BBC AND CHARITY BOUNCE FOCUS ON YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT

BBC AND CHARITY BOUNCE FOCUS ON YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT

BBC joined Charity Bounce on the basketball court to talk about the challenge Australia is facing with youth unemployment. (Click here read the BBC article). Australia’s economy has been growing but there are some Australians who are not experiencing this reality for themselves. With youth unemployment at double the rate of Australian adults, the Hoop Dreams program is an innovative employment program for disengaged young people from Indigenous and culturally diverse communities, including newly arrived refugees. The programs involve activities in 4 key areas:

• Basketball engagement programs
• Pre-employment support and skills training
• Employment pathways
• Career Mentor program

Youth unemployment is double the rate of Australian adults but is specifically high among Indigneous communities. Statistics show that many Indigenous young people feel marginalised from mainstream society, due to language difficulties, cultural differences, and the history of rapid change and dispossession. This can lead to low engagement in school, significantly impacting students’ employment opportunities for the future. With an additional focus on education outcomes, Charity Bounce programs aim to promote positive engagement in education, understanding that an Indigenous student’s chance of employment rises by 40% if they complete Year 10 or 11, while completing Year 12 increases employment prospects by a further 13%.

 

Charity Bounce exists to unlock the potential in all young people and have seen time and time again how many students are eager to work and excel when they are engaged in a fresh way and feel inspired to achieve. That is why Charity Bounce delivers programs through basketball to develop their social emotional learning skills — often referred to as soft skills, transferable skills, or employability skills. These skills are not specific to one particular career path but are helpful across all employment sectors, like the general social emotional ability to effectively navigate the relationships and challenges within the workplace.

 

The Charity Bounce programs are specifically designed to inspire young people towards positive education and employment futures by using basketball as an engagement tool to develop skills such as communication, teamwork, creativity and problem solving, responsibility, planning, self-management, leadership, adaptability, time management, and conflict resolution.