In November 2023, I had the absolute privilege of walking the Kokoda track in PNG, with a group of young people and staff from the Y on our inaugural Kokoda Leadership Program. It was an incredible journey for me personally, for the participants and for our team.

As I reflect on our year at the Y more broadly, what I am most proud of is what the trek truly demonstrates. When you empower young people to flourish, when you provide them with opportunities to learn new skills and to grow, when they have opportunities to contribute to themselves and others, underpinned by sustained positive relationships with adults, young people will thrive.

These key ingredients are the bedrock of our Impact Strategy, and the Kokoda Leadership Program is just one of many programs you will read about in this year’s annual report that showcase the progress we have made in pursuit of our strategy in 2023. Our teams have worked incredibly hard this year to ensure that children and young people in all of our services experience the Y in the same way our Kokoda participants have, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank and acknowledge the efforts of our staff in ensuring all children and young people have the opportunity to flourish.

Our board’s endorsement of our education strategy this year has enabled us to focus our efforts specifically in three key areas, our Early Years spaces, our presence in schools and school support and our youth and community services.

In our early years space, I am pleased to report that our School Readiness Pilot has progressed to a comprehensive offering in all 14 of our Early Learning Centres, using evidence informed programming on pre-literacy outcomes for our children aged 3-5 and is showing strong results. Our presence in schools continues to grow, with numbers and student achievement at our Y School in Mirrabooka continuing go from strength to strength.

We have also worked hard this year to continue to raise the profile of the Y and our 150 year legacy here in Western Australia. We’ve ben please to partner with the Perth Wildcats this year in a nod to basketball’s heritage (did you know the Y invented basketball in 1891?) and I have loved the opportunity to connect with our staff and external stakeholders more organically through Instagram this year.

2023/24 has been a wonderful step forward on our journey to ensure all children and young people are empowered to flourish and I would like to take this opportunity to thank our teams, our stakeholders and our board for their respective unwavering support.

2023/24 has been an exhilarating year for us as a board as we reflect on the progress of our growth for impact strategy.  The stories in this year’s report highlight clearly the aspirations we hold to ensure that young people in Western Australia are empowered to flourish. As I reflect on the year, I am reminded of the decisions we made as board in March, when we endorsed our Education Strategy.  

We strengthened our commitment to providing evidence informed education in an alternate setting and have been thrilled to see student numbers and student outcomes increase from our Mirrabooka Campus in just its second year of operation.

We have watched our School Ready program expand into all 14 Early Learning Centres, have experienced it for ourselves with the help of Michelle Burns and her team from the Albany Early Learning Centre and have been impressed with the results we are seeing.

As our approach to Positive Youth Development in our youth services beds down, we have been inspired by the energy and passion our youth teams show as they pursue flourishing outcomes, but also, most notably take our learnings from our 5C’s impact measurement model to work alongside young people to make our offerings even stronger.

I hope you are as inspired by the stories in this report as much as we are and would like to thank Tim, his team and the entire staff at the Y for their continuing efforts to ensure we deliver on our intent.

As always, we cannot do what we do without the support of our key community and industry partners, and sponsors and I would like to take this opportunity to thank each for their ongoing commitment and support.

As President, I am only as successful as my peers and colleagues, so I would like to extend a thank you to my fellow board members, who give their time willingly and voluntarily.  A warm welcome also to our newest board members, Samantha Thompson and Garry Hewitt. Samantha has been a long-time supporter of the Y via one of our advisory committees and it is great to have her join us as a full board member this year. Garry joins is with a deep background in education and has been a great addition to our School and Education committee.

As the Youth Advocate for the Y WA, I have the privilege of witnessing and supporting the remarkable journeys of young people as they step into their power and grow through our organisation.

Our mission is all about creating spaces where people feel a sense of Belonging, Independence, Competence, and Connectedness – and I am reminded of the power of these four components when I reflect on the stories of young people like Rachael and Connor.

When Rachael first connected with the Y WA, she was looking for a place to develop her skills, be a part of something, and contribute positively to her community. Through ‘Project See & B’, a creative collaboration with WhyNot – the Y’s national digital youth voice publication platform – for Youth Week 2024 held at the Y HQ Gallery Space in April, Rachael was selected to be a featured contributor, demonstrating and developing her talents as a writer and advocate.

Rachael’s lived experience and her aspirations to establish herself as an advocate for mental health and disability aligned to the Y WA’s youth voice mental health campaign, Inside Our Minds. Becoming a volunteer to support the project, her contributions are essential and, from planning to execution, she has since been involved in every phase of the project. Rachael’s skills are not only recognised but amplified, through her ongoing roles outside of the Y where she flourishes as a leader and advocate in her own right.

Connor’s journey began with his passion for music, attending gigs at the Y HQ where he soon found a place he belonged. Through building relationships within the Y community, Connor learned that he was trusted and valued, deepening his connection to the space. His involvement grew when he joined HQ Youth Squad as a volunteer, taking on roles that allowed him to shape events and projects. Over the years, Connor has embraced opportunities to lead, showing how young people, when trusted with responsibility, have the power to make a difference.

His growth has been organic, moving from volunteer to employed leader, all while staying connected to the Y and continually contributing to the community.
Rachael and Connor’s stories are not isolated ones. As Youth Advocate, one of the most rewarding aspects of my role is witnessing and contributing to the real, tangible impact our work has on young people’s lives.

Whether it be through Rachael and our other participants journeys destigmatising mental health through lived experience with Inside Our Minds, HQ Youth Squad’s incredible track record of supporting young people to realise their skills and talents as leaders, or sharing their insights and solutions to pressing issues through Youth Parliament – young people, their voices and their leadership, have always been central, not only to the Y for over 180 years, but movements for positive social change across the world.

By trusting young people, sharing power and responsibility with them, and creating spaces where they can connect and demonstrate their talents, the Y WA helps them build a better world, with and for them.

At the Y WA, we believe in the power of inspired young people. For young people to be inspired they told us that they must feel safe and be safe. We are committed to keeping all children and young people safe and we do this through a deep commitment to a safeguarding culture locally, which aligns to a national framework.

Our Safeguarding practices are independently reviewed by the Australian Childhood Foundation who have assessed us as having the highest overall assessment of ‘Excellent’, which demonstrates our commitment to protecting and upholding children and young people. This is the highest possible rating by an independent body that governs safety for children and marks the second annual audit review to achieve such a high standard. I am very proud of this achievement as it affirms our commitment to the highest standards of safeguarding culture, practice, compliance and continuous improvement – and the continued focus by our teams all around Western Australia.

We’ve had a particular focus this year on embedding Protective Behaviours, a personal safety program aimed at teaching children, skills and strategies to identify and respond to a range of unsafe situations and equipping our people to respond to a number of changes in child protection legislation.