The Beacon Foundation is seeking partnerships with Local Government, education and industry to find innovative ways to resolving one of Australia’s priority issues, youth unemployment.
The organisation was founded by a group of business and community leaders concerned about the direction of local young people and their future in our society.
The Foundation acknowledges that councils have a pivotal role in overcoming youth unemployment and aims to create real futures by providing sustainable jobs in local areas and keeping young people in their communities. Beacon aims to create a mindset change away from the more traditional Drop-in Centres towards establishing enterprises with real job prospects attached.
Focussing on the 15-25 year age group, Beacon has conceived new ways to address the problem of youth unemployment and has piloted these ideas with considerable success.
The organisation developed a “careers” job creation template under which the supported enterprise must move to the commercial world and trade in its own right.
The town of St Helens in Tasmania’s Northeast was chosen to demonstrate the template. Beacon Seafoods was conceived and grew to a sustainable enterprise where 15 real jobs were created harvesting wild and cultivated oysters for the Sydney Fish Markets.
The project was also responsible for producing the Australian Trainee of the year for 1999. The enterprise has moved into private ownership and now employs 31 young people.
Beacon believes that young people benefit from being kept where they have local support networks and that youth unemployment needs a team approach at the local level.
Councils interested in becoming involved can contact the Beacon Foundation via their website at www.beaconfoundation.net
