The Corporate Sector supporting Young People in Victoria

June 2014

The Youth Affairs Council of Victoria

The Youth Affairs Council of Victoria

The Youth Affairs Council of Victoria (YACVic) is a vibrant, member based organisa-tion that represents and advocates for young people and the organisations that work with them. YACVic has worked for and with young Victorians and the services that support them for over 50 years.

Our vision is for a Victorian community in which all young people are valued as active participants, have their rights recognised and are treated fairly and with respect.

The Youth Affairs Council of Victoria IncLevel 2, 180 Flinders St, Melbourne VIC 3000Ph: (03) 9267 3799 Fax: (03) 9639 1622

www.yacvic.org.au

ContactJessie Mitchell, Manager, Policy & Projectspolicy@yacvic.org.au

June 2014

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YACVic, ‘The corporate sector supporting young people in Victoria’, June 2014

Contents

Introduction 4

Victorian Government initiatives 6

Recent losses 7

Corporate contributions to the community 8

Philanthropic foundations 8

Direction donations 9

Corporate volunteering 9

Working in partnership 10

Case study: Corporate youth mentoring – IBM and the Smith Family 14

Case study: Workforce experience for young people at risk 15

Case study: Corporate sponsorship for youth services – Youth Connect 17

Case study: Connecting Youth & Business: a toolkit for employers 18

Recommendations 20

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YACVic, ‘The corporate sector supporting young people in Victoria’, June 2014

Introduction

In their 2012 Youth Statement, Engage, Involve, Create, the Victorian Government defined one of

their three priorities as ‘creating new ideas and partnerships’ – ‘bringing young people,

governments, business, community and philanthropic organisations together.’1 Meanwhile, many

business and corporate entities wish to support better outcomes for young people. This enables

them to make positive contributions to their communities, enhance their reputation and

connections, fulfil their corporate social responsibility obligations, and boost morale amongst their

employees.

The role of corporate organisations in supporting young people is a timely subject for discussion.

Young people face particular vulnerabilities in relation to employment, an issue which businesses

must be engaged in addressing. For example, the unemployment rate for young Victorians is almost

twice the general unemployment rate; a quarter of young Victorians do not feel there are enough

opportunities for further study, training and employment where they live; and over a quarter of

young Victorians who graduate from higher education and are available for employment are still

not employed full time.2 As Victoria’s population ages, with approximately a quarter of Victorians

expected to be over 65 by 2045, it will become more important than ever to foster a strong,

productive young workforce, and support young people to take that first step into a solid,

meaningful career.3

The corporate sector has shown its interest in this area. In April 2014, the Australian Chamber of

Commerce and Industry (ACCI) called upon the federal government to prioritise boosting youth

employment. ACCI president Peter Hood commented “It is concerning, even disheartening, to see

large numbers of young people without a job, not in full-time education or not actively looking for

work... it is imperative that support is maintained to help young Australians learn to work.”4

The ACCI paper calls for federal and state governments to prioritise:

Industry Career development – careers advisors in schools should be better linked to

industry to ensure they provide up-to-date, accurate advice to young people about

opportunities and industry demand.

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Work-ready graduates – all school leavers should meet minimum literacy and numeracy

requirements, and VET in Schools should be high quality and responsive to industry. ‘Work

ready’ skills such as communication, team work, problem solving, working with clients,

dealing with pressure and understanding health and safety, should be embedded in

schooling and supported through industry-education partnerships.

Apprenticeships and traineeships – restore employer incentives to take on entry-level

traineeships and apprenticeships. These should integrate qualification attainment with work

experience, and incorporate foundation skill competency units, to ensure young people are

well supported with literacy, numeracy and work-ready skills.

Ensure that employment services provided through Job Services Australia and disability

services networks fully engage employers and address industry demand.

Review workplace regulation to encourage employers to hire young people, with wages

commensurate to work skill levels.5

Meanwhile, a growing body of scholarship around ‘collective impact’ has begun to show how

corporate organisations can work with other sectors to address youth disadvantage in general.

Collective impact approaches recognise that the corporate sector has significant social impact

through its actions, and must be supported to work with government, not-for-profits, philanthropic

foundations and the community to develop shared goals and indicators for addressing social

problems, coordinate their work, and share their learnings. These partnerships can include local

employers, chambers of commerce, and corporate foundations.6

In this paper, we will outline recent actions by the Victorian Government to promote the role of

corporate organisations in improving outcomes for young people, and place this in a policy context.

We will then summarise the different ways that corporate bodies can help young people to build

their skills, and outline the key elements to successful partnerships between the corporate and

youth sectors.

