The Burdekin Association is thrilled to announce that a former employee, Jay Williams, has established a new skincare company – ACTIVEAUSSIE Skincare – and he has committed to donating 15 per cent of the company’s profits to The Burdekin Association for one year.
The Burdekin Association’s CEO, Justene Gordon was joined by young people – Alice and Ava – and Case Managers – Chris and Howie. They were filmed while talking with first-hand experience of how The Burdekin Association provides housing, support and community intervention services for children and young people – helping to solve issues of child and youth homelessness.
ACTIVEAUSSIE Skincare products are proudly made in Sydney by reputable partners in the health and beauty field and feature antioxidants, including Kakadu plum extract, lilly pilly fruit extract, bilberry fruit extract, lavender oil, Resveratrol, and Tocopheryl Acetate (a form of Vitamin E).
The funds raised through the sale of ACTIVEAUSSIE Skincare products will be used to provide case management services to children in our Out of Home Care. The funds will help them to learn independent living skills, complete their studies, live independently, and go on to gain employment.
We hope through ACTIVEAUSSIE Skincare’s advertising campaign, that more people will discover what we do, volunteer with us, become a foster carer of a young person, and donate.
Justene Gordon, CEO of The Burdekin Association
ACTIVEAUSSIE Skincare’s endeavours will help The Burdekin Association by raising our profile, making people aware of how we’re aiming to ensure that every child or young person has a safe home.
“The main purpose of the ACTIVEAUSSIE Skincare brand is about fundraising and supporting organisations who are helping our young disadvantaged kids. That’s what really makes us, us.”
Jay Williams, Founder of ACTIVEAUSSIE Skincare
You can visit the ACTIVEAUSSIE Skincare website to place an order and support a great cause (The Burdekin Association!) 💙💛
Across Australia in 2022-23, almost 39,000 young people (15-24 years of age) presented alone to a specialist homelessness service. Of these young people, the majority were in need of short or long term accommodation.
Half of the young people who tried to get a bed in a crisis refuge in 2022-23 were turned away because services couldn’t accommodate them.
Around a third of young people that presented to specialist homelessness services had experienced domestic and family violence. And, around a third of young people presenting along to specialist homelessness services identified as Indigenous to Australia.
It is becoming clear, according to Yfoundations, the broader rental, housing and cost of living crisis is putting more pressure on homeless service providers and making it harder for children and young people to find a home.
Yfoundations is the peak body for youth homelessness in NSW. For over 40 years, yfoundations has represented and advocated for children and young people at risk of and experiencing homelessness, and the services that support them.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare Specialist Homelessness Services (SHS) data 202-23 advises that the capacity of homelessness services has fallen by almost 17,000 clients a year and services face a $73 million funding shortfall from June 2024 (Yfoundations media release, December 2023.)
In 2022-23, three in 10 clients at specialist homelessness services (SHS) were under the age of 18. Almost 40,000 of SHS clients in 2022-23 were children and young people (15-24) presenting on their own. Similar to previous years, females and First Nations people were overrepresented in these figures.
Yfoundations
Wednesday April 17, 2024 is Youth Homelessness Matters Day. It’s a national day that aims to raise awareness and public discussion about child and youth homelessness. It’s been held every year since 1990 and has grown into a national commemoration of young people’s resilience. It’s also a day for yfoundations and other services like The Burdekin Association to seek innovative solutions to support the needs of children and young people at risk of or currently experiencing homelessness. It’s a day that’s showcased online and in communities around Australia.
“Every day in 2022/23, 295 people who needed a crisis bed or help were turned away because services were at capacity. We believe, these numbers will be much higher in reality, because we know that children and young people will couch surf, remain in violent homes, or sleep rough because they have no idea that services exist. Even if they did, the report demonstrates they are unlikely to get a bed tonight because services are full.”
Trish Connolly, yfoundations CEO
Yfoundations is hoping that these statistics will be taken into consideration when the federal government develops the National Housing and Homelessness Plan and Agreement this year.
