The Key Processes that Engage Disaffected Youth A Research Project on BoysTown’s Social Enterprises Salote Mafi, Australia

BoysTown Social Enterprises ●Client group  Marginalised young people aged years ●Objective  Develop and enhance the work-readiness of marginalised young people  Real-life work environment with added support  Paid work for participants  The output of the work is visible in the community

BoysTown Social Enterprises ●Key components  Experiential learning of vocational and employability skills  Training to reinforce the learning of vocational skills  Case management and group workshops to address individual barriers to employment ●Examples  Landscaping  Graffiti removal  Asset and property maintenance  Construction  Hospitality

Australian Research Council Linkage Project ●Griffith University and BoysTown collaboration  Reconnecting Disaffected Youth through Successful Transition to Work ●Mixed method  Interviews about key processes to engaging young people in social enterprises  40 young people  52 BoysTown staff members  Surveys to measure personal development  542 young people in BoysTown’s social enterprises

Program Engagement Centredness Cognitive- Motivational Outcomes Authenticity and quality of staff Barriers impeding development of youth Expectations for the future Individual- centred support Tailored programs for youth Staff persevering with youth 5

Cognitive-Motivational Outcomes

Person-Centredness Psycho- Social and Cultural Outcomes Diverse nature of clientele Individual- centred support Support of achieving living needs Support for expanding on networking opportunities Support for finding success via cooperation and teamwork Advocacy for youth 7

Psycho-Social and Cultural Outcomes

Success-Centredness Employment and Education Outcomes Accountability Barriers impeding development Language, literacy and numeracy Ownership of social enterprises Outcomes, effort and achievability Quality staff and relationships 9

Employment and Education Outcomes 73% obtained positive employment or education outcomes  41% gained full-time employment  20% engaged with education  12% gained part-time employment Of the participants who obtained an outcome:  89% remained in their outcome for at least 13 weeks  80% remained in their outcome for at least 26 weeks

“ It’s good, they change lives, they turned me around… Because before I came here I was starting to fall down the wrong path but when I came here I changed. I’m a better person now.” What the young people say…