Westpac Foundation
Previously funded programs
Chutzpah
The Chutzpah Factory College of Entrepreneurship is an innovative educational initiative designed to engage at-risk youth in the world of business. Its mission is to turn conduct disorder into ethical entrepreneurship. Chutzpah aims to strengthen relationships with education providers and business networks; consolidate existing partnerships, maintain and grow presence throughout indigenous Australia.
Mission Australia - Girradoola Pathways
Mission Australia's Pathways to Prevention project focuses on the major life transitions children face between the ages of 0-13 years. The program brings existing support together through an overarching framework and identifies and fills the gaps in service provision, providing children and their families with the support and resources they need to ensure their life transitions are successful.
Wunan Foundation
The Wunan Foundation has been awarded for their work in indigenous communities in the East Kimberley. Wunan provides indigenous young people with support in education and employment. This project aims to develop a cohesive Job Pathways strategy to significantly lift youth employment in the region. The project also encourages employers in the region to become actively involved in the initiative so that some of the existing structural barriers are broken down.
Artstories - Charles Darwin University Foundation
Artstories is a family focused, arts based approach to literacy and language learning. The Westpac Foundation provided funding support for ArtStories to design an approach to arts and community partnership to support improved literacy and social outcomes for indigenous communities in the Northern Territory.
BighART
BighART is a national organisation piloting non-welfare, task focused, long term arts/media/culture driven projects with marginalised people. Westpac Foundation provided support to bighART's GOLD project which aims to help reengage young people in education through a media/arts project centred on the issue of water. The project includes training in digital and media skills to instigate change in the broader community on water usage.
Daystar
Daystar provides valuable support in disadvantaged communities through in-school programs which aim to better educate, encourage and impart social skills to children in need. With support from the Westpac Foundation, Daystar developed the Community In School Engagement project, designed to provide holistic early intervention and prevention programs for disadvantaged children at primary and secondary schools in South West Sydney.
Mayumarri
Mayumarri Trust is a not-for-profit organisation based in NSW which provides a safe affordable healing program for survivors of childhood abuse and trauma. The trust is managed by residents of the Mayumarri community, supported by facilitators trained in the Mayumarri healing model.
YWCA
The YWCA's Y It Takes A Village project is an innovative response to real and pressing needs within the community. This project aims to build relationships between the government and non-government sector which mostly operate independently.
Jesuit Social Services - Artful Dodgers
The Artful Dodgers Studios form part of the Jesuit Social Services Gateway Program, which aims to help young people develop work-readiness skills and support them to identify and access pathways to education, training and employment. The Westpac Foundation funded the Artful Dodgers tv website development project with the aim of increasing marginalised youth's access to IT and teach them website development skills, marketing, promotion skills and basic business skills.
BoysTown
BoysTown Enterprises are a set of small scale social enterprises established to provide highly disadvantaged young people with employable skills, training and paid work opportunities. The Westpac Foundation provided support to set up BoysTown Enterprises in the Blacktown and Campbelltown areas of Sydney.
Company B - Theatre Workshops
Company B is a theatre company that provides workshops and professional development training to teachers across NSW to support access to drama education for rural and remote secondary students. The Westpac Foundation provided support for Company B to take practical theatre workshops to a variety of schools in regional NSW.
The Salvation Army's - Cafe Horizons
Cafe Horizons addresses the lack of vocational training and employment opportunities for young people at risk, particularly those recovering from drug dependence or facing homelessness. Doubling as an accredited hospitality training program and a real operating cafe, it enables the program to partly self fund while providing participants with real life work experience. The Westpac Foundation provided support to help develop and expand this worthwhile social enterprise.
Future Employment Opportunities - Tradestart
TradeStart in Eaglehawk, Victoria is giving young people who've become disengaged with or left school the opportunity to build skills in a range of trades. A grant from the Westpac Foundation is helping TradeStart become a more sustainable program.
Inspire Foundation
The Inspire Foundation was established in 1996 to prevent youth suicide. It has since broadened its focus to include early intervention, giving young people aged 16-25 the skills and tools to be more confident, connected and comfortable when seeking help. The Westpac Foundation provided support to pilot a new Youth Action Project, encouraging disadvantaged young people to participate and take action in their communities.
Reconciliation Australia
With the support of the Westpac Foundation, Reconciliation Australia developed an Indigenous Cultural Awareness Training project. This provides organisations with easily accessible, cost effective online training materials to enable financial institutions and other organisations to provide introductory indigenous cultural awareness training to a wide number of staff.
Company B - Professional Development
Due to geographical isolation, many of the teachers in regional NSW do not receive the same access to professional development as their city counterparts. Company B aims to provide regional teachers with innovative and relevant workshops delivered by contemporary industry practitioners to establish a strong network of teachers in these areas.
Waverley Industries
For those with a disability, finding suitable job training and employment can be a significant challenge. Waverley Industries specialise in meeting these challenges and in February 2008 a new initiative was launched - The Waverley Industries Hospitality Training Program -enabling young people with disabilities to transition from school to work in a supported environment, enhancing their employment opportunities in hospitality and catering.
