort of program and hopefully we will do more of them,’’ Mr Brogden said.
“Skills Exchange is a key element of Landcom’s Research and Learning program, which aims to foster lifelong learning, and our Sustainability Strategy has a strong focus on social sustainability through delivering world class, liveable places founded on equity, affordability and inclusion.’’
Landcom is working with Land and Housing Corporation on a number of urban renewal projects to provide a mix of new social and private housing, including Hillcroft at Claymore and Newbrook at Airds and Bradbury.
“With these projects we saw an opportunity to leave a lasting legacy that will benefit residents by giving them the skills they need to find employment in Australia’s largest industry,’’ Mr Brogden said.
Landcom is exploring options to expand the Skills Exchange program to other projects.
The Newbrook project at Airds covers an area of 62 hectares and will transform the existing 1,500 lot public housing estate into a master planned community with about 2,100 new dwellings for 4,800 residents.
Stage 1 and 2 are complete and further stages are now under way.
