ST HELENS, TASMANIA
Highways and Byways partners with Free2b Girls in remote North East Tasmania. Founder Tani Langoulant created Free2b Girls to provide a supportive environment and facilitate local relationships that can nurture new experiences for young people living in geographically and socially isolated areas. Free2b Girls programs include weekly after-school activity groups for pre-teen and teen girls, 1:1 or small group individualised support for teens, and individual/small group consultation and mentoring for young people aged 18-25 years.
In late 2023, Tani took some of the Free2b Girls participants to a local Council meeting, at which the Mayor invited the girls to always speak up if they needed to, and put proposals in if they had any needs or wants from the Council. One of the youngest Free2b girls at then-10 years old, Lily, did exactly that, standing before and reading a letter she had written to the Council asking for an event for International Women’s Day. You can read her letter to the Council by clicking here.
But she didn’t stop there, she went on to organize an event in St Helens because she believes that it is so important to “get the community to listen to young people’s voices!”
You can read her story, printed in the local news by clicking here. The article, Young Girl Inspiring Youth for International Women’s Day, was featured in The Coastal Column in February 2024.
Image main: Lily, centre, with participants at the International Women’s Day Youth Event. Insert: Lily presenting her ideas to the Council.