Brighter Future For Australian Indigenous Youths

Dear Supporters,

COVID-19 has hit everyone hard but for a community that pre-pandemic had the highest suiside rates and unrest the issue is growing at a rapid rate and government funding has been pushed to mainstream initiatives leaving a cultural gap that needs our help to address urgently. 

Our project aim is to improve the lives and wellbeing of young indiginous youths in Australia. We know that the Australian justice system represents a high number of youths from this culture and this impacts education and support for these young people. We have been working directly with the community and engaging them with assessing their needs and this includes bringing new spaces available for young people to engage with each other, services and support breaking the expected route of crime or mental health issues. 

This project has a strong plan that has been worked on directly with the youths and community members as we aim to empower them to ensure the success of the project however COVID-19 has seen lockdownsm, delays and a large decrease in funding for our project. We now appeal to our network to help us fundraise enough funds to kick start this project before the end of 2020 as the need is now greater than ever. 

A report led by the University of Western Australia has played a key role in outlining the impact of COVID-19 on the mental health and wellbeing of Indigenous Australians, revealing that the pandemic has put many Indigenous Australians at risk of severe psychological distress. 

The Australian government has identified the social and wellbeing impact of COVID-19 and a number of funding has been made available but this funding has been pushed towards mainstream initiatives and support networks across Australia that are not accessed by the Indigenous communities. Therefore our project is essential to saving and protecting lives. 

Thank you for your donation and supporting our project, every penny is going towards upskilling the youths of our communities and we invite you to share and help us to continue to fundraise for this project, particularly through this challenging time for us all. 

If you have any questions please contact us on hello@actionchange.org 

With Gratitude,

Australian Indigenous Youths

Dear Supporters,

Youth is the key transition period in all our lives. The transition from child to adult crossroads brings a number of life changing decisions to be made such as long term relationships, future education and career paths that reflect our potential employment and finance status. With the development of technology and demand on younger people means these decisions are becoming increasingly difficult and for Indiginous youths they face even more challenges. Additional obstacles include the effect of intergenerational trauma, racism and prejudice, and socioeconomic disadvantage are all relevant for young Indigenous people today.

In 2016 the Australian authorities released a stat that in Australia they have a total of just under 241, 900 Indigenous young people (aged 10-24) this makes up around 5% of the youth population. Most of whom live inland in very rural communities. Our project is working with local community members to provide scholarships for aspiring young people to train and break the cycle others have faced in the community. It is proven that currently the youth criminal justice system has seen a high number of Indiginous youths in the system that they have declared it a challenge that needs to be tackled. We work with communities to support providing new opportunities within the community to help break this cycle and tackle the challenge of inequality. 

As well as providing scholarships we are hoping to grow this project with your support and donations. We have met with the local community board and identified a number of new initiatives for the youths.

First we are looking to help install a community garden, supplying and installing water-wise garden beds, seating, safe pathways, shading and land surveying to engage the youth community. We have also identified with the community a critical need for water fountains within the local community streets for access to safe drinking water and ability to wash hands as many homes do not have access to clean running water. Our team has also identified some strategic locations that we feel lighting, seating and shading should be installed to support meeting points for youths and keeping them safe. 

In the future we would also like to work with local partners across Australia to provide community workshops in partnership with community leaders, provide more student internships in partnership with local universities and deploy a research assistant to work directly with the community leaders to provide training and resources on tracking the local community needs.

This is a new project and our scope is much more than scholarships and our team is very passionate and wants to engage with our projects so our mission and priority over the next few months is fundraising for this project. We thank you for your donations and support and if you can help further we welcome any support from sharing our project, fundraising, donating or just getting in touch with ideas!

Thank you for being on our side. If you would like to find out more about our project please do reach out to us at hello@gvitrust.org 

With Gratitude,

Indigenous Australian Youths