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YACVic, ‘The corporate sector supporting young people in Victoria’, June 2014

Victorian Government initiatives

In the 2013-14 state budget, the government committed $2 million over four years to support

business to mentor young people in starting their own small businesses, and to support youth social

enterprise. In line with this, the government started the Youth Partner Network, to link business,

philanthropy, government and the youth sector. The Foundation for Young Australians (FYA) was

engaged to grow the network, which has held forums on volunteering, mentoring, career pathways,

and social media. Additionally, the government supported the ‘Getting down to business’ program,

for young people aged 16-25 looking to start or grow their own enterprises. This program brings

together 40 young people, supporting them to refine and promote their ideas and develop their

own business and mentoring plans, with help from industry experts.

Through the Department of Human Services Office for Youth, the government also funded Yerp, the

youth engagement resource project by the Youth Affairs Council of Victoria produced in 2013. A

toolkit for young people, older people and organisations, Yerp includes material about how youth

engagement can enhance business and the economy, how young people contribute to their

communities as employees, employers and entrepreneurs, and how to leverage corporate

sponsorship.7

Such work resonates with the principles articulated in a guide to community sector / business

relationships developed in 2012 by the Victorian Government Office for the Community Sector,

with the Victorian Employers’ Chamber of Commerce. This guide advises not-for-profits and

businesses about developing corporate social responsibility and community engagement strategies,

finding and pitching to suitable partners, and dealing with risk management, MOUs, communication

and reviews.8

Meanwhile, the government has developed an industry participation model to inform their strategy

for refocusing vocational education and training in Victoria. This model supports industry leaders to

provide feedback to government about critical skills, training and market conditions, via an Industry

Skills Consultative Committee, an Annual Industry Skills Conference, specialist industry

consultations teams, and Regional Market Facilitation Managers.

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The role of the corporate sector was also considered in Peter Shergold’s 2013 Service Sector

Reform: a roadmap for community and human services reform, commissioned by the Victorian

Government. Shergold notes that many community organisations favour ethical partnerships with

business, and urges that government remove any disincentives for community organisations to

attract corporate funding.9

Recent losses

Unfortunately, recent developments at a federal level will make it harder for young people to

engage positively in employment and the business sector. The 2014-15 federal budget removed the

funding to Youth Connections, a program which provided career counselling and support to early

school leavers, helping 74,000 vulnerable young Australians to re-engage with study and work since

2010, including approximately 6,000 young Victorians each year.10

The federal budget also ceased funding to the Local Learning and Employment Networks (LLENs).

The LLENs bring together businesses, trainers, schools and communities to design collaborative

local solutions to youth employment issues. They work with about 5,000 businesses and other

organisations across the state, and are widely recognised as the main partnership brokerage bodies

in this space, valued for their independence and the trusted local networks they have built up over

than a decade. The average annual grant for a LLEN is equal to the cost of approximately 28 young

people on Newstart, making it a solid investment, and LLENs have typically managed to leverage 4

to 6 times their government funding from partners and sponsors (in funding and in kind).

Corporations and businesses, as well as education and community partners, have worked

extensively with the LLENs, including providing them with pro bono assistance. The LLEN model had

previously received resourcing from the state government too, but was not mentioned in the

recent state budget. As such, we are uncertain of the LLENs’ funding future.11

We also note that in 2013 the Victorian Government discontinued funding to an employment

program resourced by the Department of Business and Innovation, which worked with hundreds of

Victoria’s most vulnerable young people to help them to become ‘work ready’ and find and keep

jobs. This work program was hosted run by reputable youth organisations such as Whitelion, St

Kilda Youth Services, the YMCA and Youth Connect. The Minister for Employment and Trade

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announced that the program would be replaced by a new scheme providing subsidies to businesses

for employing young people. However this direct approach does not include the critical supports

needed to engage the most disadvantaged young people (the ones most vulnerable to long-term

unemployment) in finding and keeping jobs.12

Corporate contributions to the community

The corporate sector supports improved outcomes for young people and other community

members in a range of ways: through corporate philanthropy, workplace giving, sponsorship of

services and events, brand alignment, cause-related marketing, donation of goods, and staff

volunteering. The benefits to corporates include improvement of staff morale and engagement, the

marketing value of being associated with trusted and meaningful causes, and fulfilment of company

corporate social responsibility objectives.13

Some corporates have their own philanthropic foundations. Philanthropy Australia, the not-for-

profit national peak body for philanthropy, lists 66 business and corporate foundations amongst its

members. In a recent scope of philanthropic donations to youth programs operating in Victoria

during 2012-13, YACVic found that business and corporate foundations had donated over

$5,518,051 to youth initiatives operating in Victoria during the last funding round. (As many do not

disclose their full donations, the real figure must be higher.) Donations to youth programs from

corporate foundations ranged in size from $2,300 to help a Scout group buy some sporting

equipment, to $3,600,000 to support the development of the Youth Health Research Centre with

Orygen, Melbourne Health and the University of Melbourne.14

However, in the last reporting round only 9 out of 66 corporate foundations reported donating to

initiatives to benefit young people in Victoria. This suggests there is scope for engaging other

corporate foundations in the Victorian youth space. However, most of those who did donate, such

as AMP Foundation, Macquarie Group Foundation and Coca Cola Australia Foundation, donated to

multiple youth initiatives, indicating a strong commitment to young people.15

Corporate foundations supported youth initiatives in a number of topic areas. The two most

popular areas concerned educational engagement and helping young people experiencing

