Your organisation can participate in our Rebuild-a-Young-Life (RYL) programme. Sign up as a Work Experience employer that engages a disadvantaged young person on a permanent basis (conditional on a 90 day probationary period).

Feedback from the Host Companies that participated in our pilot programme suggests that the employment of a young person can have positive effects on the attitudes and mindsets of the individuals with whom the young person works.

Organisations that have a practical approach to implementing corporate social responsibility policies are also more likely to have good workplace cultures. This is an opportunity for your organisation to do something very worthwhile.

Background Information
The primary objectives of the Rebuild-a-Young-Life programme are to firstly, stabilise the lives of disadvantaged young people so that they can secondly, develop the skills that will make them ready for work and then thirdly, find an employment pathway which will eventually lead them to a permanent place in mainstream society.

As we all know, none of the kids helped by Salvation Army Oasis Centre and similar organisations deliberately choose life on the streets. Usually, factors beyond their control such as marriage break-downs, inter-generational or unemployment generated poverty, parental alcoholism and drug dependency are catalysts for young people being forced onto the streets and its related hazards.  

Those who aren’t rescued by organisations such as Barnardos, Salvation Army, Open Family, Ted Noffs Foundation and Sir David Martin Foundation, drift inevitably towards criminal institutions, suicide or death from a drug over-dose.

The Property Industry Foundation is placing a lot of emphasis on the Rebuild-a-Young-Life programme, because the provision of employment opportunities to youth is the most effective way of leading disadvantaged youth back towards financial and emotional stability.

When the programme is fully operational, we hope that we might have 50 participating companies that employ one young person every second year.

Please feel free to call Rosemary Smithson or Dixie Hogland on 9241 6000, if you would like to develop a better understanding of the benefits and obligations of participation.

Yours sincerely

Brendan Crotty
Founder – PIF Rebuild-a-Young-Life Program
Immediate-Past National Chairman