Open Family Australia believes that education is a vital component of a young person’s ability to improve their personal circumstance, now and into the future. People who experience disadvantage and homelessness as a young person are more likely to continue the cycle across their lifetime.
The longer young people remain in school, the greater the chance that they will gain long term employment and break the cycles of poverty, drug and alcohol dependency, and other issues affecting young people at-risk.
There is a direct correlation between the level of education obtained and the prospect of future employment - the lower the level of education a person completes, the greater the difficulty they face in securing employment. A study conducted by the Business Council of Australia revealed that 21% of young men and 59% of young women who left school in year 9 remained unemployed seven years after leaving school. Students from lower socio-economic backgrounds are less likely to continue to tertiary education and tend to achieve lower results across all years of education. Continuing into tertiary education further increases a person’s chance of employment however, tertiary admission is usually dependent on the level of secondary education achieved.
Education also has an impact on crime in that continuing education substantially reduces the propensity to commit crime.
At Open Family Australia our Education Alliance is conducted over four programs:
- Back to School
- Links to Learning
- Scholarships
- Education Partnerships (Individual Scholarship Program)
The City of Frankston has a new community outreach program to combat the rise in youth homelessness, crime and alcohol and drug related abuse for troubled youth in the region. A development committee made up of concerned local business owners approached Open Family Australia in 2008 to establish the program to assist at-risk and homeless youth aged 12-25 in Frankston.
Tickets are now selling for the 2010 A Night On The Streets gala dinner at the Grand Hyatt, Melbourne. Reserve your seat now and experience all the glamour of international travel to exotic locations. Sit on a famous street of the world such as Fleet Street, Route 66, Champs Elysees, Grand Canal and more.
Education