South Australian
Youth Forum.
AUGUST 2021 - NOW
An idea in a notebook.
Four years
later.
This is the story of how SAYF went from a handwritten idea on a Thursday afternoon to South Australia's largest youth-led organisation - still on picnic blankets some of the time, and proudly so.
2021
The idea is written down
8
People at the first meeting
2026
A new chapter begins
2021
THE IDEA
AUGUST
An idea gets written down
Amber Brock-Fabel, 17 years old, writes down an idea in a notebook. A youth forum for South Australia, a structured, ongoing space where young people shape their own agenda, talk about the issues that matter to them, and put their findings in front of decision-makers. No funding. No venue. No plan. Just the idea.
THE BEGINNING
DECEMBER
Call out to young people to join
A call out goes out inviting young people to join a new monthly forum starting in January. The pitch is simple: meet once a month, talk about issues affecting young people, and see where it goes. Nobody knows if anyone will show up.
FIRST CALL OUT
2022
FIRST STEPS
JANURARY
Eight young people show up
The first meeting of the South Australian Youth Forum. Eight young people turn up. Throughout the years, SAYF has struggled to secure a venue, so many meetings happen on picnic blankets in the Adelaide Parklands. Regional young people join on Amber's iPad, tethered to her iPhone hotspot. It is chaotic and imperfect and genuinely exciting. Eight people showed up.
FIRST MEETING
PICNIC BLANKETS
MARCH
The idea to minute everything
The group lands on something important: instead of just talking, they will minute everything, every session, every theme, every insight, and collate the findings into a formal report to present to ministers and parliament at the end of the year. This is the move that turns SAYF from a support group into an advocacy body.
ANNUAL REPORT IDEA
STRUCTURE FORMS
SEPTEMBER
First Open Youth Workshop
SAYF runs its first open workshop, a day where any young person can show up, raise their voice, connect with others, and be part of what SAYF is building. It is the first time the forum opens its doors beyond the core group, and it works.
OPEN TO ALL
WORKSHOP
DECEMBER
First Annual Report presented to Parliament
The first SAYF Annual Report is collated and presented to ministers and parliament. A group of young people who started on eleven months ago have produced a formal document based on months of facilitated discussion, delivered it to South Australian decision-makers, and demonstrated that the model works. Year one, done.
ANNUAL REPORT
PARLIAMENT
2023
FINDING STRUCTURE
ONGOING
A more structured program, and a year long survey
The 2023 program runs with more structure than the year before. Monthly meetings continue. A year-long survey is introduced, open to any young person in South Australia who wants to write their thoughts for decision-makers to hear. SAYF is still in the Parklands on picnic blankets. Still tethered to a hotspot. Still making it work.
YEAR-LONG SURVEY
SEPTEMBER
Open Youth Workshop returns
The annual open workshop runs again, bringing new young people into the SAYF community for a day of discussion, connection, and advocacy. The model is working. The community is growing.
OPEN TO ALL
WORKSHOP
DECEMBER
Annual Report presented - year two
The second Annual Report is collated and presented to decision-makers. The process is tighter, the findings are richer, and the credibility of the model is building.
ANNUAL REPORT
PARLIAMENT
2024
DOORS OPENING
ONGOING
Program runs again, still on picnic blankets
2024 follows the same structure as 2023, with new young people joining the cohort. Still no permanent venue, yet our members keep showing up.
NEW MEMBERS
MAY
Incorporated Association - finally
After a long, hard process, SAYF registers as an incorporated association. It is a significant administrative milestone, the kind of thing that sounds simple and takes forever, and it opens doors to formal recognition, grants, and partnerships that were not possible before.
INCORPORATED
OFFICAL
JUNE
Expert witnesses to a Federal Inquiry
SAYF travels to Canberra as expert witnesses to the Federal Inquiry into Civic Education and Participation. A group of young South Australians who started with eight people are now in the nation's capital giving formal evidence to a parliamentary committee. The work is real. The recognition is real.
FEDERAL INQUIRY
CANBERRA
SEPTEMBER
First Grant - Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal
SAYF is awarded the Heywire Youth Innovation Grant from the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal to travel around South Australia and listen to regional young people's voices. The All Voices Tour is born. It is the first external funding SAYF has ever received and the beginning of a state-wide reach the program had always wanted but never had the resources for.
