December 2011

STREAT is hiring!

by Sunisa on 2 December 2011

YPCoord BannerYou've loved our work with homeless young people, and have been following STREAT's growth from a small cart serving soup to two locations, food and coffee capabilities, and trained multiple classes of youth. Now do you want to be part of the team?

We're looking for a dedicated Youth Program Co-ordinator.

The overall purpose of the Youth Program Co-ordinator is to manage the STREAT social support team and co-ordinate the various STREAT programs, including work experience, training, pre-vocational and alumni programs.  You will also help create an environment of innovation, empowerment and teamwork for all staff and trainees. 

Duties would include:

• Responsibility for managing the  social support team

• Responsibility for STREAT pre-vocational, training and work experience programs

• Responsibility for managing support on youth issues to food services team

• Responsibility for post-placement (i.e. trainee transition into jobs or further training)

• Responsibility for relevant external relationship management

• Contribute to data collection for STREAT research & evaluation.

The position requires strong leadership and communication skills in order to encourage and inspire the trainees and the social support team. Personal attributes such as being organised, a good sense of humour and much patience will enhance your enjoyment in this role. 

More details are in this document here.

We're accepting applications until 12 December, will interview on Wednesday the 14th December, and would love someone to start the week of January the 9th, 2012 with STREAT class 5. To apply send core competencies, along with concrete examples of your experience along with a CV to kate.barrelle@streat.com.au

Please pass the news onto anyone who would be a good fit for our team! And don't forget to download the complete job description.

 

UPDATE: We are not accepting applications for this position anymore. Thank you for your interest.

Women in focus: Rebecca Scott

by Sunisa on 8 December 2011

Women in focus bannerSTREAT's CEO Rebecca Scott recently had a profile on Commonwealth Bank’s website Women in Focus where she reflected on how she started STREAT, and also what our goals are moving forward. It’s an interesting read that brings to mind a few things for me:

First is, live the mission. I think a great social enterprise evolves from a place where the founders have skin in the game. STREAT’s founders Rebecca Scott and Kate Barrelle funded the seeds of what became STREAT for three years before they landed any outside funding.

Second is, you never know what tomorrow may bring. Just as the GFC hit STREAT landed it’s biggest funding. Other people may have thrown up their hands, and closed up shop before the organization even got going, because of the news that the global economy was in the biggest financial crisis since America’s Great Depression. Bec saw an opportunity and applied for some of the government’s stimulus funding. That is an entrepreneur at work.

And lastly, keep your eyes on the prize. When the interviewer asked Bec what the biggest challenge has been for STREAT, she had a reply –“funding” – but went on to spend the bulk of her answer saying:

One of our trainees told me on his first day that he had been sleeping in the park across the street. It marked the start of a change in his life and tonight he is working front of house at a five star, high-profile event we’re hosting. You wouldn’t recognise him as the same person, he’s now been in the workforce for a year and has had a stable living environment for all of that time.

You can tell that it’s the youth who motivate her and get her over the growing pains of starting, operationalising, and scaling a social enterprise. She’s going good guns at it.

 

Cookbook giveaway

by Sunisa on 9 December 2011

Dear fans of STREAT,

Vietnamese Street food

Next week we're thanking our supporters (and rounding out an amazing, exciting year) by giving away cookbooks.

The first giveaway is "Vietnamese Street Food", by Tracey Lister and Andrew Pohl. It's mouth-watering and will make you want to travel, guaranteed! The book is especially significant because our CEO, Bec Scott, was working in Hanoi when she was inspired to start a homeless youth social enterprise in Melbourne.

Flavours

Giveaway number two is the cookbook "Flavours of Melbourne" by Smudge Publishing, those excellent people who recently threw us a STREAT party fundraiser. If you haven't nabbed this book yet, you will want to. It features recipes from some of our most exciting restauranteurs, and some gorgeous shots of our city's laneways.

So you're wondering how to get these cookbooks? Sign up to our newsletter in the bar on the right of this webpage. It's called "STREAT updates." Then stay tuned for next week, when we tell you what to do to win! 

Let's be honest

by Bec on 10 December 2011

By Rebecca Scott

 

lets be honest banner Being the CEO of a start-up isn’t glamorous at all. Sure you get to meet some interesting people or go to the odd event, but most of all it’s just hard work. Unrelenting hard work. First there’s conceptualising things. And then trying to find the money to build what you’ve conceptualised. And then actually building what you’ve conceptualised. And then testing and running what you’ve built to see if you conceptualised right in the first place. Then continuing to look for more money to keep what you’ve built operating. And then undertaking the audits on the money you’ve found. And then writing the reports to accompany the audits to the people who have given you the money......

.....but every now and then in the midst of all of this activity you get an extraordinary reminder of why you decided to conceptualise the organisation in the first place. I had one of these moments last week whilst we were recruiting Class 5.

Kate (STREAT’s psych): Who would support you and be proud of you if you achieved in the STREAT program?

Young woman: No one. When your parents are junkies everyone assumes that you can't ever achieve anything either.

Kate: You've spoken earlier about your Aunty. Surely she'd be proud of you?

Young woman: She loves me and she's always been there. But she always tells me that it's OK if I can't reach my goals. It's like she's always preparing me for

the worst, not the best. I guess she’s been trying to protect me.

Kate: What about you? Do you think you can achieve in the program?

Young woman: Yes, I can do it. And I'll be so proud of me when I do.

Such moments can take your breath away. Or move you to tears. Luckily they can stay with you for days or weeks or years even. They’re the things that motivate me – and the rest of the STREAT team – to get up tomorrow. And the next day. And the one after that.

Unfortunately I can’t share all such moments with you. I can, however, tell you that your help – no matter how small or insignificant you feel it is – makes such opportunities possible for our youth. My sincerest thanks for this.

Rebecca Scott