Be Your Own Boss


Rotary Club of Brighton’s Rotary 100 Project -
creating the next generation of CHANGE MAKERS!
To celebrate 100 years of Rotary in Australia and NZ, the Rotary Club of Brighton in parrtnership with the Young Change Agents will launch the “Be Your Own Boss” program. This initiative will build the next generation of social entrepreneurs and change makers in Bayside & Kingston. This exciting opportunity will empower our local youth to solve social challenges with business solutions, create a positive difference and lead to better youth employability outcomes.
‘Be Your Own Boss’ is an innovative new program series encouraging young people to bounce back from the impacts of COVID, by learning valuable enterprise skills and making a difference in their community. The program will launch this July, with young people between 12 - 25 in Bayside and Kingston invited to take part. The program is in celebration of 100 years of Rotary in Australia and aims to build the next generation of social entrepreneurs and future leaders.
The Victorian Government’s Commission for Children and Young People describes the massive impact on the lives of Victorian youth across safety, mental health and education as a result of Melbourne’s COVID lockdown, revealing a picture of growing uncertainty and isolation, combined with diminished visibility in our young people. Youth have also been disproportionately affected in their employment, with more than half of Victorians between 18-24 unemployed during the height of the lockdown. Promisingly, research by the Foundation for Young Australians shows youth with enterprise skills are 17 months ahead of their peers in gaining full time employment.
To tackle this challenge, the Rotary Club of Brighton in partnership with not-for-profit social enterprise Young Change Agents, will aim to create the next generation of social entrepreneurs through the ‘Be Your Own Boss’ workshop series. The series launches in July 2021 and gives young people the opportunity to create business solutions that tackle social problems, aiming for outcomes that improve communities, provide people access to employment and training, or help the environment. The Be Your Own Boss workshops will empower young people with the mindsets, skill sets and toolsets to become social entrepreneurs and catalyse change.
More than 200 youth aged 12-17 from four local high schools, and 100 youth aged 18-25 across Bayside and Kingston, will participate. Young people will start with an Explorer program in July, where they will develop enterprise skills through identifying a community problem and reframing it as an opportunity in the form of a social enterprise. The next-stage Youth Incubator (YINC), in September, will see youth working with experts and attending masterclasses to test, model and pitch their idea. The workshops will culminate in a Community Showcase, in October, where youth will present and celebrate their work with a prominent panel of industry and community.
About the Be Your Own Boss Initiative |
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The Be Your Own Boss project, co-led by the Rotary Club of Brighton, and Young Change Agents aims to build the entrepreneurial mindsets, skillsets and toolsets of young people between the ages of 12 - 25 years in the Bayside and Kingston areas. The project aims to raise the profile and visibility of what young people are capable of, how they can positively contribute to the local community and showcase that they are able to make a social impact that matters.
The program is divided into two blocks: one for 12 - 17 year olds and one for 18 - 25 year olds. Each age group will have the opportunity to participate in the Young Change Agents Explorer program. They will then be able to participate in a follow-on Youth Incubator (YINC) to grow and deepen their social enterprise solutions. A combined Community Showcase will then take place, inviting both age groups, so young people can showcase their solutions to the Bayside community and key decision makers for further support.
Register by visiting: http://bit.ly/byobworkshop1
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The Be Your Own Boss initiative is being generously supported by The Rotary District 9800 Foundation, Flora and Frank Leith Charitable Trust, Bayside City Council, Elwood Community Bank and Bendigo Bank Brighton.
