2021 Make the Difference!
Grants
In November 2021, Future2 awarded $148,600 in grants to community not-for-profit organisations with programs for socially and financially disadvantaged young Australians.
There are 15 charity organisations across Australia who received grants, each endorsed by a local FPA member.
Future2 Grants
The Girls & Boys Brigade
Nominated by: Jasmine Theophile CFP
The Girls & Boys Brigade mission is to support children and youth in need by providing educational and recreational opportunities that build life skills as a foundation for a brighter future.
The primary objective of the Youth After-School Drop-In Program is to provide youth with the support and opportunities they need to navigate the challenges of growing up, avoid crisis and develop a positive view of the future. It does this through a friendly, welcoming, and inclusive environment where youth can go to after school to relax, find respite, access resources and participate in activities.
Participate Australia
Nominated by: William Johns CFP
Participate Australia supports people who have an intellectual, cognitive and developmental disabilities since 1983. They currently support over 500 people and their families.
Participate Australia has successfully run a paper based financial literacy program since 2008 to support people with intellectual disabilities learn to count, and how to handle money. This has grown from four participants completing it in 2008, to a total of over 265 participants having completed this program. The Future2 grant will allow this paper-based system to be converted to a comprehensive financial literacy learning management system (LMS) that can be accessed via the web on all devices. The program is called Making Money Easy (MME).
LeaderLife
Nominated by: Jasmine Theophile CFP
Dubbo, NSW
Nominated by: Xenia McGee AFP
LeaderLife supports young people (YP) between the ages of 12 – 24 years old in Dubbo who are at risk of early and prolonged contact with the criminal justice system, early school leavers, those having difficulty finding work or who are simply having a tough time.
The project scope encompasses activities that are all underpinned by our soft entry approach and can be grouped into the following categories: Education and Training, Community Engagement and Diversion, and Social Enterprise. All young people participating in any of these activities have access to holistic wellbeing and youth work support mentoring, coaching and counselling on a flexible basis.
Human Nature Adventure Therapy
Nominated by: Shane Hayes
Human Nature offers in-depth, nature-connected mental health interventions for young people aged 14 – 24 from across the Northern Rivers NSW region, who have experienced complex trauma and significant mental health issues.
Involving participants from our existing Elev8 program, the Transitions project focuses on providing skill building opportunities for vulnerable young people reaching pivotal moments in their lives and supporting them to form positive future pathways.
Fair Go Australia – Inspiring Brighter Futures
Brisbane, QLD
Nominated by: Brian Dooley CFP
Founded in 2009 Fair Go Australia is a not-for-profit organisation that distributes its’ funds into its wellbeing and mentoring programs to positively and permanently change the lives of hundreds of vulnerable, young and older Australians.
This program is a capacity building program that teaches valuable life skills providing students with a mental tool kit to tackle life’s challenges. Eight, 90-minute workshops are delivered over 8 weeks. The program encourages growth in self-confidence, self-worth, and self-motivation. Students identify who they wish to become and set personal, family, educational and employment goals. This program aids the students in feeling empowered to make positive changes, encourages them to recognise their strengths, resilience and provide them with hope.
yourtown
Beenleigh, Kingston, Capalaba, QLD
Nominated by: Natalie Gordon
yourtown is currently one of the largest providers of youth services in Australia. They deliver an extensive range of programs and services that assist young people to overcome barriers, build confidence in their abilities, and find their place in the community.
The program will allow forty young people who are transitioning through work and life skilling programs as part of the Transition to Work program to participate in a series of interactive group-based workshops dedicated to essential financial literacy education so they can make the best of their future income.
Fight4Balance
Nominated by: Mark Everingham CFP
Fight4Balance (F4B) was established to fill a gap in wellbeing services for adolescent youth with learning disabilities (LD) and intellectual disabilities (ID) associated with conditions such as Autism Spectrum Disorder, Down syndrome, Acquired Brian Injury, Fragile X syndrome and other undiagnosed LD/ID.
mySwimClub is a water-based program designed specifically for adolescents with learning and intellectual disabilities; and their families. The program includes three phases aimed to improve confidence and safety in the water, progressing towards independent swimming.
Aboriginal Literacy Foundation
Nominated by: Peter O’Connell CFP
The Western Victoria Post COVID19 Response Aboriginal Tutoring Program seeks to compensate for the severe disadvantage that Indigenous students have experienced during school closures and lockdowns in 2020. Aboriginal children are far more affected by school closure than their non-Aboriginal peers. Many Aboriginal families live beyond the range of distance education and others do not have computers or laptops suitable for these programs.
