Empowering Homeless Youth through Education

What product(s) and service(s) do you offer in your Social Enterprise? What shared values does your Social Enterprise have? How is your social enterprise organised?

The project is a social enterprise which is mostly focused towards addressing the education and professional skill based needs of the homeless youths in Australia. The enterprise would operate towards providing financial and education based knowledge to the homeless youths while empowering their capability of leading a healthy lifestyle. The discussion would develop a clear understanding on the target community, the needs of the target community, the financial model of the organization and the risks that might be encountered while running the project. The discussion also identified a reflection on the different areas of operations and challenges that were faced while establishing the social enterprise in the midst of the pandemic situation. Therefore, the purpose of conducting the discussion is to understand the different aspects of the social enterprise with a coherent understanding on its plan and objectives or the contribution of the enterprise towards the social cause.

TARGET COMMUNITY DESCRIPTION

Using statistics, citing literature, and maybe using quotes from community stakeholders (as well as) describe the specific community you are targeting. Where is it, what do you know about the people who live there, and how much opportunity/competition exists for your social enterprise? (Use real community data to support your ideas, from sources such as local authority dashboards, or Government data sources such as the Office of National Statistics.

The target community for the project would be the homeless youths in Australia. According to a youth survey report that was released by Mission Australia's Staying home every one out of six (17.1%) Australian youths within the age of 15 to 19 have been homeless in the year 2019 (Bender et al. 2018). moreover, it has been observed that the incapability of the youths to afford the educational services by the universities has limited their scope of getting employment. It has been observed that homelessness has been emerging as one of the major concerns in developed economies like Australia where the youths are to face a lot of atrocities and poor times out of homelessness due to inca[ability of affording higher education curbing their potential of getting hold of employment. Winiarski et al. (2021)stated that death of a parent, lack of affordability towards a housing facility, incapability to afford higher education, lower employability and drug abuse are some of the major causes that leads to homelessness among the youths. According to different reports, it was observed that homelessness is being experienced by the people due to the increasing levels of poverty, lack of affordable housing facilities and unemployment among the people along with domestic violence which has been conceived as the single biggest cause of homelessness in Australia. On the other hand, as per another report it was observed that young people making up to 42% of the Australian homeless population, approximately 44000 young Australians under the age of 25 years, are homeless and cannot afford the educational facilities (Youths et al. 2020). Gauvin et al. (2019)stated that homelessness is an emerging concern in the developing as well as the developed economies. In this relation, most of the regions in Australia have been encountering an increasing threat of homelessness and the people have been mostly focused towards retaining their livelihood. There are several institutions which have been taking the initiative of developing affordable household facilities and addressing other concerns, but the challenges are huge which has been limiting the scope of their outputs. However, there is a lack of institutions which would support the youths for affording their higher studies and thereby receiving a fair chance in the competitive employment markets. The growing number of homeless youths is identified through the stats stating 27,680 Australians of every 116,427 homeless are youths within the age group of 12-24 years (Rew et al. 2019). The increase in the percentile of homelessness among the youths in Australia has been creating concerns towards their livelihood and wellbeing. The Salvation Army, Mission Australia and more institutions the like has taken the initiative of developing operations with the purpose of improving the livelihood and reducing the homelessness related situations among the youths. However, even after the collective efforts made by the institutions, the homelessness related problem seemed to increase without any signs of reduction. In this connection, the current project would take the initiative of reducing the impact of homelessness through developing interventions which would be supportive towards empowering the capability of the youths. The project would be focused towards empowering the youths and developing their capabilities in order to ensure their sustenance and growth while reducing the rate of homelessness. The project would initiate its operations from Brisbane and Perth while expanding the operations through Sydney and Melbourne as well.

Also describe the community problem you aim to solve, and explain how your social enterprise is designed to tackle these problems.

The target community or the homeless youths in Perth and Brisbane requires a better education facility or affordable education which they are deprived of. It has been observed that most of the youths travels from the outskirts to the major cities for jobs or pursuing their higher academic career often faced challenges in maintaining their employment or affordability (Bowen and Irish 2018). On the other hand, it has been observed that the lower employability of the youths have been one of the major causes which has significantly challenged their capability of affording better household facilities. In this connection, the target community requires economic support for completing their higher education, gather professional insights and gain employment. It has been observed that the target audience mostly requires a higher education and development of professional skills for affording houses. The differences in the level of expectations are based on the degree of concerns that are being encountered by the people and the manner in which the same might be reduced. Therefore, the identification of the specific needs of the target audience are important towards increasing the efficiency of the social enterprise related practices.

