Bellingen Youth Hub has been named NSW Youth Service of the Year at Youth Action’s 2025 NSW Youth Work Awards.
The recognition highlights a local, relationship-based model that is shaped each week by the young people who use the Hub, and supported by families, schools, services, businesses and volunteers across the shire.
Ruzina Dahal, youth participation and sector development officer at Youth Action, said “The NSW Youth Work Awards have run for several years to celebrate the sector and recognise excellence, with around one hundred nominations that shine a light on the positive contributions youth workers and services make across the state.”
Dahal said the judges looked for “innovation and creativity, youth engagement and voice, impact and outcomes, and professional integrity and sector leadership”.
“The Bellingen Youth Hub was a standout amongst the nominees,” she said.
Coordinator Michael Mooney said the result reflects the Hub’s everyday practice and tone. “We keep the Hub non-judgemental, welcoming and safe. The kind of place where someone says ‘Hi, how are you?’ And ‘have some food’.”
Mooney said the model only works because it is grounded in place. “Because we are locally embedded and relationship-based, we can pivot where the community needs to go and incubate programs that genuinely reflect local needs.”
Mooney said programs and activities are built with young people, not just for them. “The Hub is for every kid, because everyone needs connection and everyone needs belonging.”
He pointed to practical work like the long-running learner driver program. “Our volunteer-run driver program, with donated cars, builds independence for young people and is economically beneficial for working-class families.”
Mooney said none of it happens in isolation, with many community members and groups contributing everything from food to mentoring. “It really does take a village here, each person has something unique to offer. So many good people make this place work, that it is almost impossible to map.”
Youth programs worker Kylie Selig described the day-to-day as honest and youth-led. “We build honest relationships with young people by getting on their level, doing things they actually like and not judging them.”
“When something is up, we sit down and say, ‘Okay, let us nut this out. What is this going to look like?’ and then we make it happen,” Selig said. “Part of the job is helping kids feel valued and helping adults learn how to communicate with young people.”
Long-time Hub sub-committee member Kerry Child said the win is part of a Bellingen story that began years ago, when locals decided to build a dedicated youth space. “A federal infrastructure grant set things in motion and the community rallied, Council secured the site, a local architect designed the building, and the application had strong local support, and the result was a genuine community effort that delivered a dedicated youth space.”
“The culture that followed has been one of trust and belonging. The Hub is open to anybody to come in, and that makes it pretty unique,” Child said. “In more than 13 years the building has not been vandalised. Young people see it as their space.”
“That sense of ownership continues to guide how facilities and programs grow. We ask young people what they want and then build it with the community, from the recording studio to the boxing and the gym downstairs,” Child said.
The Bellingen Youth Hub, managed by Connecting | Neighbourhood Centres of Bellingen Shire and funded by Bellingen Shire Council, provides youth-led programs, practical support and community activities across the shire in partnership with local schools, services, businesses and volunteers. More information: belloyouthhub.net
Hub youth worker Kylie Selig and Hub coordinator Michael Mooney with two local young people and the award
