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Youth Homelessness matters

Newsletter March 2024

Project Youth - December 2023 Newsletter

A guide to living independently (ATLI) is a new program for young people in transitional housing.

Have you guessed what it is yet? After years of dreaming, planning, and campaigning, we can finally announce the launch of Project Educate, Project Youth’s Distance Education school. Driven by our mission to create a future where all young people can thrive, the team here at PY understand the importance of education, and recognise that there are young people in our community that are not suited to the traditional education setting. Project Educate will support young people from disadvantaged backgrounds that are missing from education, to re-engage them in learning. Why is this so important, you ask? Well, education has important social and employment outcomes for young people, as well as being a protective factor for well-being. Education is key for young people to thrive in society thereby avoiding poverty, homelessness and unemployment. Without education, young people are less likely to participate in work or skill development, and are more likely to rely on financial assistance from government. Without education, young people are more at risk of social isolation and mental ill-health. Without education, young people could be more likely to commit crime. Truancy and crime are causally linked, as well as between failure to complete high school and criminal activity. Yet because of reasons such as bullying, family dysfunction, homelessness, and mental-ill health, we know young people living in our community that do not attend school. We also know that alternative education WORKS. Project Youth are currently involved with 44 young people, all under age 17 who are missing from education and are known to local home school liaison officers. 22 of these young people successfully attended and gained certification in a full time 8-week course with Project Youth in a supported learning environment. Project Educate provides the long-term solution to youth disengagement at school - a flexible and socially inclusive education service. Based on a ‘wrap-around’ model, we won’t just provide a classroom and a teacher. We will collect young people from their home and transport them to school. We will have small class sizes, innovative teaching strategies, and one-on-one tuition. We will provide trauma-informed support, personalised case management, court support, support with medical appointments, housing assistance, clothing, and food supplies where required. We will also facilitate effective transition to other support services, thereby removing barriers to education, including help for drug and alcohol dependency, and mental health support. With approval from the Department of Education, we are thrilled to have enrolled our first student to start in September 2020 *cheering and applause* But, this is just the beginning. We need funding. You can help to make Project Educate accessible for more than just one young student. You can help to build a community to be proud of by empowering all disadvantaged young people to get an education, get jobs, avoid crime and become a contributing member of society. Project Educate aims to rewrite the future for young people that deserve the chance to build a better life. You can make Project Educate a reality. To enquire about helping to fund Project Educate, please email fundraising@projectyouth.org.au

Tash first came to the attention of Project Youth when she was in Year 11. After a family breakdown, Tash faced homelessness and needed somewhere safe to stay. For two years, Tash lived in Project Youth housing, a safe home which gave her the stability she needed to complete her HSC. She then moved into private rental, equipped with the skills she needed to manage a budget and live independently. Tash completed her Certificate II in Hospitality with the help of Project Youth, and was enrolled into our Labour Y program. Tash’s warm personality and her excellent people’s skills shone through, and she was soon snapped up by the Shangri La Hotel, one of Labour Y’s fantastic partners. As you can imagine, Tash excelled in her role, which paved the way for many young people to follow in her footsteps. Her manager at the time beamed with pride as he told the Labour Y team that Tash had ‘changed the face of the front foyer with her bubbly personality and enthusiasm’. Unfortunately, after 6 months at the Shangri La, COVID hit. Nonetheless, Tash’s spirits stayed high, and Project Youth supported her to access online courses to add to her resume. As the COVID storm subsided, a full-time job came up at Cafe Y. Tash is enjoying this new role, thriving in the busy Café environment. She especially loves training and mentoring other young people doing work experience at Café Y. Tash told us that she loves helping other young people to have a better future. It’s safe to say that Café Y’s customers adore Tash, a ‘delightful waitress with just the right balance of friendliness and efficiency’, one customer wrote, ‘she was amazing, so welcoming and attentive’. The popularity of our community café is testament to Tash’s glowing personality and contagious smile. We’re so proud to have played a small part in your journey, Tash - thank you for brightening up our café much more than any amount of pop-art ever could.