THEORY OF CHANGE/LOGIC MODEL

Use the prompts below to explain what you know about, and how you will measure, the changes you want to bring about.

Aims of the change:

The Aims of the change would be led by:

The idea of improving the lifestyle, health and employment prospects of the homeless youths in Australia

Individual objectives of the change:

The objectives of the operations that would be undertaken in the form of the project are:

Improving the affordability of the homeless while providing the same with economic support towards completion of higher education and getting into employments.

Increasing their participation in employability through developing professional training sessions.

Developing efficient systems in order to support the different needs and requirements of the homeless while empowering the degree of change in the organizational operations

Impacts expected from the change:

The major impacts that might be expected from the change are:

The increase in the affordability of the homeless youths towards purchasing or taking rent on properties

Improving their scope of getting employed while operating towards ensuring sustenance

Developing skills towards ensuring the efficient scope o getting employed in different professions

Things needed to make the change:

The things that are required for conducting the change are:

Resources with the purpose of providing the target audience with different opportunities while affording the different housing infrastructures that are made available to the same. The Universal Credit options are again necessities that might be considered by the social enterprise with the purpose of developing sources of revenue and providing the target audience or the homeless youths with revenue through which they might be able to afford higher education and professional training sessions to get hold of employment opportunities in future The youths might also require educational and professional trainings in which the scripts and the lectures acts as efficient resource towards making the people aware of the different challenges that they have been facing to procure a good employment opportunity and the manner in which the same might be developed.

Measurement of the change:

The changes would be measured through:

An improvement in the lifestyle and the wellbeing of the homeless youths in Australia by 5% within the next 4 months of operations

The reduction in the rates of homelessness among the youths in Australia between the ages of 15- 24 years of age by 3% within the next 6 months

Development in the scope among the homeless youths in getting a fair admission in different organizations with better professional skills and attributes as per the changing needs of the businesses by 10% within the next year

FINANCIAL MODEL

How much investment does your project need? How will you spend the investment? Will you make a profit or break even? Explain all your answers, providing a basic financial model. Be sure to cite the social enterprise business planning literature as you do so.

The project would be requiring an investment of around US$50000 with the purpose of developing a range of provisions for the homeless youths in Australia. The activities would also require the active participation and investments of the investors and the different government agencies with the purpose of ensuring the development and implementation of the activities as per the goals of the project (Flach and Razza 2021). The organization would be expecting a profit through the active functioning of the different activities. The profit would be accrued and used for the benefit and growth of the homeless youths while developing their professional and personal skills or attributes in order to ensure the qualitative development after paying off the debts of the business. Edalati et al. (2017)stated that efficient financial modelling is important towards ensuring the development and growth of an organizational operati0opn while addressing the strategic objectives. The organization would be specifically collecting funds from the communities through the utilization of the subscription and charity based donations. The money would be provided to the homeless youths on credit and a basic charge of interest would be made on the payments which would allow the organization in making their earnings. After paying off the earnings on the different sources of remunerations on the employees and the staffs the remaining amount would be divided into contingency and the future developments of the target audience (Heerde and Hemphill 2017). Therefore, it might be stated that the efficient financial modelling of the business would contribute towards its success factors and growth while operating as per the common interests of the homeless youths.

How will your project help protect people, planet, and profits?

The ethics of operations are critically reflected through the application of the triple bottom line approach by an organization. The application of the triple bottom line approach supports an organization in determining the economic, social and environmental interests while driving and designing their operations to meet the expectations of every stakeholders in the triple bottom line (Lévesque and Abdel-Baki 2020). The concerned organization would be specifically operating towards supporting the needs and cause of the homeless youths which is a troubled segment of the emerging society. It has been observed that the homelessness of the youths in Australia has been curbing a safe and secured shelter while affecting their health and wellbeing. In this connection, the organization is mostly focused towards resolving the affordability related concerns of the homeless youths while improving their employability in order to provide the same with a steady lifestyle. Therefore, the activity of the organization would induce balance and change in the societal conditions while empower the needs of the people. On the other hand, the activity would allow the organization in improving their scope of profitability. The improved profitability of an organization is identified as the economic sustenance and growth of a business while addressing the changing market conditions (Kot and Kozlovski 2019). Therefore, the organization would be sustaining their continuity of operations through profitability and development of revenue streams from the different sources. Lastly, the activities of the organization would not be resulting to any sort of the environmental challenges which has supported the business in establishing their context n the Australian markets while addressing the environmental laws and legislations of the nation. The activities has been supportive towards the growth and development of a business while operating as per the strategic needs and requirements of the target audience. Therefore, the current organization would be operating on the basis of the triple bottom line approach with the purpose of ensuring the development and growth of the venture while addressing to the changing needs and requirements of the homeless youths.