Yfoundations’ view is that the solution lies in increasing the funding for crisis homelessness services, so that children and young people are not living in unsafe and violent situations, and that the federal government commits to standalone homelessness and housing plans to end child and youth homelessness. Their submission aims to demonstrate how failures of the child protection system and other service systems have had significant impacts on the youth homelessness service system.
The plan will need to respond to the diversity and complexity of young people at risk of or experiencing homelessness to support their transition into a future of self reliance and wellbeing. It should be part of a national approach in responding to housing supply shortages.
To find out more about Youth Homelessness Matters Day, click here.
A huge thank you to the amazing team of volunteers at Qualtrics for helping us transform a single storey, two-bedroom property for a 19-year-old single mother with two children under the age of two.
Six employees from Qualtrics, which helps organisations improve their customer and employee experience, put up their hands to transform the property as part of their annual volunteering inititiative, XM Day.
Armed with gardening tools and a positive attitude, they participated in a volunteering day, where they assisted in:
Painting the living room
Moving a new couch into the newly painted living room
Pruning and tidying up the garden
Patching up a couple of dents in the walls
Revamping the kitchen
Tidying up the garage and car port
Taking rubbish to Kimbriki Resource Recovery Centre
Scrubbing the bathroom to remove mould
Removing plastic bottles and recycling them
The generous team also donated two car seats for the children, children’s clothes, toys, new towels, new cushions and a rug, and stationery to help the young mother with their TAFE studies.
Doctor Cecila Herbert from Qualtrics also went the extra mile and donated plants from her own garden and planted them in the property’s garden.
Thank you Qualtrics, your team of volunteers have truly made a difference in this young mother’s life and we couldn’t be more grateful! This is why we do what we do!
And finally, a big shout out of thanks to Bunnings Warringah Mall for donating paint, that provided the living room with a new lease on life.
If your organisation or business would like to volunteer with The Burdekin Association, check out our volunteering opportunities here. We’d love to hear from you.
“One in every five children in Australia are not completing their full 13 years of basic education,” stated the ABC News on Tuesday February 6, reporting on the Productivity Commission’s 2024 Report on Government Services.
“The dropout rate of students has reached a 10-year-high with just over half of all young Australians leaving school to participate in further education or enter full-time work,” the article continues.
The Productivity Commission’s Report outlines that in 2023 across all schools, “attendance rates decreased from 89.2 per cent in Year 7 to 84.5 per cent in Year 10. For Years 7–10, attendance rates are higher at non‑government schools (89.8 per cent) than government schools (84.0 per cent).”
Poor student attendance has been related to poor student outcomes, particularly once the patterns of non-attendance are established.
In addition to student retention, student engagement at school was measured and determined. There are significant measures of a student’s engagement as school –
behavioural engagement – school attendance, attainment and retention.
emotional engagement – students’ attitudes to learning and school.
cognitive engagement – students’ perception of intellectual challenge, effort or interest and motivation.
Students’ engagement at school is measured using data on emotional engagement – students’ sense of belonging at school. Higher or increasing scores on the index of sense of belonging at school is desirable.
Research suggests that students with a positive sense of belonging are more likely to stay in school longer, have less absenteeism and higher academic outcomes. Students who have a high sense of belonging in school generally put in more effort and are more motivated at school.
“Across the three literacy domains, the proportions of Australian 15-year-old students who achieved at or above the national proficient standard in 2022 were significantly lower than the proportions in 2018 for mathematics literacy, but similar to the proportions in 2018 for reading literacy and scientific literacy,” the 2024 Productivity Commission Report on Government Services stated.
The Burdekin Difference
Australian schooling aims for all young Australians to become successful lifelong learners, confident and creative individuals, and active and informed members of the community, positioning them to transition to further study or work and successful lives. It aims for students to improve academic achievement and excel by international standards.
Yet, 69 per cent of the children and young people who come to The Burdekin Association are unable to participate effectively in learning provided through the education department, due to their personal situations.
Many of the young people who come to The Burdekin Association did not attend sufficient schooling in their formative years. As a result, they have low literacy and low self esteem and need to cope with the challenges that caused their situation in the first place, such as family conflict or mental health issues.
When these children and young people attend school, the environment can become hostile or perceived to be hostile, they may become ostracized and/or bullied, partly because of their negative expectations and because they have fallen behind so much.
