‘I learned a lot about disadvantage and homelessness in Melbourne’: an amazing urban camp
Some young people from the Frankston-Mornington Peninsula area on Melbourne’s outskirts had a taste of the big city and got an inside look into how to tackle poverty and homelessness on a recent urban camp.
‘I learned a lot about disadvantage and homelessness in Melbourne’: an amazing urban camp
23 March 2017Some young people from the Frankston-Mornington Peninsula area on Melbourne’s outskirts had a taste of the big city and got an inside look into how to tackle poverty and homelessness on a recent urban camp.
Our Frankston High Street Centre and urban camp teams joined forces to organise the experience for five people who take part in our Youth Community Leadership Project and our Community VCAL program for young people in the Frankston-Mornington Peninsula area.
Urban camper Brad says it was an amazing, informative experience.
“I learned a lot about disadvantage and homelessness in Melbourne. I now know how to get myself and others involved in the community, and how rewarding the experience can be,” he says.
The group visited social enterprises in inner Melbourne such as HoMie in Fitzroy, which works to create pathways out of homelessness, and YGap Feast of Merit in Richmond, which raises funds to tackle poverty in Africa, Asia and Australia. The Brotherhood’s Schools Engagement Coordinator, Urban Camps, Stephanie Livingstone, says it was brilliant to host young people from the Frankston area. “We had some great discussions about homelessness and disadvantage in Melbourne and the students’ eyes were opened to the lived experiences of poverty,” she says. Brad is now building on the experience, doing a placement with our urban camp program as part of his Certificate II in Community Service. Senior Manager: Social and Economic Inclusion, Frankston and Mornington Peninsula, John Catto-Smith, says public transport is limited in the region, so young people can feel quite geographically and socially isolated. The five urban campers have all told him how much they appreciated the experience. “They all enjoyed being taken out of their comfort zone and sampling new experiences,” he said.