Where it all began

In the early 1980s, Melbourne's north-western suburbs, with their predominantly Mediterranean and Eastern European migrant population, faced rising youth unemployment due to the closure of local manufacturers and changes in unemployment support systems. In response, community activists, with support from Broadmeadows City Council, charitable trusts, and Commonwealth authorities, established a drop-in centre in Glenroy in 1981.

Officially opened as Broadmeadows Taskforce in 1984 by Premier John Cain, it was later renamed Broadmeadows Youth Projects and incorporated as Youth Projects in 1985. Shortly after, a fire caused extensive damage, halting all programs. A public appeal, supported by the Premier and the centre's original backers, led to its rebuilding, and it was re-opened by Charles and Diana, Prince and Princess of Wales, during their official tour of Australia.

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Early initiatives

Initially established as a drop-in centre for unemployed young people, Youth Projects soon recognised that job training alone wouldn't solve the problem, as many faced significant personal barriers and growing issues with alcohol and drug use. In 1985, Youth Projects launched its Drug and Alcohol Counselling, Assessment, and Referral Unit, the first in the north-western suburbs and the only service in Melbourne focused on adolescent drug and alcohol issues. By March 1990, Youth Projects further expanded its support with the North West Outreach Service (NWOS), a Needle Syringe Program offering free, confidential, and non-judgemental access to clean injecting equipment, condoms, lubricants, and referral services through both an in-house exchange and mobile outreach across Broadmeadows, Brunswick, and Coburg.

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Responding to the HIV/AIDS epidemic

In 1987, the Australian Government's national AIDS education campaign, despite its shocking Grim Reaper imagery, succeeded in raising awareness and sparking discussion about AIDS. Unlike the abstinence-focused policies of many countries, Australia adopted a prevention model. Youth Projects played a crucial role in this approach through its Needle Syringe Program (NSP) and educational materials, informing the local community about preventing blood-borne viruses and other transmissible diseases. An analysis of 1991-92 usage figures revealed that Victorian injecting drug users had the lowest rates of diagnosed HIV/AIDS infection in Australia, clearly demonstrating that the NSP's introduction led to reduced needle sharing and lower HIV infection rates in the injecting drug user community.

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Helping young people into the workforce

By strengthening linkages between services and recognising that peoples’ lives are complex and not neatly compartmentalised, Youth Projects continues to innovate and respond to challenges in our community as they present. We became a company limited by guarantee, championing the highest level of quality accreditation and we continue to be widely recognised for the high impact support we provide.

We identified a significant need to help young people who were the furthest from the labour market. We knew we needed to provide a holistic wrap-around service to help them with their mental health, physical health, family relationships and economic participation. 

In 2002, we started an ongoing partnership with CoAct, a national, not-for-profit network that is committed to helping job seekers and connecting people with their community. This partnership sees us delivering successful pre-employment and transition to work services for young people disconnected from school and work. Our successful Transition to Work and Disability Employment Service programs continue to this day and sees us collaborating with a diverse array of employers and industry leaders to create pathways and opportunities for vulnerable youth.

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Listening and responding to the community need

Responding to social issues that have emerged in our communities, Youth Projects expanded its services and programs. We have worked with all levels of government, philanthropists, and private/corporate donors to scale our operations and co-locations beyond just Glenroy. As a result, Youth Projects now operates right across Metropolitan and the expanding suburbs of Melbourne. Our mobile outreach services extend into over 60 suburbs. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic the city went into shutdown, but we knew we couldn’t close. We scaled our services into every community of Melbourne and the surrounding suburbs. From providing outreach to the Homeless in Hotel programs, to providing telehealth to young people in lockdown, we successfully supported our community, and, as a result, we were recognised by the federal government who called on us to scale our Youth Hubs into the West of Melbourne. 

During this time, we took the bold and courageous move to grow our social enterprise offering across inner Melbourne. Our initial social enterprise, Good2Go, first opened to the community in 2014, providing hospitality training to young people and helping them to find employment, whilst helping to sustain our high impact, yet chronically underfunded homelessness services. We continued to scale our social enterprise, eventually developing The Little Social, first opening its doors on Hosier Lane in 2020.

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Forty years on...

With a workforce of over 170 dedicated staff, Youth Projects now supports over 5,000 young people and people experiencing homelessness from our six major Hubs (Glenroy HQ, The Living Room in Melbourne’s CBD, Sunshine, Werribee, Melton and St Albans) and co-located sites that service a growing need in emerging communities. We have grown our social enterprise (The Little Social) which includes cafes and catering located at the Alfred Hospital and Victorian Pride Centre (with more to come)  And we’re not stopping there!

We leverage lived and living experience from the most vulnerable communities we support to drive evidence-based programmatic design in our early intervention services to prevent young people from becoming trapped in the cycle of poverty. To enable long-term sustainability, we put our focus on services that are proven to have the greatest possible outcomes for young people and people experiencing homelessness. Our work is continuously guided by a comprehensive outcomes and impact framework that focuses on providing our service users with better overall health, meaningful employment opportunities, a greater sense of belonging, safety and security, a decreased risk of homelessness and ultimately, helps them to live longer and happier lives.