A mission to transform young lives in Parliament

Sam Jelley – Youth Development Worker, Glen Waverley Education First Youth Foyer

Walking inside the parliament building in Canberra, I realised I’m not here as a tourist anymore. I’m here on a mission, alongside dozens of other representatives from across the country.

We were all here to show the government one thing: Youth Foyer’s change lives. We also had one very simple ask: build more of them!

It’s not every day a young person makes their way into parliament. We don’t always feel like we have a seat at the table, a stake in the game, but decisions that are or aren’t made in this house have a direct impact on our lives and, importantly, our futures.

Youth homelessness is an issue close to me because I was a student at the Education First Youth Foyer, and now I work full-time as a Youth Development worker at the same place. It’s so rewarding working in the same place that set me on the career path I’m on. I know first-hand how lives can be changed.

In Canberra, we had a seat at every table, we had a say in every conversation, we got to know the ins and outs of everything. We got tours of the press gallery, cabinet, and even went to treasury and met some important people in suits and blazers.

I met with the advisors of Hon Julie Collins MP, the Minister for Homelessness. At the start of the meeting, we could tell the vibes were very much ‘don’t get your hopes up.’ – which wasn’t too surprising. But as we went on and told our stories, the impact of the Foyers, the potential … the energy in the room changed.

It wasn’t just about presenting the numbers, it was more like, saying “this is how Foyers change someone’s life and this is how it changed my life.”

And that’s the thing, the evidence is clear – I know through my own experience, but also by now working as a Youth Development Worker at Launch Housing’s Education First Youth Foyer. Every day I’m supporting young people that are on the same journey I was on just a few years ago.

We were all there calling for $184 million to construct 10 forty-unit Foyers over the next three years. So many of these are shovel ready, have partnerships ready to go, all they need is the funding. I feel hopeful from being in the room that week that we will get there.