Thank you to those Aussie Broadband customers who are choosing to donate a dollar on their bill every month, your small change really is making a big change for young Australians.
It goes without saying – like many countries around the world, Australia has truly been rocked this year. First, it was the drought, then bushfires and floods but now, it’s a global pandemic that we’re all had to endure.
Our resilience, both as individuals and as a collective, has truly been tested.
But while some choose to perpetuate the pessimism and negativity of our governments and our economy, we’d like to take a moment to focus on one of the feel-good stories to emerge from all of this!
Aussie Broadband has teamed up with Small Change Big Change to roll out their ‘On-Bill Donations Program’ and in just over 12 months, their customers have raised an incredible $100,000 by simply adding a $1/month donation to their bill.
Aussie Broadband’s really thrilled to be part of the Small Change Big Change program…we can’t think of a better project than this one that’s helping to create better futures for young Australians
Janet Granger-Wilcox, General Manager Corporate Affairs, Aussie Broadband
The money raised is directly impacting young Australians who are faced with the uncertainty of their immediate and long-term futures. This milestone is a testament to Aussie Broadband, a values-led organisation that aims to inspire Australians to support their community.
“Small Change Big Change is about preparing young Australians for the future of change, it’s about creating connections beyond connectivity and it’s about developing the values and skills that will ultimately lead to greater resilience.”
Renee Bowker, Co-Founder, Small Change Big Change
There’s a myriad of challenges for young people, many existing well before the recent pandemic and others are yet to fully emerge. We haven’t underestimated the complexity of the problem at hand and for that reason, we’ve hand-selected a diverse mix of charity partners to help execute our mission.
ReachOut
ReachOut is the most accessed online mental health service for young people and their parents in Australia. Their trusted self-help information, peer-support program and referral tools save lives by helping young people be well and stay well. The information they offer parents makes it easier for them to help their teenagers, too.
Accessed by more than 2 million people in Australia each year, ReachOut is a free service that’s available anytime and pretty much anywhere. They’ve been championing wider access to mental health support since they launched their online service more than 20 years ago.
ReachOut responded quickly to increased demand from young people, their parents and schools when COVID-19 restrictions were first put in place and continues to provide ongoing support.
Young people are facing a wide range of complex challenges right now including uncertainty about the future, study stress, stress about work and money, and loneliness to name a few.
We don’t yet know the full extent to which young people will be affected by this crisis but we know the challenges will continue well into the future. So it’s never been more important for us to support the mental health and wellbeing of young Australians.
“How do we get to a point where young people are having conversations about mental health in the same way that anyone would around physical health?”
Ashley DeSilva, CEO @ ReachOut
Red Dust
Our partnership with Red Dust is helping close the gap between Australia’s indigenous and non-indigenous youth.
They work directly with remote communities to enrich lives, improve health and wellbeing and strengthen the future for indigenous youth and their families. They’ve done this for more than 20 years by using sport, music, art and dance to directly influence school attendance, engage and connect youth with community leaders and mentors designed to empower them to develop healthy lifestyle choices.
Remote Aboriginal communities experience significantly poorer health outcomes and have been especially isolated since COVID-19. Red Dust halted travel to remote communities early on in the pandemic due to the risk with high rates of chronic disease, overcrowded living conditions and long-distances to hospital care if required.
Our support has helped accelerate the digital transformation of programs so that they can continue doing the work they’re doing virtually.
“At the end of the day, it’s that human-to-human connection, through which you can have lots and lots of conversations, enriching each other’s lives through two-way exchange and ultimately working together to create a stronger future for all of us.”
Scott Sterling, CEO @ Red Dust
Beacon Foundation
Beacon Foundation believes that all young people have the right to a bright future, regardless of background. Together, with Beacon, we’re helping connect schools with industry and community to create real-world education experiences – experiences that bring work exposure and career awareness to young people.
The future of work has never changed more rapidly and in the light of a global pandemic and a looming economic recession, young people are at risk of being left behind. The challenges that our youth will face in the coming years, particularly around employment opportunities are of great concern. It’s important that we continue to expose young people to sustainable industries with strong future prospects such as Technology, Health, Education, Aged Care, and Logistics.
In response to COVID-19 lockdowns earlier this year, Beacon also launched Be@Connected, a new online learning series in addition to their other initiatives. Be@Connected featured Tim Paine, Australian Test Cricket Captain as the National Ambassador. The series was specifically designed for students across Australia to support and inspire them through this period of great uncertainty and focused on developing life skills to help navigate the situation and will be instrumental in their worlds of learning and work in the future.
“Right now is the toughest period in our recent history. Young people, unfortunately, are going to be the hardest hit, especially for youth in low SES (Socio-Economic Status) communities. Now more than ever, we need to support our young people so they have the employability skills and aspiration to take up the available opportunities.”
Scott Harris, CEO @ Beacon Foundation
Aussie Broadband customers should be incredibly proud of the contribution they’ve made, particularly when it has directly impacted the immediate and long term future of so many young Australians
“All of the thanks really goes to our customers who are choosing to donate that dollar on their bill every month because that’s how this is happening through their generosity and we really want to say thank you to them.”
Janet Granger-Wilcox, General Manager Corporate Affairs, Aussie Broadband