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disadvantage; this mirrors overall trends in philanthropic giving. Other popular areas included

disability support and camps for young people at risk of disadvantage, followed by Indigenous

mentoring, employment support, mentoring programs, health prevention workshops, breakfast

clubs, the Australian Youth Orchestra, youth first aid training, scholarship programs, and supporting

young people in out-of-home care or nursing homes.16

It is difficult to say which parts of Victoria benefited the most from corporate philanthropy, as most

corporate grants to youth programs did not specify a location, or went to programs operating

across multiple locations. The most common locations that were specified were in Melbourne’s

inner suburbs, followed by regional centres and interface suburbs of Melbourne. Very few

corporate grants went to youth programs in small rural communities.17 While rural youth services

have limited capacity to leverage funding, other philanthropic foundations and funds showed a

stronger preference for rural grants (albeit often small ones). This suggests there is further scope to

enhance the role of corporate foundations in youth grant-giving to rural communities.18

Meanwhile, some corporate entities support improved community outcomes via direct donations

from employees. Here, they can leverage stronger support from their employees by

communicating clearly the full value and impacts of what is being donated. For example, the

Institute of Chartered Accountants, reflecting on their workplace giving program, Everybody

Counts, found it useful to enumerate the value of everything they contributed to the not-for-profit

sector – not only pre-tax payroll donations, but also workplace fundraising, volunteering and in-kind

support. They found that the full scope of their contributions came to 70% more than the direct

donations alone; this news was positively received by their staff, who continued to give directly

while expressing greater pride in their workplace.19

Furthermore, while direct donations and grants remain important, the corporate sector is

increasingly contributing to the community in other, more creative ways, notably through

corporate volunteering. Volunteering not only benefits the community; when done well, it provides

volunteers with new skills and networks, and builds their wellbeing and community connectedness.

According to NSW Volunteering, workplace volunteering strengthens the engagement of employees

in their work and increases their job satisfaction, morale and wellbeing. It has also been linked to

reduced turnover and absenteeism.20

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A strong example of workplace volunteering is provided by NAB, which recently committed to reach

one million volunteering hours through its employee volunteering program by 2018. NAB has

found that employees who volunteer also show stronger engagement in their workplace and

improved productivity and customer interactions. In 2013, NAB employees volunteered 18,127 days

with community organisations, in areas including banking, HR, marketing and accounting – the

equivalent of $7.4 million in value. NAB employees receive a minimum of 16 hours paid

volunteering leave a year.21

At a Corporate Volunteering Breakfast hosted by Volunteering Victoria and NAB, presenters from

the Macquarie School of Management, the Commonwealth Bank and PricewaterhouseCoopers

discussed the importance of employees being actively encouraged to volunteer, through messages

from CEOs, charity champions and management support, in order to address the barrier of

employees feeling they are not being ‘asked’ to volunteer. Another challenge concerns finding the

right volunteering opportunities for employees. Here, it is important to offer a variety of options:

opportunities to volunteer individually or in a team, skilled volunteering, secondments, and micro-

and flexible volunteering. Volunteering Victoria and NAB have continued to run events to support

corporate organisations to encourage their employees to volunteer, network and share expertise.22

While corporate social responsibility attracts strong attention, NSW Volunteering have also drawn

attention to the importance of community contributions by small- and medium-sized businesses.

These businesses are often more likely to enjoy close, personal links to their local communities and

local stakeholders. However, with fewer resources to draw upon, smaller businesses need strong

support, networking and partnership brokerage to help them put their workplace volunteering in

motion.23

Working in partnership

Regardless of how corporate entities work with the youth sector, it is important to foster strong

partnerships. In their 2010 work about corporate community involvement in Australia and New

Zealand, Dr Denni Arli (Griffith University) and Adjunct Professor Gianni Zappala (Centre for Social

Impact) noted that there had been a shift away from traditional ‘arms-length’ donations and

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towards corporations working with other community stakeholders in longer-term arrangements,

often involving the exchange of non-financial resources such as staff expertise and mentoring.24

In their 2010 work Partnerships in the Youth Sector (compiled for the Australian Youth Research

Centre and the Foundation for Young Australians), Fiona Taylor, Lucas Walsh and Roger Holdsworth

considered what makes for a good business / youth sector partnership. They presented examples of

partnerships between businesses and youth services which had demonstrated success in reducing

young people’s petrol sniffing in central Australia, starting an accessible youth arts space in

Gosford, and supporting young people appearing in the Children’s Court in Parramatta. Key

elements of a successful partnership included:

A strong cost-benefit analysis and evidence base to support the work

Building trust between partners and a clear common purpose

Agreeing on strategies for handling advocacy and the media

A strong sense of community ownership of the project

Community-based steering groups, utilising local resources and networks

Ensuring all partners understand each other’s work and its value

Active participation by young people, in ways which are relevant and accessible for them