FIRST GRANT
JUNE
UN Summit of the Future in New York
SAYF receives accreditation to the United Nations Summit of the Future in New York. Abbey represents the forum and Australia. It is one of those moments that is almost impossible to explain, a youth forum from South Australia, founded on picnic blankets three years earlier, now accredited to the UN. The work carries weight.
UNITED NATIONS
NEW YORK
OCTOBER
The 18–24 branch launches, 30 people show up
Amber turns 19. The 14–18 age limit means she is officially out of the program she founded. Instead of stepping away, SAYF launches a dedicated 18–24 branch through a new open youth workshop. Thirty young people show up. It is the biggest single turnout SAYF has ever had. The dual-branch model begins here.
18-24 BRANCH
WORKSHOP
NOVEMBER
Australian Youth Health Conference in Brisbane
Amber and Cat travel to Brisbane to present at the Australian Youth Health Conference, sharing SAYF's model and approach with a national audience of health and youth sector professionals.
BRISBANE
CONFERENCE
NOVEMBER
Amber named 2025 SA Young Australian of the Year
Amber is nominated and wins the 2025 South Australian Young Australian of the Year. It is a recognition not just of her individual work but of everything SAYF has built, the picnic blankets, the Annual Reports, the Canberra trip, the UN, the 30 people at the 18–24 launch. The award belongs to the whole community.
YOUNG SA OF THE YEAR
DECEMBER
Annual Report presented - year three
The third Annual Report collated and presented to decision-makers. Three years in, the model is proven, the community is real, and the program is in serious need of sustainable infrastructure to match its ambition.
ANNUAL REPORT
PARLIAMENT
2025
SCALING UP
JANUARY
Dual branch launches - 14-18 & 18-24 together
January 2025 marks the formal launch of the dual branch structure. SAYF leaders are onboarded to facilitate and run both branches. Upskilling sessions run through summer. A huge cohort joins for 2025, so many 18–24 members that the branch splits into two groups. SAYF secures a venue for the full year. A Saturday space that trusts young people. After three navigating places to meet,, it is not taken for granted for a single second.
DUAL BRANCHES
VENUE SECURED
JAN-JUNE
The All Voices Tour - regional South Australia
Across the first six months of 2025, SAYF delivers the All Voices Tour - a state-wide youth-led regional engagement initiative made possible by the Heywire Youth Innovation Grant. The tour reaches Kangaroo Island, the Riverland, Mount Gambier and Wattle Range, and Port Lincoln and Eyre Peninsula. Over 100 young people across four regions are heard. The insights form the Bigger Picture Report 2025, launched at South Australian Parliament in June 2025. It is the first time SAYF has gone truly state-wide.
REGIONAL SA
ALL VOICES TOUR
AUGUST
First peer-reviewed paper published
SAYF's first peer-reviewed academic paper publishes in collaboration with Dr Ben Lohmeyer from Flinders University, the culmination of three years of co-designed research on loneliness, belonging, and safety among young people. SAYF members are official co-authors.
PUBLISHED RESEARCH
FLINDERS UNIVERSITY
OCTOBER
Rethinking what sustainable looks like
With two branches, two annual reports to collate, a regional tour, a peer-reviewed paper, and a national profile, the question becomes unavoidable: this cannot stay entirely volunteer-led. The program is running the same structure as 2023 and 2024 but double, two cohorts, two reports, twice the work. The team begins seriously exploring what long-term sustainability could look like.
SUSTAINABILITY
DECEMBER
Two Annual Reports presented to Parliament
For the first time, SAYF presents two annual reports: one from the 14–18 branch, one from the 18–24 branch. Twice the collation, twice the writing, twice the work. Presented to decision-makers in December 2025, year four done.
ANNUAL REPORT
PARLIAMENT
2026
A NEW MODEL
JANUARY
Program paused, a deliberate six months to rethink everything
January 2026. SAYF pauses the program for six months. Not because the work has stopped mattering. Because the work matters too much to keep running on a model that cannot sustain the people doing it. The team takes the time to ask the real questions: what does sustainable youth advocacy look like? How do young people get paid for their expertise? How does SAYF exist in five years, not just five months?
RETHINKING
JULY
Here we are.
A new model. Young people paid for their expertise. A professional youth voice consultancy that makes it easy, and worthwhile, for organisations to actually listen to young people. The idea that started in a notebook in August 2021 is still the same idea. The infrastructure around it is finally built to last.