What resources do you need? How can you make best use of existing resources that are available to you?

Resources like financial and human resources are the most required aspects that might be used by the business with the purpose of establishing the different areas of operations as per their strategic goals. It has been observed that the financial resources would contribute towards supporting the economic needs and emergency support based needs of the target audience. On the other hand, the human resources would act as an important resource towards ensuring the continuity of the business operations in order to achieve the common strategic goals. maintaining the availability of the resources through efficient governance and management are some of the major aspects that must be considered while empowering the degree of change in the organizational operations.

How will you ensure team members, community stakeholders, and service users will all be fully included, regardless of protected characteristics such as race, disability, sexuality or gender?

Transparent communication is an important activity through which the inclusion of the team members, community stakeholders, and service users might be ensured. Efficient and transparent communication of the objectives and the activities to the stakeholders assists an organizational leader in winning over the trust and confidence of the stakeholders and encourage their proactive engagement and support in the different areas of operations of the businesses (Tayal et al. 2017). Transparent communication with the different stakeholders allows an organization in gaining a competitive edge while influencing their active participation in the developmental activities of a business. Therefore, the management would empower efficient and transparent communication with the stakeholders with the purpose of ensuring the development and growth of the business.

How will you keep your community stakeholders and/or service users included?

The stakeholders of the current social enterprise would be included through the development and growth of coherent processes while encouraging the active party9oiociption and collaboration between the stakeholders and the management. The collaboration between the stakeholders and the management of an organization would allow a business in ensuring the continuity of the operations while developing the growth prospects as per the changing needs of the customers. Therefore, it has been observed that the development of collaboration based relation between the management and the stakeholders would support an organization in improving the degree of involvement in the different areas of operations.

How will you ensure your social enterprise can continue if key personnel leave, or if funding is not made available?

The social enterprise would be raising financial funds through the subscription and the donation based models if the investors and chief personnel through whom the revenue flowed in the business left the ventu7re. The utilization of the funding models would allow in retaining the sustenance and growth of the business even without a clear revenue structure while addressing the specific needs and requirements of the homeless youths (Golroudbary et al. 2019). The activities of the organization would also support and encourage the active participation of different volunteers from different societies who would attract revenue and funds for the daily activities of the organization.

What financial, practical, and other risks are associated with your social enterprise? In your answer, be sure to include information about how you will minimise risk of the spread of Covid-19.

Every business encounters an uncertainty or risks that might affect the capability of an organization in empowering their growth and expansion in the different markets. In this connection, the section would be enumerating different risks that might be encountered by the social enterprise while operating in the different business environments in Australia.

Reflection

The social enterprise idea is specifically driven through the development and ideation of the changing needs of the people while addressing their affordability towards pursuing higher education and professional trainings for resolving their concerns related to employment. The idea of the project is specifically reliant on improving the capability of the youths in developing professional skills while assisting the same with various financial inputs in order to ensure that they are enabled to afford houses for themselves. The entire idea of the social enterprise is gathered by me through the utilization of different websites and articles where innumerable such social enterprise related examples are provided. I conceived the idea mostly from ‘The Salvation Army’ where I noticed the different areas of operations that are undertaken by the organization with the purpose of supporting the housing affordability based needs of the homeless youths in Australia. After taking the primary constructs I took the initiative of identifying different financial models and tools that might be used by social enterprises and the manner in which the same supports the societal needs of the people. I collaborated with my team members and designed the best and most fit financial models for the social enterprise in order to maintain its sustenance and growth even in the times of crisis. I must state that the collaborated functioning of the team members with me significantly supported in developing a coherent structure of the social enterprise. The next part of the challenge was to influence and encourage the support and engagement of the community stakeholders for volunteering in the project. In this connection, I encountered significant challenges in joining hands with the local community members. At first I was unable to make the same aware of the noble intent of the organization and the cause towards which we were all operating. However, after relentless trials my team successfully made the team objectives clear to the community stakeholders while getting the same encouraged to operate on a collaborative basis with us. The activity of change in the organizational operations is mostly based on the active participation of the community stakeholders in locating the homeless youths and reporting their status to us. The overall activity of the social enterprise was then to develop every means through which the concerns of every homeless youths are reduced by the implementation of strategic interventions like the provisions of universal credits or professional trainings in order to improve their affordability and standard of living. However, I faced significant challenges in continuing with the operations in the middle of the Covid19 situation. It has been observed that the emergence and growth of the pandemic situation has largely affected the capability of the organizations and the leaders to operate on the basis of the changing needs of the target audience. However, I felt that the lockdowns and the social distancing based norms has been creating an integral challenge towards the development of the collaborative network between the businesses. Therefore, we have taken the initiative of interconnecting with the people through different social media platforms while educating and communicating with them on the concerns and encouraging their active involvement in the different operations of the social enterprise.