Keeping all partners up-to-date on ‘good news stories’ and positive outcomes for young

people, and ensuring positive media opportunities

Giving the partnership time to develop and demonstrate its worth.25

This appears to back the broader findings about ‘collective impact’. (While collective impact

initiatives are new, the White House Council for Community Solutions has identified a dozen

communities in the United States where such initiatives have achieved 10% or more progress on a

community-wide metric, 100 other communities moving in this direction, and 500 in the planning

stages. The approach is also gaining momentum in Australia.) Collective impact requires three

preconditions: urgency for change, influential and respected champions, and adequate financial

resources. Once commenced, these initiatives are characterised by a common agenda, shared

measurement of data and results, continuous communication with an emphasis on trust and

understanding and respecting each other’s work, and ‘backbone’ support for staff and

infrastructure to enable the partnership to function.26 John Kramer, a pioneer and leading advocate

for collective impact, has stressed that this approach should not be presented to corporate partners

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as just another opportunity to show their social responsibility. Rather, it should be acknowledged

that certain social issues affect the performance of businesses in relation to markets, productivity,

recruitment of staff, and workplace safety. 27

Representatives from the corporate sector have provided advice to not-for-profits looking for

corporate partnerships, much of which seems to echo the above findings. For example, Pat

Cunningham, Head of Sponsorship and Events at Westpac, has offered the following advice to not-

for-profits:

Research the ideal corporate partner whose values, reputation, territories and market

demographics align with your organisation

Utilise any corporate networks of your members, supporters and volunteers

Ensure your proposals to the corporate organisation are compelling and targeted, not

generic, and that they include story-telling, testimonials and visual representations

Accept non-financial support from corporates

Show evidence of social impact, strategic planning and return on investment; and –

Nurture the partnership, communicating and evaluating regularly.28

Similarly, fundraising and corporate partnership representatives from Ronald McDonald House

Charities have reflected that the characteristics of successful corporate / not-for-profit relationships

include: a very clear purpose, enough time to develop a long-term partnership, clear measurement

of the partnership’s value, adequate resources and energy to support the partnership, alignment

between the values and missions of all partners, and a compatible geographical focus for all

partners.29 However, this last point suggests the problems that can arise for youth projects seeking

corporate partnership if they are based in rural or remote areas, without a strong local corporate

presence.

In 2012, YACVic held a forum to consider how partnerships with business could be better supported

to strengthen outcomes for young people. It was attended by representatives from youth services,

the Office for Youth, philanthropy and partnership brokers. They articulated their own ideas about

what made for a strong relationship with corporate partners, including:

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A strong, independent broker who can facilitate and coordinate relationships, provide a

single point of contact and advice for stakeholders, and ensure that partnerships don’t

depend too much on individuals

Targeting partnerships to fit the business’s ‘brand’– eg, a bank supporting a youth financial

literacy program

Enabling businesses to engage in skilled volunteering, providing ‘back of house’ support for

youth services, for example through board membership or expert advice

Giving businesses opportunities to employ young people, while youth services provide

wrap-around support to keep young people engaged

Shared objectives, values and goals

Time for partnerships to mature

Adequate resourcing to support the partnership

Full public recognition of corporate contributions.30

Participants also identified common pitfalls in business / youth sector partnerships. These included:

Too many youth organisations ‘knocking on the same door’, overwhelming and confusing

their potential corporate partners

Lack of time to develop real relationships or show the benefits of a partnership

Tensions between large NGOs, which have greater capacity and expertise in leveraging

corporate support, and small youth services which often have stronger connections to local

communities, notably in rural areas

The complexity of youth services’ funding and reporting, which can involve an array of state,

federal and local government and philanthropic streams, and which can be difficult for

businesses to navigate.31

Participants also recognised that there are differences between local place-based partnerships and

state-wide or national partnerships, which require different kinds of brokerage and support.

There are many examples of corporate entities working to improve outcomes for young people. On

the following pages we profile some different approaches: corporate youth mentoring, workforce

experience, and sponsorship for youth services. We also outline a toolkit developed recently to

assist corporate bodies wishing to get started in this space.

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Case study: Corporate youth mentoring – IBM and the Smith Family

Since 2002, IBM Australia has partnered with the Smith Family to deliver iTrack, an online

mentoring program for secondary students from financially disadvantaged communities around

Australia. The program started when the Smith Family recognised that many young people from

disadvantaged backgrounds had talent and ambition but did not understand the education and

career pathways they would need to pursue, to achieve their goals. In many cases, their families

had limited experience of education or work, and so found it hard to advise them, and the young

people had few other role models.

iTrack links students with IBM mentors over two school terms. Mentors are screened, inducted, and

matched with a student according to the student’s aspirations and interests. They meet in person at

an IBM location, thus experiencing a real workplace, then stay in touch via online chats, projects

and activities, discussing leadership, professional experience, study, career pathways, and the role

of technology in society. The mentors also visit the students at school. More than 850 students

have taken part in the program, and last year 93% of students who took part said that their mentor

had given them more ideas about what to do after finishing school.

