Grow Our Own is a regional partnership

Grow Our Own (GOO) is an industry led alliance of business, industry, education, and government agencies who seek to inform and inspire young people to live, work and learn in the Riverina.

The Grow Our Own Steering Commitee continue to work together in responding to the changing needs of our local Riverina business and industry. 

What do we do? 

• Bring together the expertise and experience of Business and Industry,  Local Employment, Education and Training Providers and Government agencies.  
• Promote local career opportunities and learning pathways to young people from school to further education.  
• Acts as an industry coordinator for the Murrumbidgee Academy of STEM Excellence. 
• Maintain and coordinate Riverina Industry Speaker Bank (RISB) – a bank of  local industry volunteers from varied backgrounds, job roles and career pathways eager to share their knowledge with young people and teachers about their career journey.  
• Promotes and supports settlement of early career entry work opportunities for interns and graduates in the region through the CSIRO Generation STEM program. 
• Promote and advises on financial support available to increase access to higher education for local students. 
• Advocates for workforce issues affecting young people’s access to workforce opportunities. 

Our Vision

• People from the Riverina will have access to a broad choice of tertiary education courses locally through several delivery models. More young people remain in the region after finishing school, complete higher education locally and gain sustainable local employment resulting from strong connections with local employers during their schooling and tertiary education. 
• Riverina’s employers are able to attract locally qualified workers into growth industries. Local employers have developed relationships with their future employees through coordinated and targeted local engagement. 
• Schools, parents and young people will have a strong understanding of the Riverina labour market, and the local pathways to be able to access education and training leading to sustainable local jobs. 
• More young people from under-represented groups have been able to access tertiary education because of scholarship support provided by local partnerships. 
• The Riverina continues economic growth through benefitting from the increased human capital due to improved educational access.