I developed the contents that would be circulated among the people while influencing their support towards the development of the organizational operations. The contents were mostly focused towards identifying the challenges that are being faced by the homeless youths and the different strategic propositions that the social enterprise would be making. Moreover, I devised creative contents to influence the inflow of subscription money and other donations as a source of revenue with the purpose of empowering the establishment of the social enterprise. Aligning the interests of the project with that of the stakeholders is an integral part where I encountered the most of the concerns. Most stakeholders were concerned about the returns that they were likely to get through their active involvement in the different areas of operations of the organization. I believe that our team also encountered significant concerns due to the non- performing team members which drastically limited the scope of successful implementation of the project. The key modifications in the operations were governed and managed by the team members respectively with responsibilities over working on the departments. Every team member in the project were provided with unique responsibilities and they consulted with one another while making the decisions in the project. The collaborative functioning of the team members while devising the decisions has been acting as an effective source of development and growth for the organization. In this connection, autonomy was provided to every members in the team with the purpose of improving their scope of decision making and development while addressing to the development based needs of the project. I was provided with the opportunity of communicating the project objectives and the expected outcomes where I took on the role of developing contents that are mostly focused towards attracting the attention of the people and influencing their collaborative engagement in the social enterprise. The overall idea of the social enterprise was devised and implemented towards reducing the degree of homelessness among the youths in Perth and Brisbane of Australia. However, the team encountered severe concerns in locating the homeless youths and thereby developing plans to deliver the required propositions. The team also encountered significant concerns in recruiting and retaining the staff members as the focus of the organization was not towards improving profitability, but to increase the degree of growth and development of the affordability and professional attributes of the homeless youths. We had minimal number of volunteers in place which has significantly affected our capability of empowering the degree of operations while addressing to the strategic objectives.

REFERENCE LIST

Bender, K., Begun, S., Dunn, K., Mackay, E. and DeChants, J., 2018. Homeless youths’ interests in social action via photovoice. Journal of Community Practice, 26(1), pp.107-120.

Edalati, H., Nicholls, T.L., Crocker, A.G., Roy, L., Somers, J.M. and Patterson, M.L., 2017. Adverse childhood experiences and the risk of criminal justice involvement and victimization among homeless adults with mental illness. Psychiatric services, 68(12), pp.1288-1295.

Flach, Y. and Razza, T.S., 2021. Suicidality in Homeless Children and Adolescent: A Systematic Review. Aggression and Violent Behavior, p.101575.

Flatau, P., Zaretzky, K., Crane, E., Carson, G., Steen, A., Thielking, M. and MacKenzie, D., 2020. The drivers of high health and justice costs among a cohort young homeless people in Australia. Housing Studies, 35(4), pp.648-678.

Gauvin, G., Labelle, R., Daigle, M., Breton, J.J. and Houle, J., 2019. Coping, social support, and suicide attempts among homeless adolescents. Crisis: The Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention, 40(6), p.390.

Golroudbary, S.R., Zahraee, S.M., Awan, U. and Kraslawski, A., 2019. Sustainable operations management in logistics using simulations and modelling: A framework for decision making in delivery management. Procedia Manufacturing, 30, pp.627-634.

Heerde, J.A. and Hemphill, S.A., 2017. The role of risk and protective factors in the modification of risk for sexual victimization, sexual risk behaviors, and survival sex among homeless youth: A meta‐analysis. Journal of investigative psychology and offender profiling, 14(2), pp.150-174.

Machado, C.G., de Lima, E.P., da Costa, S.E.G., Angelis, J.J. and Mattioda, R.A., 2017. Framing maturity based on sustainable operations management principles. International Journal of Production Economics, 190, pp.3-21.

Tayal, A., Gunasekaran, A., Singh, S.P., Dubey, R. and Papadopoulos, T., 2017. Formulating and solving sustainable stochastic dynamic facility layout problem: A key to sustainable operations. Annals of Operations Research, 253(1), pp.621-655.

Winiarski, D.A., Glover, A.C., Bounds, D.T. and Karnik, N.S., 2021. Addressing Intersecting Social and Mental Health Needs Among Transition-Age Homeless Youths: A Review of the Literature. Psychiatric Services, pp.appi-ps.