Comments from students included:

- “It was really fun, and helpful. The more I talked to my mentor the more I was able to build

my confidence in what I wanted to do for my career.”

- “[My mentor] taught me things that I didn’t know (which was really useful), she encouraged

me to be more confident, and she's one of the best mentors ever.”

Comments from IBM mentors included:

- “I really enjoy the interaction of chatting online and the vibrancy of my mentees. I get a

great deal of satisfaction in participating in iTrack. I feel that I am doing something useful.”

- “My student was lacking in overall confidence and was quite introverted ... I felt he gained a

fair bit from the experience, more so in being able to speak to somebody outside his family

situation.”32

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Case study: Workforce experience for young people at risk

Since 2000, the community organisation Whitelion has run an employment program for young

people aged 15-24 who have been marginalised due to a history of involvement in the justice

system, drug and alcohol problems, mental illness or homelessness. The program depends on the

successful engagement of corporate partners, which have included TOLL, Schweppes, KFC, City

West Water, Coles, Bakers Delight, Telstra, and the Australian Taxation Office. More than 200

young people have taken part, and Whitelion has around 35 business partners.

Many of the young people who take part have very limited work experience and few role models,

so it is important to build their skills and confidence and find the right placements. Placements are

in areas including administration, hospitality, trade, construction, logistics and transport. Before

entering the program, young people are given a vocational assessment and pre-employment

training. This includes resume development, interview preparation, and workplace orientation

concerning time-management, setting a routine, and appropriate workplace conduct. After starting

their placements, young people are supported by a Whitelion employment worker and a workplace

‘buddy’. Training and support is also provided for their employers. In a 2004 study of KFC restaurant

managers who had taken part, 100% said their patience had been developed through the Whitelion

initiative, and 80% said their empathy and understanding had increased.

In 2012, Whitelion and one of their corporate partners, Toll Group, received strong public

recognition through the Rotary Club of Southbank’s Community Service Awards, for their

collaborative employment program, Second Step. This program provides 12 month placements for

around 40 young people a year, many of whom end up being offered full-time positions. Toll

employees also support Whitelion with industry presentations in custodial facilities, recreational

events, fundraising and workplace mentoring.

Young people who took part in the Whitelion program have commented:

- “For the first time in my life I’ve been given a chance to really succeed and have a decent

life. I went from having nothing and no hope, to having a great job.”

- “Through work I’ve learnt skills that I never knew I had and it was great seeing my

workmates trust me.”

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- “I’ve learnt to trust and be more open. I feel like one of the team and they trust me and rely

on me. … If there’s no one to help us, we can become institutionalised. I’ve made a promise

to myself to succeed.”

Employers have commented:

- “This is a real grass roots contribution, with hands-on involvement. It’s had a positive impact

on the team, and on how people view things … Some of the girls have been a delight.”

- “In the stores that have supported this program, the staff turnover has dropped, as

managers have learned new and more perceptive ways to deal with Whitelion employees

and then transferred these methods to all staff.”

- “We’ve had two girls. The first one chose to leave. The second has been great and we want

to put her on full time. She is as good as the best, a real team member!”33

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Case study: Corporate sponsorship for youth services – Youth Connect

Youth Connect is a not-for-profit community organisation supporting young people in Melbourne’s

south-eastern suburbs. They work with employers, education providers, parents and community

services to help young people develop the skills, knowledge and connections to make successful

transitions through secondary education and into further learning and employment. To help

achieve this, the service leverages corporate sponsorship.

To promote their service to potential sponsors, Youth Connect explains how this relationship can

complement a company’s ‘brand’ and enhance its community image and credibility. They also

outline in practical terms how sponsorship benefits young people – eg, how a donation of a certain

amount helps specific numbers of young people into training or case management.

Several corporate sponsorship packages are available – platinum, gold and silver – to suit different

companies’ aims and capacity. Company contributions range from $10,000 (plus GST) per annum to

$2,000 per annum. Benefits to sponsors vary according to level, but include:

Prominent acknowledgement and display of the company’s logo and web links through

Youth Connect communications, including their website, newsletters, email signatures,

annual reports, reception area and events. Youth Connect enumerate the amount of traffic

through each of these spaces, to show the value of exposure there.

Coverage of the company’s work in Youth Connect’s newsletter

Use of Youth Connect’s logo in the company’s marketing and promotion

Free or discounted entry to career and transition workshops for the company’s staff and

families

Opportunities for company employees to volunteer with young people

Tickets to Business Network Breakfasts and Youth Connect’s Annual Applied Learning

Awards Ceremony.

