The fund supported two kinds of initiatives:
Applications were received from initiatives based in all states and territories in Australia. The top areas that applicants requested funding were for Education, Mental Health, Basic Living Need and Employment. A total of $6.4 million was asked for across the two rounds of funding.
Anika Legal’s vision is one of a world where everyone has access to justice. They achieve this through providing free legal advice, currently in the area of tenancy law – but they are expanding services rapidly. Anika Legal assists people who cannot afford a lawyer – their ‘typical’ client is on minimum wage (or less), lives in Victoria, and often comes from a non-English speaking background.
Anika Legal are also a social enterprise, and are powered by an army of law students who draft the legal advice (supervised by our experienced Principal Lawyer) as part of a subject at university.
With the funding, they will be able to fund part of the salary of our Head of Operations, who oversees all of our legal services including our COVID-19 Rent Reduction Service that assists people who have been placed in financial distress due to COVID-19.
Better Renting is a community of renters working together for stable, affordable, and healthy homes. They believe that renting should be a genuine alternative to home ownership, and we work across Australia to support people who rent to make this a reality.
In the coming months, they will be working to build awareness of the impacts of coronavirus on many young people who are renters. May of whom have lost work, but not been offered rent reductions. Better Renting is more concerned about what could happen in September if JobSeeker and other payments are cut at the same time as governments lift restrictions on evictions: renters could be left with less income, and more vulnerable to losing their home. They will use the voices and stories of renters to build support to #RetaintheRate of JobSeeker and to ensure that protections for renters are strong enough to support renters to stay in their homes and out of debt.
Campfire Stories is a queer storytelling and community peer support gathering, livestreamed on the first of every month. Each month, they broadcast new (pre-recorded) videos created by members of the audience at home, telling a story in the style and manner of their own choosing, and hosted live in a cabaret style by nonbinary artists Artemis Munoz (VIC) and Gemini (TAS).
The Campfire Stories community is a diverse group of young queer, trans, disabled, and neurodivergent folks aged 16 to late 30s. They amplify the stories of people at the fringes of society, and centre individual narratives to empower and celebrate our differences.
Campfire Stories is run by Teddy Darling (Melbourne) and co-created and hosted by Artemis Munoz (regional Victoria). The duo are auspiced and supported by Transgender Victoria as part of the SPARK program for trans and gender diverse peer support projects. This funding will support Campfire Stories to grow over the course of the project (July 2020 – April 2021), build our audience and strengthen our community and cross-cultural relationships.
The Deadly Inspiring Youth Doing Good Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation (DIYDG) aim to inspire, equip and empower young people to take action & Change the world. Their vision is that one day every young person will realise their power to make a difference and aim to achieve their mission through a variety of projects including; youth mentoring, leadership and camp facilitation, motivational speaking and youth led community events and coordination. DIYDG is based in the Cairns region and currently operates services and supports from our home base in Mooroobool, Qld.
During covid19 lockdowns, Child Safety saw an increase in young people needing crisis accommodation and support as a number of NGO and child safety services were down staff or at capacity. The funds received will be allocated to the continuation of the Youth Mentoring and Crisis support service called ‘Pamle Pamle’. Pamle in Torres Strait Islander creole means FAMILY and is the reminder that everyone comes from a family, that family provides the foundations for strong identity within and grounds young people as they grow into adulthood.
Improv Theatre Sydney (ITS) is a creative, inclusive and world-class school for students of improvisation. ITS provides workshops to actors, school aged students, organisations and community groups as well as the general public, using the skills of improvised comedy theatre. Those workshops engage to support acting skills like stage performance as well as life skills such as communications techniques, presentation skills, creativity, presence and confidence. They have worked with large multi-national institutions, marginalised school groups and refugee organisations among many others to fulfill our mandate of speaking to diverse and including diverse communities.
The Reimagining Resilience program focuses on the areas of improvisation, movement, humour & play as practical tools to aid in reducing anxiety. The program was created by social worker & trauma sensitive yoga teacher Natascha Flowers, and improvisation teacher, mental health first aider and performer Laura Hart. They have specifically designed our program to be delivered via zoom, so participants can engage in this interactive course from the safety and comfort of their homes, and at no-cost to participants.. The program supports people with experiences of anxiety, and those who are interested in learning about how mindfulness and improvisation intersect. It is offered to participants regardless of their previous experience in these areas, and aims to be accessible and trauma informed. Improv Theatre Sydney is in Redfern but the project will be operated online.
Minus18 Foundation is Australia’s youth driven charity for LGBTQIA+ youth. For over 21 years, Minus18 has been running high impact LGBTQIA+ events, education and consultation programs to create peer-support, safe spaces and inclusive environments, across Australia. You might know them from their events, such as the Queer Formal which they take across the country, where young people aged 13-19 can bring a same-sex partner, express their gender identity and meet like-minded young people. Minus18 works together with local community groups to engage queer youth with their services, engage with opportunities and have an unforgettable evening of celebrating their identity.
Covid-19 has had a significant impact on Minus18 donations, fundraisers and workshops their organisation delivers, which subsidizes events for young people ensuring they remain free all year around. With the fund, they plan to continue delivering digital events and workshops, which have been accessed by over 2500 young people in the last four months, including elevation of diverse queer young voice, provision of youth-support in these spaces and maintaing social connection for LGBTQIA+ young people.
Additionally, they’re excited to have released a resource for community groups looking to also digitise youth-based events, check out the free Digital Events Guide.
