Youth Homelessness Matters Day (YHMD) takes place on Wednesday 19th April and was conceived in 1990 to raise awareness and public discussion about child and youth homelessness.
Over the years, it has grown into a national celebration of young people’s resilience and an important day of advocacy for sustainable and innovative solutions to support the needs of children and young people at risk of or experiencing homelessness.
The Burdekin Association is honouring the day in a number of ways.
This year YFoundations are calling for the development of a standalone National Child and Youth Homelessness and Housing Strategy.
The Burdekin Association has signed the petition and ask that you sign it too. Please also share with friends, family and colleagues. Join the conversation and help us half youth homelessness by 2030.
We recently attended the Confront the Crisis – Housing for All summit on ending homelessness and confronting the housing crisis in NSW.
Confront the Crisis
Confront the Crisis is a campaign by Community Housing Industry Association NSW which calls on each and every MP, each and every party in NSW to confront the housing crisis by committing to real, long-term investment in community housing ahead of the state election this March.
The event, taking place during the NSW state election campaign, was a chance for our political leaders, the sector, and the community to take another step towards a future NSW where everyone in NSW has a safe place to call home.
Hosted by journalist Joe Hildebrand, speakers included:
Mark Degotardi, Community Housing Industry Association NSW
Trina Jones, Homelessness NSW
Hal Pawson, City Futures Research Centre, UNSW
Sydney Lord Mayor, Clover Moore
The Hon Rose Jackson, NSW Labor
Jenny Leong, MP NSW Greens
Alex Greenwich, MP Independent
Adina Cirson, The Property Council
Housing for All summit host Joe Hildebrand
Jenny Leong MP, Alex Greenwich MP and Rose Jackson MP discussing the NSW housing and homelessness crisis and the strategic and collaborative approach needed to solve the problem.
Key workers are struggling to find a place to live. Young people are losing hope. “The market will not fix itself. We need government intervention to provide essential affordable housing stock.” – The Hon. Rose Jackson, NSW Shadow Minister for Water, Housing and Homelessness.
“At the current rate of investment in NSW, it would take around 80 years to build enough social and affordable housing for the households currently on the NSW social housing waitlist.” – Trina Jones from @HomelessnessNSW
UNSW’s Hal Pawson talking about how NSW net supply of social housing is falling while demand is rising. Census data shows 144,000 households would be eligible for social housing – far more than the official NSW social housing waitlist shows.
City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore and CHIA NSW and @HomelessnessNSW Housing for All event calling for sustained government investment in social and affordable housing.
“We have an opportunity to maximise the investment from the Housing Australia Future Fund.” 8,000 people joined the NSW social housing waitlist last year. CHIA NSW’s @MarkDegotardi says now is the time for action.
The Burdekin Association exists to support young people towards a better-quality life. Many of us have found ourselves in this job because we love the idea of helping others and advocating for our most vulnerable people in society. We have a huge amount of job satisfaction – we get to help children and young people have a better life but it is a tough job at times too.
Our workload is high as we strive to meet our continued growth but we are highly motivated. We do not want to let one single young person down; young people come to us and have often been let down multiple times prior to finding us. We continue to run our organisation well and operate within our means. However, the increase in demand for our services means an increase in costs with no associated change in revenue. The solution is simple, we require increased funding and are constantly fundraising. Our CEO, Justene recently took to Facebook to say this.
It’s been both an inspiring yet exhausting last few years. We provide homes for children and young people all over the eastern Sydney region from Avalon in the North to Ramsgate in the South. In the space of 4 years we now care for 10 times or 1000% more children and young people. We don’t want to increase however whilst their are children and young people who need a safe home we will strive to ensure that everyone of them has one.
We want to make sure everyone of these children and young people have access to the same opportunities as there peers. We are now struggling to do this.
Our fundraising/philanthropic and donations that we receive go straight back into ensuring our children and young people have the absolute best and extra care we can possibly provide as well as holidays, access to our bespoke education program, mental health support, formal dresses/tickets, soccer shoes, sports fees, gym fees, apprenticeship tools, driving lessons…everything and anything that they need (balanced with what they want!). With our growth we need more funds to give all our children and young people all that they deserve.