Youth Connect Inc. also has Deductible Gift Recipient status, which entitles sponsors to make gifts

to the service tax deductible.34

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Case study: Connecting Youth & Business: a toolkit for employers

Opportunity Nation, a multi-sector coalition in the United States, recently produced a toolkit to

support the work of the White House Council for Community Solutions, to assist businesses to

engage young people at risk of educational or employment disadvantage. Connecting Youth &

Business outlines the benefits to business in engaging young people at risk of disadvantage,

including recruiting diverse new talent, expanding their consumer base, and strengthening their

company’s reputation for supporting growth and innovation. The kit describes three approaches:

‘soft skills’, ‘work-ready’ and ‘learn and earn’.

A ‘soft skills’ approach refers to businesses helping young people to develop basic life skills

necessary for the workplace, while a ‘work-ready’ approach means supporting young people to

build the skills and knowledge to find a job and keep it. These approaches require the following pre-

conditions:

Employees who can volunteer and interact with young people

Knowledge of the skills to be shared – eg, job-seeking, professional etiquette, and what’s

needed to get an entry-level job in the industry

Support from immediate management (in the case of a soft skills program) or company

leadership (in the case of a work-ready program)

A corporate culture that values professional growth and development

These pre-conditions are also ideal:

Expertise within the business to create, then facilitate, a training agenda

Activities for young people engaged in work-ready programs to practice networking and

develop professional links

Incentives for young people to participate, such as stipends, snacks or graduation

ceremonies

A corporate culture that values social responsibility, community investment and flexibility

Capacity and willingness to measure the program’s outcomes

And these pre-conditions are desirable:

Running sessions for young people at the workplace itself, so they can experience a real

business setting

Linking with other companies and community services to help young people build networks

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Previous involvement by the business in youth initiatives such as mentoring or tutoring.

A ‘learn and earn’ approach refers to young people learning to apply their skills and build their

resumes in a corporate workplace, while being paid. Such a program needs the following elements:

A partner organisation to recruit young participants, preparing them with soft-skills training

and on-the-job basics, supporting them to access wrap-around supports like legal counsel,

health care and housing, and helping them find jobs afterwards

Company resources to support the partner organisations, and to cover the program’s costs

in human resources, management and employment of the young people

Clear timelines and outcomes for the project, suitable scheduling, a supportive learning

environment, and chances for young interns to spend structured time together – for

example with guest speakers, group activities or company events

Compensating young people for the work performed, through wages or scholarships

Setting high performance expectations and supporting young people to meet them.

The toolkit provides businesses with practical advice on how to pursue each approach, and

examples of how to run activities such as soft-skills workshops and job-shadow days.35

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Recommendations to government

Partnership brokerage –

Renew funding to the Local Learning and Employment Networks (LLENs) to broker

partnerships between the business, education and community sectors to improve

employment and educational outcomes for young people. (A renewed investment of $48

million over four years, continuing the LLENs’ funding at approximately current levels.)

Workplace transition support –

Fund a ‘work ready’ employment and training program that provides intensive, case-

managed support for vulnerable young people aged 17-24 who face significant barriers to

employment. (New investment of $8 million over four years, to deliver training and

employment outcomes for 360 young people.)

Fund a program in the style of Youth Connections, to provide flexible, responsive and

individualised support to young people aged 12 to 17 who are disengaged from education,

to help them make successful transitions into education, training and employment. This

program should be aligned with Victoria’s 17 Area Partnerships. (Repurposed Investment of

Student Resource Packages for 5,000 disengaged young people per annum, redirecting

existing funds.)

Good practice –

Build a tool set and evaluation framework for corporate and business entities hosting youth

mentoring programs to evaluate their work and demonstrate its value. These should be

accompanied by accessible, comprehensive resources and advice concerning youth

mentoring, to help corporate partners work with schools and community organisations to

achieve solid results.

Work with Volunteering Victoria and their corporate partners such as NAB to promote good

practice in corporate volunteering with a special focus supporting young people. For

example, this could be the topic of one of the events in their corporate ‘breakfast series’.

Host an annual Victorian business / youth sector partnership award, to promote good

practice and give positive publicity to businesses engaged in supporting improved outcomes

for young people.

21

YACVic, ‘The corporate sector supporting young people in Victoria’, June 2014

New connections –

Use the Youth Partner network to bring together corporate philanthropic foundations with

youth services and peak bodies such as Philanthropy Australia and YACVic, to promote

corporate philanthropic engagement with youth projects, notably in smaller rural

communities. (If possible, run several events in Victorian locations.) This event could include

speakers from corporate foundations with a strong history of supporting youth projects,

along with researchers and youth service providers, to discuss the priorities of corporate

foundations, key youth issues and the best approaches to partnership.

Host an annual Business / Youth Sector ‘Speed-dating’ event, providing an opportunity for

representatives from the two sectors to meet potential partners and discuss priority issues

and approaches, without having to produce or read vast numbers of applications. These

events could include guest speakers and case studies showcasing successful partnerships.

