Our history

FYA has a long history of creating relevant, engaging  and empowering opportunities for young people to take a lead role in governance, decision making and community participation more broadly.

FYA was formed in 1999 through a partnership between The Queen’s Trust and the Australian Youth Foundation, with the objectives of providing increased opportunity and access for young people of disadvantaged background, as well as supporting the leadership development of young Australians.

Over the past decade, FYA has built strong grant-making, Indigenous, capacity building and scholarship programs to achieve these objectives.

Education Foundation was founded in 1989 by Ellen Koshland with the aim of developing and delivering education programs, community engagement and research to Australian students.

In July 2008 an alliance was formed between Education Foundation and FYA – consolidating established expertise and knowledge of the youth and education sectors.

This partnership is the result of a bold aspiration shared by the two Boards and establishes FYA as the pre-eminent advocate for young Australians. Read more here.

Read the media release announcing the alliance between FYA and Education Foundation here.