Fremantle Youth Collective
“The young people drew the plans. Charity Bank Australia was the only lender that wanted to see them.”
Youth and community charity
Fremantle, Western Australia
Fremantle Youth Collective had a building and very little else. The hall had been handed to the charity by a departing sports club and had not been touched since: one cold room, wiring that tripped whenever the kettle and the sound desk ran together, a single toilet, and no space where a young person could speak to a worker without the whole room hearing.
Attendance told the story. Young people came for an hour and left. The charity could not run its music programme, its homework help and a quiet drop-in at the same time, and it could not open in the evenings because the building was not safe after dark.
A loan from Charity Bank Australia paid for the refit. The young people's own design group set the brief: a recording booth, two rooms that can be closed for one-to-one support, a kitchen they are allowed to use, accessible bathrooms, lighting across the car park, and a front that opens onto the street rather than hiding behind a fence.
The hub now opens six days a week, including four evenings, and the number of young people through the door each week has roughly tripled. Three programmes run side by side instead of taking turns, and the recording booth has become the reason a group of young people who would not come to a youth centre come to this one. Local services — a health nurse, a legal clinic — now use the closed rooms for sessions, so young people meet them somewhere they already trust.
The charity chose Charity Bank Australia because the conversation started with the drawings the young people had made. The lending team came to Fremantle, sat in the cold hall, and asked how the building would be used rather than only what it was worth. The charity's finance committee found the terms explained in language its volunteers could follow, which mattered to a board that is mostly made up of people who grew up in the suburb.
“The young people drew the plans. Charity Bank Australia was the only lender that wanted to see them.”
Jarrah Mullen, Chief Executive of Fremantle Youth Collective
About Charity Bank Australia
Charity Bank Australia is the loans and savings bank owned by and committed to supporting the social sector. We use our savers’ money to lend to housing, education, social care, community and other social purpose organisations across Australia.
Nothing in this article constitutes an invitation to engage in investment activity nor is it advice or a recommendation and professional advice should be taken before any course of action is pursued.
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