In September 2020, representatives from 5 youth programs, and the Youth Coalition, attended a two day Youth Homelessness Pathways Challenge. This event was to explore opportunities to develop and test new mechanisms for distributing financial support to encourage new approaches to addressing pathways that lead to youth homelessness. Our group pitched an idea to explore ways of providing mobile phones to young people who are experiencing homelessness, enabling them to more easily connect with support services.
With support from the Mill House Social Accelerator for the funding application, we have received funding through Hands Across Canberra and the Snow Foundation to do a small scoping study looking at any existing programs that we could tap into, and making recommendations on how to safely & sustainably roll out this program. This scoping study is currently underway, with a report and recommendations due at the end of July. If you would like more information, or to get involved, please contact hannah@youthcoalition.net