22

YACVic, ‘The corporate sector supporting young people in Victoria’, June 2014

1 Victorian Government, Engage, Involve, Create: Youth Statement, Melbourne, 2012, p.19

2 Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Labour Force, 6202.0 March 2014, p.9

http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/mf/6202.0; Brotherhood of St Laurence, ‘Appendix A: Youth Unemployment Maps,’ 2014, http://www.bsl.org.au/pdfs/myChanceOurFuture_appendixA_maps_Feb2014.pdf ; Foundation for Young Australians (FYA), How Young People Are Faring 2013: Supporting Tables, Melbourne, 2013, p.27; Mission Australia, Youth Survey 2013, Sydney, 2013, p.126 3 Australian Government Productivity Commission, Economic Implications of an Ageing Australia: Productivity

Commission Research Report, Melbourne, 24 March 2005, pp.xii, 13 4 Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Learning to work: A helping hand for young Australians, Barton, April

2014, p.3 5 Ibid., pp.3-13

6 For more about collective impact, see Youth Affairs Council of Victoria (YACVic), Yikes, April 2014, p.12

7 YACVic, Yerp, 2013, http://yerp.yacvic.org.au/

8 Victorian Government Office for the Community Sector, Community Sector Business Partnerships Guide and Toolkit,

Melbourne, 2012 9 Peter Shergold, Service Sector Reform: a roadmap for community and human services reform, Melbourne, 2013,

pp.35-36 10

Australian Council of Social Service, ‘Focus on jobs not penalising people,’ 28/5/2014,

http://acoss.org.au/media/releases/ 11

Briefing (2014) from Jennifer Hippisley, Chief Executive Officer, Chair LLEN Partnership Broker Victorian State

Network 12

See Victorian Council of Social Service and YACVic, ‘Cuts to programs fail government’s own test,’ 30 May 2013, http://www.yacvic.org.au/news/media-releases/431-media-release-cuts-to-youth-programs-fail-government-s-own-test 13

Kelly Mancey and Matthew Henry , ‘Mythbusting Not for Profit Partnerships’, ProBono News, 21 August 2013 14

AMP Foundation, 2013 Community Report, https://www.amp.com.au/wps/portal/au/AMPAUMiniSite3C?vigurl=%2Fvgn-ext-templating%2Fv%2Findex.jsp%3Fvgnextoid%3Dd9a4a17c612f1210VgnVCM10000083d20d0aRCRD; Commonwealth Bank, ‘Community Grants 2013,’ https://www.commbank.com.au/about-us/in-the-community/employee-giving/staff-community-fund/2013-recipients.html; Coca-Cola Australia Foundation, ‘Who we’ve helped: grant recipients 2013,’ http://www.coca-colajourney.com.au/coca-cola-australia-foundation/who-weve-helped ; Colonial Foundation Limited, Annual Report 2012, http://www.colonialfoundation.org.au/assets/166/Files/Colonial%20Foundation%20Limited%20Annual%20Report%202011-2012.pdf ; Commonwealth Bank Staff Community Fund, ‘Community Grants: Victoria,’ https://www.commbank.com.au/about-us/in-the-community/employee-giving/staff-community-fund/2013-recipients.html ; IOOF Foundation, ‘Recent Grants FY 2013,’ http://www.ioof.com.au/iooffoundation/our_stories/recent_grants; Macquarie Group Foundation, Annual Review 2012, http://static.macquarie.com/dafiles/Internet/mgl/shared/au-com/about/foundation/mgf-news/annual-reports/docs/2012_macquarie_foundation_annual_report.pdf?v=1; Philanthropy Australia, ‘Who Are Our Members?’, http://www.philanthropy.org.au/join/who-are-our-members/ (Accessed Feb 2014); St George Foundation, ‘Who We’ve Supported (2013),’ http://promos.stgeorge.com.au/stgeorgefoundation/supported.asp; Telstra Foundation, ‘Everyone Connected Grants Program, September 2012,’ http://www.kidsfund.telstrafoundation.com/dir148/tfweb.nsf/FilesToLinkToLookup/everyoneconnectedgrantrecipients/$FILE/Everyone%20Connected%20Grant%20recipients.pdf; Westpac Foundation, ‘Grant Recipients in 2013,’ http://www.westpac.com.au/about-westpac/westpac-foundation/grants/grant-recipients-2013/ 15

Ibid. 16

Ibid. 17 Ibid. 18

See YACVic, ‘Philanthropy and youth support in Victoria,’ June 2014 (ministerial briefing) 19

Pamela Lee, ‘Total Value the Key for Workplace Giving,’ ProBono News, 26 March 2014 20

Simon Watts, ‘Volunteering is good for business’, Sydney Morning Herald, 12 May 2014 21

NAB, ‘NAB to deliver $50 million of value to communities through volunteering’, http://www.nab.com.au/about-us/media/media-releases-2014/nab-to-deliver-50-million-of-value-to-communities-through-volunteering

