As a part of ETC’s philanthropic commitment to the communities in which we operate, each year we donate money to a range of well deserving organisations and initiatives.
In prior years, organisations would apply for these grants through an application process, but the 2021/2022 financial year was a little different.
The ETC Board decided to offer staff the opportunity to nominate organisations that they felt would benefit the most from support in each of their operating regions.
ETC staff from the Gold Coast region nominated Ormeau based alternate learning program E Suarve.
“It was an important and wonderful thing that ETC Board did, giving us the opportunity to put forward our recommendations based on our local knowledge. This was really empowering!” said ETC’s Transition to Work (TtW) Operations Manager.
E Suarve is a not-for-profit organisation solely run by volunteers, and depend on donations made to the charity to fund its programs.
Their core focus is to provide opportunities, guidance, life skills, mental wellbeing programs and pathways to employment for disengaged youth.
And it is safe to say they are making a massive difference to many young people’s lives.
E Suarve Managing Director Joe Tepuni-Fromont said, “I know that E Suarve works because we’ve come from where these kids are coming from and we can connect on a different level, a level where we don’t judge them from what they look like or their backgrounds.”
“We understand their story first and foremost, and then we work through the mental health/mental wellbeing – and then we put them into life skills, qualifications, educations, and then pathways to employment.”
The funding from ETC was used to purchase a brand new 12-seater Toyota minivan!
Transport is barrier for a large percentage of youth across the whole country, and E Suarve didn’t want participants to miss out on the program based on where they lived.
E Suarve’s headquarters is located near one of the main train lines, which connects south Gold Coast all the way to Brisbane.
Each morning Joe and the E Suarve crew would pick up participants from the train station in their “old broken-down van” – or do multiple trips in their own cars.
“Utilising transport eliminates the hurdles so our kids can actually turn up here,” said Joe.
“We go and pick them up from the train stations, or wherever they need to be collected from.”
“So to have a vehicle that fits 12 people in it, has definitely eased the load.”
According to participant Rob, who travels down from Logan each day, E Suarve receiving funding to purchase the van has been a great help to him and the other participants.
He said most importantly that its enabled everyone to be about to get to the warehouse from 8am – 4pm each day, plus they can also travel to complete training, grab lunch and do fun activities.
E Suarve take responsibility to not only commute young people to and from their premises each day to ensure engagement, but also on community service outings for the participants.
“Having this van has removed all barriers for young people to attend – it’s essentially given many more young people access to this program,” said ETC Transition to Work (TtW) Operations Manager Dave Williams.
“The van is a really important part of the program, because it means they’re also able to drive participants to their courses and to their wellbeing days.”
These outings offer service to the community teaching the Big Brother program participants the value of being of service to others, as well as wellbeing retreats for the participants to increase their awareness of the importance of community, friendship, leaning into others for support and teamwork.
ETC first partnered with E Suarve through the Local Jobs Program.
Initially, the E Suarve team were all working for free – out of the goodness of their hearts.
Then they saw the opportunity for a funding grant through the Local Jobs Program.
To apply for this funding, they needed to partner with an employment service provider.
And with ETC offering the youth-focused Transition to Work program, they came straight to us.
ETC was able to partner with E Suarve as a host provider. We then assisted them in writing a winning proposal for funding.
This funding helped the program get off the ground, giving more young people the chance for a brighter future.
ETC provides Transition to Work (TtW) across the Wivenhoe and Wide Bay Sunshine Coast QLD, to see if this program is delivered by ETC in your area, view our locations page – Find your closest ETC site >
You can also find a full list of providers across Australia on workforceaustralia.gov.au.
Fill out this form and one of our team members will contact you.
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