In 2008/2009, Open Family Australia provided support for 482 students, helping them to stay in school. 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.
Key achievements in 2008/09:
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335 young people supported through the Back to School program
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28 young people intensively supported through Links to Schools
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94 scholarships provided through corporate or private donors
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3 education partnerships provided to students
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22 young people have participated in the Links to Learning program
At Open Family Australia our Education Alliance is conducted over four programs:
- Links to Learning
- Scholarships
- Education Partnerships (Individual Scholarship Program)