23

YACVic, ‘The corporate sector supporting young people in Victoria’, June 2014

22

Volunteering Victoria, ‘Breaking the Barriers to Corporate Volunteering’, 26 / 3/ 2014, http://volunteeringvictoria.org.au/breaking-barriers-corporate-volunteering/; Volunteering Victoria, ‘Breakfast series launched for volunteering corporates,’ 28/10/2013, http://volunteeringvictoria.org.au/breakfast-series-launched-volunteering-corporates/ 23

Watts, ‘Volunteering is good for business’ 24

Gianni Zappala and Denni Arli, ‘Corporate Community Involvement among leading companies in Australia & New Zealand: Strategy, structure and measurement’, Centre for Social Impact, CSI Issues Paper No. 10, 2010, pp.1-19. See also Louise Lee, Business community partnerships in New Zealand: Understanding experiences of partnership, New Zealand Centre for SME Research, pp.1-20 25

Fiona Taylor, with Lucas Walsh and Roger Holdsworth, Partnerships in the Youth Sector, Melbourne, FYA, 2010, pp.10-33 26

Sheera Bornstein, ‘27 Indicators for Backbone Effectiveness,’ 18 April 2013, FGS Blog http://www.fsg.org/KnowledgeExchange/Blogs/CollectiveImpact.aspx; Mimi Corcoran, Fay Hanleybrown, Adria Steinberg, Kate Tallant, ‘Collective Impact for Opportunity Youth’, FSG, 2012, http://www.fsg.org/tabid/191/ArticleId/735/Default.aspx?srpush=true; Fay Hanleybrown, John Kania and Mark Kramer, ‘Channelling Change: Making Collective Impact Work’, Stanford Social Innovation Review, 2012; Ideas, Q&A, Roundtable on Collective Impact, Stanford Social Innovation Review Fall 2012; Lakshmi Iyer, ‘How Do Rural Communities in the U.S. Implement Collective Impact?’, 5 November 2012, FGS Blog ; FGS Blog; John Kania and Mark Kramer, ‘Collective Impact’, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Winter 2011; Mark Kramer, Marcie Parkhurt, Lalitha Vaidyanathan, ‘Breakthroughs in Shared Measurement and Social Impact’, FSG Social Impact Advisors, 2009; Ellen Martin, ‘Evolving Our Understanding of Backbone Organizations,’ 11 December 2012 FGS Blog; Dawn O’Neil and Kerry Graham, ‘A Reflection: Collective Impact in Australia – 12 months on’, FSG, 16 December 2013; Dawn O’Neil AM and Kerry Graham, ‘How Collective Impact can help Place-Based Politics,’ Pro-Bono News, 13 November 2013; Jennifer Splansky Juster, ‘Mobilizing Resources for the Backbone,’ 22 April 2013, FGS Blog; Shiloh Turner, Katherine Errecart, & Anjali Bhatt, 'Measuring Backbone Contributions to Collective Impact,’ Stanford Social Innovation Review, 3 December 2013); White House Council for Community Solutions, ‘Community Collaboratives Whitepaper’, Corporation for National and Community Service, http://www.serve.gov/new-images/council/pdf/CommunityCollaborativesWhitepaper.pdf 27

Emily Morgan, ‘Woodside Enlists Kramer for Social Change Models’, ProBono News, 29 May 2014 28

Pat Cunningham, ‘Six Top Tips for Getting & Maintaining a Corporate Partnership’, ProBono News, 23 July 2013 29

Mancey and Henry, ‘Mythbusting Not for Profit Partnerships’ 30

YACVic, ‘Youth sector perspectives on business – youth service partnerships,’ October 2012, pp.5-8, and notes from the forum 31

Ibid., pp.9-11, and notes from the forum 32

IBM, ‘Corporate Responsibility’, http://www-07.ibm.com/ibm/au/responsibility/communities/learning/index1.html#Mentoring, and the Smith Family, iTrack, http://www.thesmithfamily.com.au/what-we-do/our-work/at-school/secondary/itrack 33

Southbank Rotary, ‘Rotary Community Service Awards 2012’, http://www.southbank.org.au/news/4776/southbank-rotary-congratulates-the-winners-of-the-third-annual-community-service-awards; Toll, ‘Toll wins community service award for employment program’, and ‘Our community Programs’, http://www.tollgroup.com/news/toll-wins-community-service-award-for-employment-program and http://www.tollgroup.com/community-programs; Whitelion, ‘Whitelion Employment Program,’ ‘Whitelion Employment Program Overview’, and ‘Employment: Employers’ Information Pack,’ http://www.whitelion.asn.au/index.php?sectionID=52&pageID=65 34

Youth Connect, ‘Corporate Sponsorship’, http://www.youthconnect.com.au/support-us/corporate-sponsorship/ 35

Opportunity Nation, Connecting Youth & business: a toolkit for employers, http://www.opportunitynation.org/youthandbusiness/pages/opportunity-youth-business