What can you do…I would love it if you could run your own one off or yearly third party fundraiser at work, in the community, your family, your school or club. I will run (well walk), swim (slowly), dance and do pretty much anything I can to assist in your efforts.
If you are interested in running an event for us please reach out. Thank you for any support you can provide. Justene CEO.
Your help, small or large, is immensely appreciated and vital to our continued success. There are many ways in which you can support us. One opportunity is sleeping over at Freshwater on Friday March 17th for Home Sweet 2023 or sponsoring our team to sleepover. Grab your comfy gear, friends, family or colleagues and come and join us for a fun, community event to raise much needed funds and awareness for homelessness.
As part of our commitment to continuous improvement we are in the process of collating data from our surveys of our young people and employees. This will enable us to see what we are doing right and what we need to improve. We look forward to sharing this information with you soon.
The aim of the program was to help build participants’ skills in leadership, advocacy and community engagement, enabling participants to become more effective leaders in their neighbourhood.
The program was funded by the Department of Premier and Cabinet’s NSW Social Cohesion Grants for Local Government. Special thanks to Deputy Mayor Stephanie Di Pasqua, Deputy Mayor of the City of Canada Bay and mentors April McCabe, People & Culture Advisor at City of Canada Bay and Vivian Kosseifi, Nurturing Emerging Communities Officer, City of Canada Bay – Library & Community Services. Many thanks also to the rest of the team.
Our CEO, Justene Gordon and Out-of-Home Care Manager, Jacqui Gildaly both provided presentations as part of the program. Team Leader Stephen Dukich joined as a mentor.
“On Saturday I finished up as a mentor on the Future Leaders Canada Bay program. This was a great program to be a part of and I am really thankful for the opportunity to be a mentor representing the Burdekin Association. I’ve learnt so much from the presenters April McCabe, Vivian Kosseifi and the rest of the team.
This program pushed me to think outside the box as a mentor, allowed me the chance to guide and role model for a mentee and make great connections.
The sessions were packed with worthwhile information and there were great key speakers Sally Sitou , Justene Gordon and Jacqueline Gildaly. Definitely a worthwhile project to be a part of.”
Stephen Dukich, Team Leader, The Burdekin Association
For the last 18 months, Burdekin has partnered with Canada Bay Libraries to deliver the Youth Space Project. Canada Bay Council Facebook
The Ethnic Communities’ Council of NSW (ECCNSW) is the peak body for all culturally and linguistically diverse communities in New South Wales. Ethnic Communities’ Council of NSW Facebook
A quick update on our Christmas Fundraising Campaign. As you probably know, we aimed to raise money for our Youth Development Fund as well as fulfill the gift wishes of our young people.
As always, our community was incredibly generous with the supply of gifts, vouchers and cash,, all of which goes directly to the children and young people in our care.
As our organisation continues to grow and the number of young people in our care too, your support is more important than ever. YOU, make a huge difference to the vulnerable young people in our care.
Below is a glimpse into who made Christmas 2022 possible, there are so many more behind the scenes.
In total the value of the gifts, vouchers and cash reached $29,870. With more than 100 children and young people to shop for, we were able to bring many smiles on Christmas morning. Gifts were delivered by our very own elves, who also deserve huge credit for their tireless work making sure that each and every young person had a special Christmas.
Thank you so, so much to our amazing community for making moments like this happen – you guys are amazing! We look forward to another year making things happen with you by our side!!
St Anthony in the Fields delivering Christmas giftsShare the Dignity delivering handbags full of personal products
We acknowledge the Aboriginal people of the Cadigal and Gayamaygal Clans. We acknowledge the Country on which we live, work, and gather as being Aboriginal land.
We acknowledge the lands, waterways and skies that are connected to Aboriginal people. We honour them and pay our deepest respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.
We respect their rightful place within our communities, and we value their ancient cultural knowledge and practices.
We deeply respect that this will always be Aboriginal land and we will honour and follow the first peoples’ values in caring for the Country and for preserving their culture.
We deeply value that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are the oldest living culture in the world and we will continue to work with their peoples and communities to ensure their cultures endure and remain strong.