The Burdekin Association began addressing this gap in educational outcomes three years ago, by starting an Education Program and hiring teachers to work directly with our young people. Over the last three years, we have seen this program grow due to the demand and need.
Last year, The Burdekin Association was successful in securing very generous funding through the Allan & Gill Gray Philanthropies Education Grant to boost our Education Program.
We now employ two Education Specialists – Sarah Haywood and Rae Usman, our Primary Educator – to support children and young people in our Out-of-Home Care program and disadvantaged (yet engaged) young people in our other programs.
OurEducation Specialists provide:
Timetabled one-on-one teaching/assessment with children and young people (12-18) who previously were disengaged with school for extended periods of time.
Development of a Homework Plan. Development of an At Home Learning Plan.
Advocacy for the young person to get into their local high school.
Advocacy and support for the young person at TAFE.
Engagement, advocacy, and support for three Individual Education Plans for school based meetings.
Tutors (who are hired and matched with the young people) to assist them with their learning.
The Education Specialists advocate with schools, collaborate with young people and staff, and support children and young people in our care both across the Inner West and Northern Sydney regions.
We are always saying how much our community matters to us, especially at Christmas – because we mean it. The Burdekin Association can honestly do so much, because of you.
We’d like to shout out a big thank you to the following organisations and people…
2023 Northern Beaches Annual Fundraiser Business Breakfast
Thank you to the 2023 Northern Beaches Annual Fundraiser Business Breakfast for announcing in November that The Burdekin Association is a recipient of their fundraising efforts. We are so grateful to be one of the three organisations to be a beneficiary! We received $4,000 during the fundraising event.
Justene Gordon CEO, Graham Bargwanna Head of Business and Stakeholder Development and Emilia Weaver Grants and Fundraising Officer2023 Northern Beaches Annual Fundraiser Business BreakfastPanel at the 2023 Northern Beaches Annual Business Breakfast Fundraiser
Addi Road Community Organisation
We are so thankful to the Addi Road Community Organisation, who once again has provided our young people with deluxe holiday hampers, as part of their ‘Hampers of Hope’ program. Last year, 66 of our young people received a hamper. They were brimming with chocolates, gifts, toys and other luxury items. Thank you so much Addi Road Community Organisation!
Palmolive ANZ
It’s amazing the difference that one donation can make! We received a donation of many bottles of lovely shampoo to give to our young people. Thank you Palmolive ANZ.
Share the Dignity
Thank you to Share the Dignity. They donated some beautiful handbags filled with essential items, everyday luxury goods and handwritten notes for young women, girls and those who menstruate to feel a little bit of love and hope this Christmas.
Hillsong Church
Thank you Hillsong Church for your generous donation of hampers. Staff from our Youth Services team gratefully received them and the children and young people in our care will truly appreciate the gifts that you have so generously provided. Merry Christmas!
Manly Warringah Sea Eagles
Over the past five weeks, Manly Warringah Sea Eagles sought donations of gift cards for children and young people at Burdekin. We are truly grateful for the numerous gift cards that were donated – often these gifts are the only ones that a young person will receive at Christmas and the joy that it brings is immeasurable. Thank you to our community partner, Manly Warringah Sea Eagles!
Energize Health Club Belrose
Thank you, Energize Health Club Belrose, for donating some amazing Christmas presents for our young people! We are truly grateful!
Our Supporters
We couldn’t do the work that we do without our many generous supporters. We thank you and appreciate the trust that you put into us. We strive to do our very best by our young people.
The house diagram below features our supporters from the 2022/23 financial year.
We’ll be updating this post as more Christmas hampers, goodies and gifts arrive at our head office, to be distributed to the young people we support.
In the meantime, if you would like to give a gift card to a young person this Christmas, you can purchase a gift card from JB Hi-Fi, Rebel Sports, Kmart, Big W, Priceline / Sephora, EB Games, Westfields, Myer or David Jones and email it to us to at: burdekin.admin@burdekin.org.au.
Often these gifts are the only gift that a young person will receive at Christmas and the joy that it brings is immeasurable.
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.