The aim of this program is to alleviate the negative affect of COVID19 on this most vulnerable group of young Australians. By providing students with a weekly tutorial session outside school, the student has the opportunity to acquire skills at his/her own pace without the stress of having to compete in a normal classroom situation.
Kyabram Blue Light
Kyabram, VIC
Nominated by: Peter Ryan CFP
Kyabram Blue Light programs focus on crime prevention, specifically on identifying and addressing the needs of young people, including those at risk of engaging in antisocial behaviour or criminal offending. We provide education, crime reduction, life skills coaching, and host cultural, social and sporting programmes for youth aged between five to 18 years
KyFit is a weekly program delivered throughout the school year to young people aged 12-18, some of whom may have been identified as being vulnerable. The weekly sessions will involve team building activities and physical training where police members and youth participants are actively engaged, working together and building rapport. KyFit aims to reduce crime through prevention; building positive relationships, skills and support networks.
Good Life Farm
Chum Creek, Yarra Valley, VIC
Nominated by: Ion Whykes CFP
The Good Life Farm works with stakeholders to assess and locate young people who have an existing vulnerability and that have been further isolated from the community, education providers and services throughout COVID-19.
The program will allow young people, who live and learn in the Yarra Ranges, and who are assessed as vulnerable the opportunity to participate in 10 weeks of an Intensive Life and Social skills program, who may otherwise have been unable to access this due to socio-economic disadvantage. Children and youth attending programs at The Good Life Farm are engaged in experiential learning about social skills, animal husbandry, building and construction, Permaculture, cooking and diet, and outdoor recreation.
Foundation for Indigenous Sustainable Health (FISH)
Nominated by: Fran Hughes CFP
FISH provides opportunities for Aboriginal people to share their wisdom and insights to the broader community, to teach people how to connect and care for each other and for country, whilst closing the gap and breaking intergenerational cycles of trauma, poverty and engagement with the justice system. The focus of the organisation is: “by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.”
The Books for All program will provide Indigenous-authored books to young people most in need.
St Vincent De Paul Society WA
Nominated by: Sharna Meinertz CFP
The St Vincent de Paul Society WA (Vinnies) aspires to an Australia transformed by compassion and build on justice. We advocate on social justice issues including homelessness, poverty and disadvantage, and help people in need to build their individual capacity and resilience.
“Soul’d Out” is a music program designed to engage vulnerable and marginalised young people as a tool for self-expression and coping with the daily stresses associated with being at high risk of, or experiencing homelessness. The program provides young people real life positive learning opportunities that empower them to build self-confidence and resilience, and to better connect and engage in their local communities.
The Good Chat Foundation
Nominated by: Fran Hughes CFP
The Good Chat Foundation develops programs to improve the mental health of disadvantaged youth in Western Australia through sporting programs.
The Thriving Communities program is run in partnership with the Ngaanyatjarra Council to deliver sporting programs to young indigenous people. These sporting programs are designed to empower young people to develop skills in a controlled environment, educate young people about the impacts of emotions and feelings on their behaviour, develop a sense of purpose through sport and improve communication skills by providing a positive role model as a coach.
The goal of this program is for the young people to graduate with more than improved physical and mental health.
Outward Bound (ACT)
Tharwa, ACT
Nominated by: Bhavna Patel
Outward Bound courses are both internal and external journeys of discovery that enable people to develop inner strength, teamwork and leadership skills to sustain themselves and their communities. In bringing out the best in people, we aim to help create catalyst moments in people’s lives to inspire change and growth upon return to their home communities.
The Menslink Rite of Passage program is a 5 day program with Outward Bound. It is an adventurous journey into Namadgi National Park where 15 young boys plus mentors are guided in the program by Outward Bound facilitators. By using the natural environment to remove these young men from their home communities, they can often gain a clearer perspective on their situations, history and future. Compared to sitting with a mentor or social worker in a sterile office, the boys respond far more positively to help and guidance when on an Outward Bound program.
West Moonah Community House
TAS
Nominated by: Todd Kennedy CFP
West Moonah Community House provides School and Community based training sessions for young people struggling to learn the road rules and to understand them, through the use of newly developed training mediums that encompass the four main building blocks of learning – Auditory, Kinaesthetic, Written, and Visual. The WMCH receives numerous requests from people and Agencies who identify as having a learning spectrum disorder or disability, and those with Literacy issues or where English is a 2nd language. Without this training and support, many are destined to continue to fail the online test at a Service Tas Outlet and end up being stymied in entering the workforce, getting further education, and moving forward in their lives. Many who fail are known to drive whilst unlicensed and ultimately disqualified.
The project is aimed at young people in the south of the state to get the Road Safety message and Road Rules, following on from the release of the Road Rules videos.