You can walk side by side with a young person on their journey to safety, happiness and independence. You can sponsor a young person, and partner with them as they overcome their disadvantage. You see, Project Youth is a ‘wrap around’ service, meaning each young person is supported in all walks of life until they can stand on their own two feet. Donors like you make this possible. A young person often begins their journey at Project Youth by attending Drop In at one of our youth centres. At Drop In, they get chatting with a member of our friendly team for specialist support. A young person might then be paired with a mentor from our local community, or enrolled into one of our programs or courses. If they face homelessness, the young person can receive grocery vouchers, and they might move into our crisis accommodation. After a few months, they often move into semi-independent housing, then to transitional housing. During this time, the young person can also engage in court support, counselling, drug and alcohol support, education and training courses, fitness groups, mental health, peer support groups and social groups, all run through Project Youth. You have the opportunity to partner with a specific young person, and truly transform their life. Once they achieve independence (employment, private rental, safety, happiness) you can take pride in the fact that you made it possible. But, at what cost? Click here to find out more about sponsoring a young person's journey.

The Bean There aims to help Café’s like ours to reach more people in the Shire community, whilst discussing important community issues. For us, it was a fantastic opportunity to spread the word about the work we do at Project Youth in transforming the lives of local young people. Annette Testa, youth housing consultant and Nicole Dargie, teen empowerment coach joined us on the live broadcast to talk about the challenges young people in our community are facing. Of course, we also heard from Project Youth heroes Karen and Justin. Listen in to hear them discussing how youth are often forced to deal with displacement from their homes, overcoming trauma, homelessness and unemployment. We also celebrate the success of Café Y in reengaging young people in education and improving their employment opportunities. Our personal highlight was hearing from Café Y’s front of house and talented barista Tash, who told her inspiring story about how her life was transformed by Project Youth. Tash – you are an incredible asset to Café Y, and we are forever grateful for your hard work and your contagious smile. We also welcomed the lovely Sarah-Jo from So Shire to chat about environmentally friendly living. Sarah educated us about ‘contactless pour’, which Tash demonstrated – a method of using your reusable coffee cup without contact to ensure COVID safety. Think green – bring your reusable cups down to Café Y and test Tash’s contactless pouring talent. So Shire were also impressed with Cafe Y’s new vegetable garden, for which we are currently accepting donations. Shoutout to Pip and the ShirePod team for their generous donation of a chilli plant – we can’t wait to serve a tasty dollop of chilli jam with lunch at Café Y. We would like to say a huge thank you to Shirepod for giving us the platform to tell the community about what we do here at Project Youth, and why supporting Cafe Y is so rewarding. Plug in your headphones and listen to the podcast over a cuppa at Café Y - https://shirepod.podbean.com

Last month we ran our #YOUTHCANDOIT campaign, which encouraged you to take action in 2 ways: 1) donate to Labour Y to support young people facing disadvantage into employment 2) to speak to your employer about hiring a young person in your business The campaign was a HUGE success - thank you so much to all of you wonderful community members who donated to help reach our target of $3000. We are so PROUD to have incredible supporters who seek community solutions to community problems. As we discussed during the campaign, employing our youth is the best way to safeguard the future of our community, and the economy. A job means so much to our young people - it’s a chance to become a contributing member of society, a chance to become financially independent and move out of crisis housing. In the words of a young person supported by Labour Y, a job is a reason to get out of bed in the morning. Thank you to our loyal donors who consistently stand with us in our mission to transform the lives of young people facing disadvantage living nearby. However, we are here to remind you that this problem is not yet solved. Youth can STILL do it. Let’s maintain momentum and stay focussed on our goal to tackle youth underemployment. It’s not too late to donate to Labour Y. Every day, our team work with young people to improve their job prospects. This involves all aspects of job readiness such as CV and interview prep, support paying for food, transport to interviews, interview clothing and more. Labour Y also run programs and courses (such as the Café Y Hospitality Course) aimed to support young people to get work experience and certifications. Your donations make this work possible – please click here to donate today. It’s also not too late to speak to your employer about the transformational benefits of hiring a young person through Labour Y. This transformation is 3 fold: transform your corporate social responsibility program, transform your business’ outlook (gaining a fresh perspective) and transform your outlook on life. Make it your responsibility to partner with Labour Y and hire a young person in your workplace. You see, this is not a quick fix solution. Please keep donating to Labour Y, and please keep pushing to employ young people. Together we can build a community to be proud of, and that starts with young people.