An Indigenous-led social enterprise that employs and trains young Indigenous people and recycles e-waste in the community is so successful it has expanded its Brisbane operations.
The recycling hub at Brendale handles old IT equipment from private and public entities, saving precious minerals from landfill while ensuring data security is not compromised.
Worldview Group co-founder and Anewan man Kurt Gruber says they’ve expanded to Brisbane from the company’s Canberra base and hope to ultimately boost Aboriginal employment across Australia.
Mr Gruber says they mainly work with disadvantaged Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people and train them up with employment opportunities and life skills in a six month support program to get them back in the workforce.
“The social enterprise has been operating up here for a number of years in a smaller facility, but we hadn’t been able to bring the Worldview programs to help Indigenous youth, which is, I guess our secret sauce, and our twist on how we’re helping to Close the Gap,” Mr Gruber says.
“We use our employment, our social enterprise, and the workflows we generate to employ people who need a hand overcoming barriers to success, and we give wraparound support and holistic care to help them achieve their goals and move on to great careers.
Diversion from crime and drugs
Mr Gruber says the key purpose of Worldview is training Indigenous Youth, and keeping them out of the justice system.
“We use that work to bring people in who might not have worked before, young Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander men and women who may have even come out of addiction or even brushes with the justice system,” he says.
“And we have a wraparound support programme that over six months helps them get some tickets, teach ’em to cook, to drive, to budget, and then get them off and into great careers.
“So it’s pretty fun. We’re handling old IT equipment, it’s got to go somewhere, but putting a bit of a spin on it being social entrepreneurs so that we can create some positive change too.”
He wishes there was more government support for successful programs like theirs, given the social benefit.
“Being a social enterprise, we do generate our own funds to a certain degree, but it is quite expensive to help these young guys,” he says.
“It costs us a bit to employ mentors and cook and teach to drive and all that.
“So we are often a little bit surprised that there’s not – given the savings to the community – more government interest and support.
“With a bit more support, we could do a whole lot more. We do work with the National Indigenous Australia Agency on a federal level, but the state governments really do very little with. So up in Queensland we are hoping to get some support, not for the business or the enterprise or anything, but just so we can provide that wraparound support, which is really important.
“It costs 200 grand a year or something to keep someone in prison, and if we can just change their life with a little bit of work right at the start so that doesn’t happen – it’s a massive saving to the community.”
Ngarami, a Worldview Intensive Program graduate, says the experience has changed his life path.
“It was a culturally sensitive environment, I saw a lot of people from the same background as myself. I was able to walk in and feel at home straight away,” Ngarami says.
“It built self-esteem that I didn’t have, and from there I found the confidence to dive into every opportunity.
“I’m now a Junior Mentor at Worldview Foundation, and I help the younger guys transition into the workforce, giving them advice from my own lived experience.”
Feature image (Left to Right): Jessica Williams, Kurt Gruber, Jamie Miller and David Gela. Supplied: Katy Smith
