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2020-2021 IMPACT REPORT

Our society is fairer and more inclusive

We recognise that social isolation, service system fragmentation and structural injustices impact people’s ability to thrive. We challenge social inequity and advocate for systemic change. We don’t do this alone. We work with our partners in government, business, and community services to improve the availability and effectiveness of the services people need to thrive, promote a more inclusive community, and educate and advocate for a fairer society.

2020-21 Highlights

  • YFS signed the Logan Children’s Charter, a new initiative encouraging businesses throughout the city to create child-friendly spaces and keep the needs of kids front of mind.

  • YFS’ Beaudesert Domestic Violence Service joined police, corrections and other services to establish a High Risk Response to improve work with serious domestic and family violence in the Scenic Rim.

  • YFS took a lead role in the Logan Backing Young Parents initiative, bringing together people working with young families and seeking meaningful input from young parents themselves.

  • With support from Youth Justice, YFS took on the coordination of the Specialist Multi-Agency Response Team (SMART), bringing together stakeholders to support young people to break their cycle of re-offending.

  • We continued to back the Not Now, Not Ever in Logan community action work to prevent domestic violence, bringing together business, police, government and community partners passionate about a safer community.

  • Substation33 worked with the Yunus Centre to develop an outcomes framework that recognised the enterprise’s role in improving wellbeing, creating social capital and contributing to a diverse and vibrant innovation ecosystem in Logan.

Future change

Our Youth and Legal teams will pursue opportunities to improve the way our system and our community supports young people engaged in the youth justice system, and partner to create system change.

With key Logan stakeholders we will investigate models to improve coordination of responses to homelessness, particularly increased outreach capacity and more user friendly ways for people to access support.

Quick statistics

13,067 requests for assistance received in YFS Connect demonstrating the extent of homelessness and financial crisis in Logan

7,808 young people participated in 205 sessions on respectful relationships

284 people attended Substation33

Changing young men’s attitudes towards violence

The award-winning Men4Respect program is an Australian first: a program run by young men for young men and boys, helping them understand the line between what is healthy and what is harmful in relationships and redefining what it means to “be a man”. Men4Respect’s Youth Ambassadors educate young men and boys aged 12 to 21 years about equality, respectful relationships, consent and healthy masculinity. Their passion is to support young men to have empathy, to be respectful and consider all people as equals.

In 2020-21 Men4Respect received funding from the Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation to rollout a program with groups of young men, testing ways to influence their understanding of masculinity and relationships.

The Town of Nowhere campaign

YFS joined QCOSS and other leading community organisations to support the Town of Nowhere campaign in early 2021. The campaign called on the State and Federal governments to invest in social housing to deal with Queensland’s housing crisis.

As a result, the 2021-22 Queensland state budget committed $1.9 billion over four years on social housing. While the investment won’t solve the crisis, the approach outlined in the Queensland Government’s new Housing and Homelessness Action Plan 2021-2025 will result in more houses for more Queenslanders sooner.  

“YFS has seen a 43% increase in people contacting us for help with homelessness and housing since July 2020, with 627 enquiries in February 2021 alone. Other local services report similar increases,”
- YFS CEO Cath Bartolo
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Urs finds inclusion at Substation33

Urs suffered a traumatic brain injury in 2019 due to a mountain bike accident at Daisy Hill. He is one of hundreds of volunteers who perform voluntary work at Substation33 each year. He loves connecting with other volunteers at Substation33.

Watch Urs’ story below.

“I come to Substation two days a week. I love coming here. It’s a very good environment and the people here are so supportive. It’s so good. The social aspect is amazing. A lot of companies could benefit from how Substation is run.”
- Substation33 volunteer Urs

Watch Urs’ story below…

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“Our Theory of Change recognises that we need to work together within YFS and also in partnership beyond our organisation to achieve lasting change.”