- Country of Origin: Brunei, Australia, Japan
In Brighter Tomorrow, we like to share stories of changemakers from all over the world. Here is one from the land down under.
In the rural Australian town of Kyneton in the State of Victoria, the Social Foundry offers “standout food, coffee & service, while also delivering hands-on training for local youth facing barriers to employment.” I had the pleasure of interviewing one of their staff members, Sue-Lee, who works as the community life coordinator. She shared a couple of success stories that the Social Foundry helped create:
Ashley (a pseudonym) came to the not-for-profit after she finished high school and sought a job. She wasn’t sure what she wanted to do. Young school-leavers like her in the countryside have few opportunities to find work so she found help through an employment agency. One thing led to another and she ended up on the doorstep of the Social Foundry.
Ashley, as Sue-Lee said, “started off doing the first 10 weeks – it’s called the work skills program. So it’s a 10-week program once a week and we started her off in front-of-house doing customer service delivering drinks and food clearing tables and towards the end of her work, we got her to do a skills program with us. We started her off on the coffee machine. And she really enjoyed that and said in that shift that it’s the first time in her life that she’s found something that makes her happy. So we asked her if she wanted to continue the program with us and do another lot of 10 weeks.”
Sue-Lee then said it was decided for Ashley to continue on the coffee machine and get trained as a barista. At the end of the ten-week training, Ashley found a job in a local Kyneton café.
This concluded Ashley’s training and introduction to the world of work. As a result, the trainee’s mental and physical health improved. She said her parents have seen the change in her and her confidence has been built up after it was struck down by her declining mental health. About Ashley’s journey, Sue-Lee said, “That was one of our many good news stories from our program.”
In a city like Melbourne, known for its coffee, hospitality is an easy entry into the workforce. It isn’t easy being in the hospitality sector as the market is saturated despite the ubiquity of cafés. Add a social enterprise model into a cafe and there is the additional challenge but Sue-Lee affirms that the reward of all the good news stories make it worthwhile.
At this point of the interview, Sue-Lee also recounted the story of Jane (a pseudonym) who, in August 2023, trained at the Social Foundry in her year 12. She was from a local high school and could not finish her studies because of her issues with anxiety and lack of connection with the school program. Her school counselor referred her to the Foundry and from there, she began to change. Starting with a short shift of four weeks, she enjoyed life at work rather than at school. She then moved on to the full ten-week training course, like Ashley did.
“[Jane] came to us last August and was in Year 12 at a local high school and couldn’t finish her year 12, just because she was feeling quite anxious and was not connecting with the school program. Her school counselor shared about our program and introduced her to us. And so we started her off with a short shift for four weeks. When she finished that she enjoyed it. So we asked if she wanted to follow up with the work skills program, which involves a full day shift once a week and she continued to do that.”
According to Sue-Lee, Jane loved the work skills program and became a trainee upon finishing it toward the end of 2023. While training, she also handed out her resume to get a job further down the line. She worked short shifts again at the Social Foundry as she prepared to enter the labor market because she felt working a full day was a bit much for her. After finishing the program with us, she got a job at a local café just around the corner after being employed briefly in a local supermarket where she stopped getting shifts. It was a victory for Jane after a period of feeling low.
Sue-Lee’s testimony about these two trainees shows that the Social Foundry’s approach is a winner for empowering local youth to engage with their community and the workforce. They say it takes a village to raise a child, and sometimes we forget that only a community can bring the young back from their detachment from society and work.
Social Foundry, like many not-for-profit organizations, tries not to rely on grants and instead aims to work toward a self-funding model through its café, and event space. Try visiting it if you plan on a trip to rural Australia. The mountains and landscape there are breathtaking and are easily accessible by train. Kyneton, an hour’s ride from Melbourne, is known for its great literary culture and is home to some of the best cafés in the world, staffed by expert baristas.
Congratulations to the Social Foundry of Kyneton, Victoria for its impactful community work in Australia. The project was honored with the Yuvoice Brighter Tomorrow award on August 4, 2024, for its efforts in connecting youth to their community and helping them to overcome barriers to employment. On behalf of our Brighter Tomorrow team, thank you for taking the time to be interviewed.
Thank you to Emily Delnick for her inspired edits on the piece.
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Abu Danial
Hello I am from Brunei, a little kingdom in Southeast Asia on the Island of Borneo. I am an avid reader who’s into psychology and neuroscience at the moment. Trying to be a better version of myself as a fit writer and editor. All things in the humanities intrigue me. Follow me on Instagram @danialbzl