Road to Refuge is on a mission to change the national conversation on seeking refuge and asylum by providing platforms to amplify the voices and perspectives of those with lived experience of seeking refuge or asylum. We work with people of refugee backgrounds to reclaim and reshape the discourse in their words and on their terms. We do this by training, supporting, and amplifying the voices of refugee storytellers to ensure that they are given the platforms they need. With this funding from the Foundation for Young Australians, we will build the capacity and amplify the voices of young refugees who have been impacted by covid-19 so that they can share their stories about how the crisis has impacted them and their vision for a post-crisis world.
AYCC’s mission is to build a generation-wide movement of young people for climate justice. Seed is an autonomous branch of AYCC led by and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people. Together, they use a peer-to-peer education model to educate and empower young people to lead climate campaigns in their community. They train young people across the country to build their skills, confidence and capacity to lead their communities and peers toward a sustainable future. AYCC and Seed are based in Melbourne with over 20 dedicated employees across the country, including regional and remote areas.
AYCC aims to train 1,000 young people online across every state and territory. Participants will build skills in communication, leadership and learn the fundamentals of the climate crisis and its solutions. Seed is aiming to connect with over 100 First Nations young people online through their Protect Country Fellowship. By building the capacity of young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people regardless of their location, Seed will equip communities on the frontline of climate impacts with meaningful ways to take action.
She’s A Crowd uses storytelling data to address gender-based violence and close the gender data gap. Using digital crowdmapping technology and data analytics, She’s A Crowd collects geolocative data about harassment and sexual assault to empower decision makers to take preventative action on gender-based violence. They envision a world where every single person in the world can feel powerful and visible through sharing their stories. A world where decision makers have access to the data they need to change the story. Their safe and anonymous crowdsourcing platform is designed to dissolve the barriers preventing women from sharing their stories. That story is geotagged and time stamped and aggregated for important data points, such as key location hotspots and incident details.
She’s A Crowd has already responded to COVID-19 but plan to expand the approach while compensating their diverse team appropriately for their work.
Sonder Youth facilitates youth-driven change in regional Australia. They empower rural young people to create positive change in their lives and communities through a program called ‘Changemakers’. Currently running on the South Coast of NSW, their Changemakers program gives participants the opportunity to create their own impact as part of a supportive, collaborative team.
Through mentorship, social connection and a platform for positive action, young people are empowered to positively and collaboratively navigate their experience of this unprecedented season, of both bushfires and now a pandemic in regional Australia. They plan to use the grant to support young people creating youth-led positive change, contributing to the recovery and sustainability of regional towns.
Think Forward is a lobby group for young Australians, based in Victoria with representatives in Canberra and Perth. They exist to see issues of intergenerational fairness front and centre in Australian federal politics. Think Forward’s vision is to see all political parties develop and implement policies that secure the prosperity of younger and future generations of Australians. This looks like reforming tax, superannuation, housing and employment systems to work in the interest of young people. They lobby politicians, share knowledge and start conversations in an effort to address one of the biggest moral issues of the current time. They work with young people, economists, advocacy groups and think tanks. Think Forward aims to create a coalition of people and organisations who recognise that the economy is not working for young people and connect them to political decision makers.
This year Think Forward is focused on bringing issues of intergenerational fairness to the national stage by lobbying for a parliamentary inquiry. A parliamentary inquiry into intergenerational fairness will focus on economic (particularly tax reform) and social issues that impact younger and older generations, and identify what policy changes we need to restore fairness.
Titjimbat is a not-for-profit organisation that, with the guidance, permission and collaboration of local communities, facilitates community programs in the communities of Minyerri and Djembre, in the remote Northern Territory. These programs aim to extend and enrich learning through a diverse range of cultural, vocational and academic based activities. Titjimbat provides paid work for community members engaged in the facilitation of activities for kids and young people. Their programs are provided at no cost to the kids, their families or communities and are led by Aboriginal Program Leaders – community members who co-design and facilitate Titjimbat’s programs. Their name, Titjimbat, reflects ‘tijimbat gija’, a Kriol phrase from the Roper River region, which means ‘teaching and sharing everything together’. Titjimbat’s overall philosophy is to provide a positive, supportive and culturally respectful environment that fosters self-determination, confidence and enjoyable learning opportunities.
All funding from FYA goes directly to the facilitation of these programs, including materials for kids activities, payment for community member facilitation, food for programs and technology to enhance remote communication. During the June/July school holidays Titjimbat activities occurred for the first time with only remote support from the Melbourne team. These programs were a huge success, with high participation of kids and adults, enjoying sport, cultural learning like painting and girls/boys nights.
Waltja is a 100% Aboriginal owned and controlled, women-led community-based organisation doing good work with families, grounded in strong culture and relationships. Waltja’s foundation is the leadership of strong Aboriginal women, our focus on families, and support for community self-management and self-determination. Waltja’s work focuses on maintenance of culture and language and addressing disadvantages and gaps in service delivery.
They work in remote Central Australian Aboriginal communities, across nine languages and more than one quarter of the Northern Territory. They have hundreds of members who live in over twenty remote communities and in outstations across their service area. Waltja plans to use the funds to coordinate visits to remote communities by youth / fieldworkers, run activities with young people, and provide one-on-one support with young people.
YOUNG Campaigns is an unstoppable movement of young people, based in Victoria, ACT and NSW, fighting for a society with good jobs, great public services and a safe climate for all. They are organising young people, as part of their Tomorrow Movement, all over the country to fight for a tomorrow that works for everyone, not just big business.
They’re currently organising towards ‘No Turning Back‘ a day of action in September where hundreds of young people will take creative actions to demand that the recovery from the COVID crisis is the moment where we begin to solve the climate crisis and build a society that actually works for everyone if we stop letting big business call the shots. YOUNG Campaigns is also training 150 young people to lead the movement’s campaign and organising work leading up to the day of action, check out their upcoming events.