Getting young people back on track

Regional NSW-based organisation BackTrack is known locally for living up to its powerful promise of keeping vulnerable young people alive, out of jail and chasing their hopes and dreams. With support from Westpac Foundation, it’s now scaling up its job-creation social enterprise to help more young locals transition into the world of independent work.  

 

When former jackaroo Bernie Shakeshaft settled back into his hometown, Armidale in regional NSW, he was frustrated that some of the most vulnerable young people in his community were ending up in jail or struggling along with little hope.  

  

Determined to do something about it, in 2006 he started BackTrack, a program he ran out of a donated shed on the outskirts of town, to help these young people turn their lives around. Since then, more than 1000 young people have been nurtured through the education and training program, which is underpinned by a simple philosophy: to offer whatever support each young person needs, for as long as they need it. 

 

“If they come to us hungry, we’ll feed them; if they need boots that’s what they’ll get; if they can’t read or write, we teach them; if they’re homeless we’ll give them safe accommodation,” explains CEO Marcus Watson. 

  

“It’s an inch-by-inch approach – we help them find the one small thing they can do today that's going to make things better tomorrow. We offer them a sense of belonging and the belief in themselves to chase their dreams.”

 

BackTrack’s success in keeping kids out of detention and living productive lives is well known across the local region, attracting support from many quarters, including the gift last year of a 600-acre cattle farm from local donors to underpin future growth. Recent grants from Westpac Foundation have also enabled the growth of their social enterprise ‘Back Track Works’ which was launched in 2018.

  

“Our social enterprise was set up so we could support the young people in that challenging next step – the transition into the world of independent work – enabling them to earn wages, experience, qualifications and a greater sense of community belonging,” Marcus says. 

 

The enterprise’s team – which has so far trained and employed around 100 young participants – is contracted by locally based customers, predominantly in the agricultural sector, for projects such as asset maintenance, farming, metal fabrication and construction jobs.

 

“For our customers, they get the dual benefit of a job competitively quoted, well done, delivered on time and budget – along with the knowledge that they’re investing in social impact in their local community,” he says. “And for the young people, our goal is that we put everything in place so when they’re ready to go onto other employment, they’ll have all the things they need – a licence, qualifications, stability and confidence – and the knowledge that we’ll still be here whenever they need us.”    

 

Marcus says the early support for the social enterprise from Westpac Foundation, including grants valued at $150k since 2022, has been key to success.    

 

"We're becoming a lot more sophisticated as an organisation, with more moving parts,” he says. “The backing from Westpac has enabled us to invest in the capability of our team and improve our finance and governance systems – which ultimately enables us to create more jobs for the young people.”