What is YET?

The Trust

The Youth Enterprise Trust is an independent charitable organisation established in 1990. The Trust assists disadvantaged young people (aged 16 - 24 years) through a personally challenging and intense Programme that begins in the wilderness of the Carnarvon Ranges in Central Qld, then moves to semi-rural South East Qld for practical follow-up. The Programme is completed when, using personal and vocational goals which are developed during this intense two week experience, Graduates receive 12 months of encouragement and support by telephone from an "off-sider'.

The Programme Details section explains the nature of the YET Programme in more detail.
The Application Details section includes the Programme's selection criteria and Application Form.

The Trust has a strong and growing family of individual, organisational and corporate supporters. These supporters are as diverse as their range of contributions to the work of the Trust, but all share in sustaining the Trust's Vision.

We are wholly independent, non-sectarian and non-denominational and we live by the same conscience-based values we seek to impart to young people. These include the highest ethical standards and total independence to ensure our integrity of purpose in word and action.

We strive in good faith that the wider community will continue to support us in our joint efforts to move the dreams of young Australians to reality.

 

The Vision Statement

Our Vision

To conduct programmes for young Australians (16–24 years of age) with the aim of assisting in the transition from adolescence to healthy and self-reliant young adulthood.

In partnership with our young people, we will actively inspire the broader community to similarly form healthier relationships within their own communities and with the Australian land on which we all ultimately depend.

Our Mission

“Connecting young adults “thru” wilderness to sustainable communities”

Our Values

Connected (ness), Integrity, Authenticity, Self-Determination

The Philosophy

Unemployment, lack of purpose, dependence on the welfare system, boredom and the fracturing of the family unit have contributed to the despair of too many young Australians. This country's future depends significantly on the creative input of our young people.

The Trust believes every individual has unique personal and vocational gifts. Through our Programme each participant is assisted to find and believe in their own abilities and strengths. Participants are then helped to realise these gifts in a practical and fulfilling way.

Through full and partial scholarships to enter in the Programme, participants discover a sense of belonging to the country in which they live and a sense of worth and practical purpose within themselves. It is our experience that young people who may have suffered life on the fringes of society, have, with the assistance of the Trust, been able to make positive, worthy and often remarkable contributions to their communities.

motivation and action to pursue responsible and fulfilling vocations which are true to each individual and make essential and creative contributions to the community
a deeper self-understanding and self-reliance		a special appreciation of Australia's cultural and environmental heritage

 

The Business Model

The long-term aim of the Trust is to become self-financing. (For example, with assistance of the young people we support, we are developing a range of merchandising and farming enterprises.) Both corporate and private sponsorship is sought until such time as the Trust is fully self-reliant. Overheads are kept to a minimum so that contributions received are maximised for the benefit of the young people sponsored by the Trust. The Trust aims to develop an ongoing "family" partnership with a number of interested, committed contributors from both the business and general community.

Unique Features of the Trust

The Programme

Wilderness Experience
The Wilderness Experience is not simply time in the bush or a camping trip, but a structured, sequential and sensitively Australian remote Wilderness Experience, which stands as a Rite of Passage for young Australians in their transition from adolescence to adulthood.

The final stage of the Wilderness Experience, involving the trip to Moffat National Park and an exploration of the traditional local aboriginal culture, is unique to the Youth Enterprise Trust. This climactic stage effects a lasting and often profound impact on the participants involved.

Kurrajong and Off-Sider Phases
The Kurrajong Phase of the Programme gives practical expression to the Trust's belief in the individual, and belief in the individual taking greater responsibility for the welfare of his/her community and their service to it.

The Kurrajong Phase also provides practical opportunities for further empowering young graduates to lead and to give; to pursue true vocational and personal goals, rather than give up and remain in a state of dependency on the welfare system.

This is then strengthened through the extended personal and practical follow-up of the community-based Off-Sider Phase that extends for 12 months.

The Places

The Youth Enterprise Trust is based at Woodstock, a beautiful 300 acre farm on the Albert River at the base of Mt Tamborine - a wonderfully private location, but close to the main southern corridor of South-East Queensland.

The Wilderness Experiences are conducted in Saddler Springs, a truly remote 20,000 acre cattle property adjoining Carnarvon Gorge and Moffat National Parks in Central Queensland, at Junjuddie Flat. Junjuddie Flat is a pioneer-style bush outstation, hidden in an enclosed valley at the foot of 1,000 metre cliffs.

Both Woodstock and Saddler Springs are, in and of themselves, truly inspiring to the work of the Trust.

Emphasis on the Individual

The Trust values and encourages the individuality of each participant, and assists them to identify and maximise their unique talents and gifts. Offering financial scholarships allows for the individual selection of participants. The maximum number of participants on any wilderness course is currently 10. The staff/participant ratio is generally at least one to three. This allows for greater attention to the individual, higher levels of interaction and quality outcomes.

The positive outcomes experienced by so many of the graduates reflects the value which the Trust places on the individuality of each young person.

The Trust does not seek government support, paralleling our hopes for the independence of the young people we serve.

Inclusiveness

At all levels of operation, the Trust applies the principle of genuine inclusiveness:

• The mix of participants reflects a diversity of socio-economic and ethnic backgrounds,
• The diversity of people encouraged to participate in the Kurrajong Phase in particular and the Trust in general and
• Selection of advisors for the Trust reflects the essential dimensions of the Programme's aims: wilderness, cultural heritage and the spiritual community.

The Trust actively seeks to provide Programme places for youth from a range of backgrounds and perspectives to encourage cultural mixing of young people e.g. privileged and disadvantaged, rural and urban, indigenous, ethnic and white. Self-paying applicants are considered with a preferred ratio of eight Trust-sponsored to two fully self-paying participants on each Programme.

The Trust encourages other people to become involved in Kurrajong Enterprises and Kurrajong Services to the community. Thus, the young people we assist, in turn lead and motivate people from all sectors of society to join them at the farm in the spirit of true service: for example, the families of participants, financial donors and their families, staff and local community.

The Trust is not based on any formal religion but does give practical expression to certain universal values and deeper acts of individual conscience. It is non-denominational and non-sectarian.

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