Ganbina was formed to fill a gap in Shepparton's community programs, but today, it's working to bridge the gap of economic inequality felt by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders across the nation.
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Ganbina chief executive officer Anthony Cavanagh said when the organisation first began in 1997, the primary issue faced by Aboriginal youth in Shepparton was unequal economic participation.
“We weren't seeing Aboriginal kids in work, there were high unemployment rates,” Mr Cavanagh said.
“We started to look around at community programs that were there to help our young kids and predominantly they were government funded, and the strong message was you had to fail before you attained assistance.”
Instead, Ganbina searched for a holistic approach to early intervention - working with young people before they had fallen through the cracks.
In the early 2000s, Ganbina developed a range of programs focused around employment, now known as its highly successful Jobs4U2 program.
“The purpose was to eliminate obstacles Aboriginal kids face in completing their education and going on to find employment of choice, not only a job,” Mr Cavanagh said.
Now, Ganbina is Australia’s most successful Indigenous school-to-work transition program for young people from six up to 25.
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Celebrating its 25th year next year, Ganbina has evolved to support more than 1500 kids to finish school and find work, and is almost halfway through its 50-year pilot to reach profound social change within communities.
“They have a better and brighter economic future for themselves and families,” Mr Cavanagh said of the young people supported by the program.
“They're working, or they're going on to further education or training in jobs of choice.”
Mr Cavanagh said while Ganbina was formally an employment program, most of its work was done in the education space, starting at a young age.
“We want to ensure primary school kids are on par when they go through that transition from grade six through to grade seven, it's such an important phase in the education journey,” Mr Cavanagh said.
After reaching Year 7, students are supported through a case-management model to achieve their goals with one-on-one care all the way through to Year 12.
“That works along with what’s being taught in schools - and parents and families in providing support and encouragement to each of the participants in the program,” Mr Cavanagh said.
“As evaluation shows, that’s had a very high success rate in changing the pathway and directions of a lot of Aboriginal kids’ lives.
“What we've seen is sustainable economic prosperity for these kids.”
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Through a wrap-around program, all high school participants are supported by individual case managers to build upon their current aspirations.
Students work on practical skills, like joining drivers programs to gain licences, or entering leadership programs to deep dive into their culture, or visiting national or international communities alongside completing their education.
“Our scholarship program provides that financial support to young kids and families to help ensure money isn't a barrier to a young person and their education,” Mr Cavanagh said.
“It's focused on each individual and their needs, with a personal plan and an agreement between Ganbina and the young person about what their aspirations are.”
While the key to Ganbina had always been achieving equal opportunity, Mr Cavanagh said the reward was seeing kids "feel like their contributions are making a difference".
“They're entering the housing market, buying first cars . . . as a result of their hard work. They've seen how education is the way to the future,” he said.
“By having a solid foundation in education, all these opportunities will open up for the rest of their lives.”
With Shepparton the "core focus" of Ganbina's ambitious 50-year project, Mr Cavanagh said there was still a long way to go.
“We’ve been encouraged by interest in our model from overseas, and more widely across Australia,” Mr Cavanagh said.
“We're looking at migrating our model, and have two programs up and running in Queensland to start in latter part of 2021.
“But what's been really important is the support from the rest of the community - our education and employment partners are crucial to sustaining success.”
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Ganbina's funding model has always been predominantly through philanthropic and corporate supporters rather than government assistance.
“That's given us a higher amount of flexibility, and it's been shown to help our success,” Mr Cavanagh said.
“We’re a firm believer in Aboriginal-led-and-run organisations, it’s the most desired pathway to success.
“Aboriginal people have a full understanding of the needs and issues of our own community and we should be the ones in charge of providing the solutions and working for solutions.”
Mr Cavanagh encouraged any local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children to drop into the office or give them a call.
“We’re here as part of a wider community including all other organisations to create opportunities and prosperity for all Aboriginal children and youth,” Mr Cavanagh said.
“You don't need an appointment, just drop in and our staff will be only too happy to help.”
Cadet journalist