Bridging the Gap has been providing training and job placement services to local jobseekers for more than thirty-five years.
In 2020-2021, we delivered the Career Readiness for Young Parents (CRFYP) program funded by the Commonwealth Department of Social Services Try, Test and Learn Fund. This fund supported innovative approaches to assisting young parents, mostly young women, to improving readiness for, and participation in, study and employment.
Our Chair, Les Hayward, said “During the delivery of CRFYP what we have been seeing are young people, predominantly women, who are dealing with situations that include homelessness, domestic violence, drug & alcohol abuse, mental & psychosocial issues, fractured family relationships with limited or no funding support.
“The impact this has on their confidence and ability to undertake even the simplest of tasks, let alone upskilling or preparing for, finding and keeping a job is huge. The Career readiness for young parents’ program was designed to empower these young parents, address these barriers to employment and gain critical skills for future work”.
Although highly successful, the program focused on younger parents only & as such many parents over the 25-year cut off age missed out. Unfortunately, Federal funding for this program ceased in June 2021.
“Having experienced the difference, the program made in the lives of young parents, we were determined to find a way to keep it going and to open the program to a wider group of local parents.
“Our team approached Lottery West and submitted a funding grant application to not only continue, but to expand the program, and we are excited to say that we were successful in securing funding to commence in October 2021 for two years.
“We are extremely grateful for the support of the State government via Lottery West for this initiative, as we know how much difference it makes to the lives of local young parents. The funding provided will ensure that we can continue to support parents in the Rockingham/Kwinana region, to improve their lives, access training and employment opportunities and create a better quality of life for their families.”
Ultimately the real measure of the success of the Program will be the improvement in each participant’s family, financial, emotional and employment circumstances and the positive impact having strong mothers will have in our communities.
We are immensely thankful to Lottery West for Funding this Program so we can continue to positively impact the lives of women in the PEEL Region.