National Youth Employment Body
The National Youth Employment Body addresses youth unemployment through these key structures:
- The Brotherhood of St Laurence is the enabling organisation that provides research, evidence, data, practice expertise and facilitative leadership to build the capacity of local communities to collaborate and share learnings between local and national groups and the wider community.
- Community Investment Committees are the mechanism for key sectors in a community to develop place-based solutions to address youth unemployment.
- The National Advisory Board provides guidance, expertise and access to networks and opportunities that support the Community Investment Committees to find community solutions. It marshals evidence and develops consistent strategies and practices that in turn are used to inform policy at a national level
- Employers drive investment in the skills and capabilities of young people by co-designing work-entry pathways that align the aspirations and interests of young people with business needs
- Young people share their experiences of employment systems and their aspirations, and contribute to co-design and decision-making locally and nationally to ensure actions and strategies are fit for purpose.
Funding
The Australian Government Department of Education, Skills and Employment funded the Brotherhood of St Laurence in 2018-2020 as the enabling organisation responsible for establishing and coordinating the NYEB.
From 2020-2027, the Paul Ramsay Foundation is funding the NYEB to expand into nine regions across Australia. In 2022, they were joined by additional philanthropic investors: the Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation, the Macquarie Group Foundation, and the Ian Potter Foundation.
NYEB Advisory Board
The National Youth Employment body is led by an Advisory Board with representatives from business, education and training, entrepreneurship, and government.
Advisory Board members are committed to sharing their knowledge of youth employment pathways and leveraging their networks to advocate for and support the work of the NYEB.
The Advisory Board’s oversight of the strategic direction of the NYEB is also assisted by three expert Working Groups.
Advisory Board Members:
Richard Yetsenga
ANZ
Advisory Board Co-Chair
Vacant
Advisory-Board Co-Chair
Tim Allen
Microsoft
Lynn Anderson
Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation
Michelle Barton
YouthWorx NT
Community Investment Committee Lead Partner Representative
Duncan Bentley
Federation University
Penne Dawe
Australian Centre for Career Education (ACCE)
Rana Ebrahimi
Multicultural Youth Affairs Network (MYAN)
Lill Healey
Victorian Government Department of Jobs, Skills, Industry and Regions (DJSIR)
Stuart Hollingsworth
Jobs Tasmania
Jo Ingold
Australian Catholic University
Travers McLeod
Brotherhood of St Laurence
Geethani Nair
Western Sydney University
Alex Staley Hughes
Kmart
Ex-Officio representatives from the Australian Government Department of Treasury, Department of Workplace and Employment Relations and Jobs and Skills Australia.
Expert Working Groups
The Expert Working Groups are made up of:
These groups mobilise cross-organisational expertise to advise on the work of the NYEB in advancing its systemic change agenda, on Community Investment Committees and respond to regional themes and issues identified through local collaboration.
Skills and Training Working group
The Skills and Training Working Group provides expertise and advice on the design and implementation of good practice in education and training that builds the skills and capabilities of young people, and mutually benefits local industry and economic development by its relevance to current and future job opportunities.
National Employer Reference Group
Established in 2018 by the Transition to Work National Community of Practice, the National Employer Reference Group (NERG) brings together employer champions from a range of industries with government, youth employment specialists, and young people to collaborate, share expertise and good practice, and co-create solutions that enable young people to achieve meaningful and decent work.
The NERG provides expertise on the development of employer-orientated youth training and employment strategies to inform policy and programs that align with both the aspirations and capabilities of young people and the needs of employers and industry within local labour markets.
The NYEB Youth Crew
Young people share their experiences and contribute to decision-making locally through Community Investments Committees and nationally through the NYEB Youth Crew. The NYEB Youth Crew involves young people from NYEB sites around Australia in a national advisory group. Members of the Youth Crew have taken a leading role in many of the NYEB’s advocacy and influencing efforts including presenting to the Select Committee Inquiry into Workforce Australia Employment Services, providing testimony to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Employment, Education & Training’s Inquiry into the Status of VET and providing a video submission to the Federal Government’s Employment White Paper consultations. The Youth Crew set the bar at the NYEB ‘Skills’ Community of Policy and Practice (CoPP) in November 2023 by laying out their essential elements for a reformed, youth-centred skills and training system.