The work communities such as Kiama have been doing to help young people during these difficult times will receive a boost thanks to $212,000 in state government funding for the Reach Foundation.
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Reach CEO Philippe Magid said the money, from the government's Stronger Country Communities Fund, would be used to work with schools in the southern Illawarra "to really support and empower the young people here".
Reach runs national school and community-based programs for young people aged 10 to 18 designed to promote their mental health and wellbeing.
"We feel this is really critical work," Mr Magid said during the funding announcement at Warilla High School.
"It is a tough time and young people will always need support, but specifically at this time it's been a real challenge.
"We will be working in [Kiama and Warilla high schools] among three or four schools in this region.
"We will always be dealing with challenging situations ... and we will be doing our best to support the young people of this region."
The Reach Foundation has been working with young people across NSW and Victoria for the past 26 years.
"We run community programs but the bulk of our work is done in and around schools exactly like this one here," Mr Magid said.
"At the moment there is a significant issue with COVID, particularly for young people being impacted around loneliness and isolation.
"One of the challenges for us has been trying to do our work in a COVID environment. The team has been incredible in being able to take some of our programs - which have previously been very important around physical connection - to be able to deliver them online.
"We are seeing some really positive responses to that from schools. But we are really hopeful that come next year we will be in this region physically working with the young people."
NSW Minister for Youth and Young People, Gareth Ward said building people's mental health, particularly young people's, couldn't be more important when it came to building stronger communities.
"We've seen in our region some devastating tragedies in recent weeks and months and there is no doubt that the pressures of 2020 have been enormous, particularly on young people," the Kiama MP said. "We've seen in this part of the world, not just drought but also bushfires, flooding and COVID.
"So building resilience, building self awareness, building self confidence is incredibly important and that's what the Reach Foundation is going to do here in the Shellharbour area."
Mr Ward said the funding was not a cost to government, but an investment in young people.
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Agron Latifi
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
Wollongong born and bred. I love reporting about the Illawarra region and have been doing it for more than 20 years. I've moved into sport recently after covering the education round for the last five plus years for the Illawarra Mercury. It's been a great pleasure.
