The young people of the ENGAGE – Youth in Philanthropy Program are thrilled to announce that three organisations working to effect the causes of youth unemployment have been awarded grants.
Ardoch Youth Foundation A $5,000 grant to increase awareness and access to job seeking resources and networks and skills of secondary students at Northern Bay College by developing and pilot an 8-week in-term program on “How to get a part-time Job” |
Diversitat A $13,000 grant to increase awareness and access to job seeking resources and current employment networks and equip young refugees with the knowledge they need to access the Geelong job market by building the understanding of employment practice in bilingual workers and nurture the capacity in young refugees. |
Whitelion A $12,000 grant to help young people aged 15-24 in the Geelong region (that do not meet the criteria of current employment programs within the region) who want to gain employment, however lack the supports to do so independently. |
ENGAGE – Youth in Philanthropy is a program that builds the skills and experiences of a core group of young people to engage more effectively in school and the community by developing and managing a youth led grants process that results in grants to organisations helping to solve issues facing young people in the community.
12 young people participated in the second year of the ENGAGE Program, with half being new to the Program. Over a 6 month period the young people participated in a series of meetings, ranging from all day to 2 hours. Identifying the issue of youth unemployment as the focus area in which they wish to effect positive change, the ENGAGE young people have led a small grant round. This included developing grant round specifications, a grant application; the marketing materials for the grant round; the grant review process; reviewed the grants, a grant recommendation and a reporting process for the successful grant recipients.
No small feat for these young people who have never been involved in such a process before!
Facts about the 2017 ENGAGE Program participants
- 12 young people aged 15-24 years of age
- Identify as female (3), male (7) and bigender (1)
- Identify as LGBTQI+ (3)
- Were born in 5 different countries (Iran, Australia, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Congo)
- Speak 9 different languages (Persian, Dari, Hazaregi, Farsi, English, Urde, Italian and Swahili)
- Are all engaged in some form of education (Secondary, Tertiary and TAFE)
- Live in 4 different postcodes (3214, 3215, 3216, 3218)
- Volunteer in 27 different positions
- Hold 8 part-time jobs
See their reflections on being involved in the 2017 ENGAGE – Youth in Philanthropy Program below
View all the photos from the ENGAGE Grants Announcement here
ENGAGE – Youth in Philanthropy is a program of the Give Where You Live Foundation in partnership with Barwon Child, Youth & Family and Gforce Employment Solutions.