Boys in Leadership
Early in 2004 the Boys In Leadership (BIL group) applied to The Foundation For Young Australians for a Partnership Grant. Partnership grants are seen as a way to support groups of young people, organisations and communities in the development and implementation of innovative initiatives to address issues of importance to young people and their communities.
Of the 65 applicants Australia wide, 8 would be
selected to receive Stage One funding of $10,000.00. Stage One partner
organisations are financially resourced to work with FYA to identify,
develop and support young people to develop a cutting edge initiative
Proposal that has the potential to deliver positive and sustained outcomes
for themselves and their communities.
Stage One partners then submit the Initiative Proposal (which includes a complete budget, co-investors etc.) to the selection committee. The committee is made up of volunteers from across Australia with the majority of members aged under 25.
Some of the other short listed projects for Stage One that BIL were competing against were groups such as the Aids Council of NSW, Propelarts from Perth, The Reach Foundation of Victoria (Reach) and Vibewire Youth Services (Vibewire). Keith Area School’s BIL group were the only all male group, they were the only South Australian group, only rural group and they were the only school group to apply or make it to Stage One.
“Vibrant, passionate and committed young people” is how the Felicity Schievenin from The Foundation For Young Australians described Keith Area School’s Boys In Leadership group. Having travelled to Keith several times to work with the boys on their Stage One proposal she was impressed by the enthusiasm and dedication of the boys to Keith. The boys employed clerical services to assist with recording and documentation but also to assist with much of the ‘leg work’ to make phone calls and follow leads. They also contacted Alex Colls a young marketing graduate at UniSA. Alex assisted with the compilation of surveys, the running of our focus groups and writing an analysis of the survey results.
For Stage One the Boys had to work through a very comprehensive workbook that was designed to become a reporting tool. They were required to Map their community and the trends of this community, identifying what young people thought the key issues and needs are for young people in Keith and districts. They had to develop a vision for young people for initiatives they would like to see created. Finally they had to plan an initiative by devising aims, outcomes and activities. The biggest job was perhaps the writing of the proposal and evaluating the sustainability potential of the project and putting together a budget.
The mission statement of BIL for this project is:
As active young citizens we aim to enhance community spirit and create opportunities for youth of the region by inspiring action.
BIL will expand to develop a management group that will be open to young men and women and community stakeholders. This management team’s goal will be to put the spark back into the Tatiara District by offering activities for young people at risk as well as developing leadership skills and breaking the stereotypical barriers surrounding young people and active citizenship. Central to their work will be a youth-run Community Cinema and Café, which will be ultimately self sustaining and allow for leadership and entrepreneurial skills, training and community mentoring and involvement. Smaller activities will also occur to create links with local disengaged young people. Ultimately this group will become an independent, youth-led body with strong support from the community.
The Stage One Initiative lasted three months and came on top of heavy study work loads and year 12 commitments by some of the BIL members. But the hard work paid off and on Monday 18th of October 2004, we were notified by Mary Wooldridge that Keith Area School’s BIL group had been successful in receiving funding of $150,000.00 to implement our initiative.
You’ll be hearing a lot more about BIL and the project in the months ahead. Indeed we will be looking for community members who may be interested in joining this successful and innovative team.
