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Last Updated: Thursday, 22 May 2025 14:32

The Youth Leaders Program is a volunteer program for young people aged 14-24. This program allows young people from across the region to learn about local communities and groups, local events, activities, and services available for young people.

The Youth Leaders Program started in 2015 with 20 members selected to represent the region. Each year Youth Connect looks for 25 young people across the region to represent the voice of our region’s young people.

Members of the Youth Leaders Program are provided opportunities to learn about Council processes and the role of local government. They are encouraged to have a say and develop grassroots projects to create positive change– not only for the region’s young people but the wider community. Toowoomba Regional Council currently services a regional population of 173,000 people (ABS, 2021), with about 30,000 of these residents being young people. Our Youth Leaders play an important part in ensuring that Council’s programs are relevant, meet the needs of young people and have the greatest reach possible.

The Youth Leaders are required to identify and share information on community issues and opportunities for young people to connect to events, programs, and local service providers.

2026 Youth Leader Program positions

There were 25 positions available for the 2026 year. Applications will be open from 1 June to 27 July 2025.

Eligibility requirements for the Youth Leaders program:

• Applicants MUST live, work or study in the Toowoomba Region.
• Applicants MUST be aged between 14 and 24 years of age as of the 31 December 2026.
• Applicants MUST participate in both induction and training camps as outlined in the application.
• Applicants must be committed to and able to attend regular meetings used for skills sessions, presentations, reflection, and discussion.
• Applicants must be committed to attending community and youth-driven events identified by the Youth Leaders group.
• Nominees must also be committed and able to attend regular meetings used for skills sessions, presentations, reflection and discussion (dates and topics to be set at the training camps).
• Nominees must also be committed to attending community and youth driven events identified by the group.
• The program will require a time commitment of approximately eight hours per fortnight, which must be considered before applying.

How to apply

Applications will be available on this webpage or at all customer service centres from 1 June.

Once you have submitted your applications, the Youth Connect Team will be in touch.

More information

If you require more information about the Youth Leaders program you can contact us via this form: Complete the Youth Connect online form.