Kenny Wong
Monash University
Gitanjali Bedi
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The cafe sets out to support the local community through nurtured training and real-life work experience. Aside from the coffee making and nutritious meals, Ways & Means works together in partnership with Youth Support & Advocacy Service (YSAS) to help empower disadvantaged youth by equipping them with the necessary skills and mental health to enrich their ability for employment. In doing so, the innovation directly promotes Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3: to ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.
According to manager Katie, the ultimate goal is to train and teach vulnerable youth transferable and professional skills to bring into the workplace. Youth are taken in for on-the-job training and are carefully monitored and supported by a compassionate staff. In doing so, they progressively improve their self-confidence, sense of belonging, and quickly develop an improved understanding of how a Café works.
Mental health has only recently received its recognition and adoption into the SDGs at the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015 (World Health Organization, 2018), target 3.4. The leaders of Ways & Means are innovators. They were already ahead of the mental health inclusion, as they created the brand with help from YSAS with an inspiration to offer the market a new concept atop of providing quality food and coffee.
“Being able to impact the lives of young people. To see progress first hand is what makes it all worth it. This and producing quality food and coffee at the same time!” – Katie Farley
“A lot of young people can be very nervous, in stages of detox. We offer a safe and inclusive environment for our young people to grow, learn and to overcome challenges” – Katie Farley.
Ways & Means has
successfully managed to create a positive impact to the community with over 90
youths passing through the program since their establishment in 2014. They move
on into paid employment through the supportive pathway provided with social
skills, confidence, motivation, workplace etiquette and experience. A long-term
value anyone can appreciate as it stretches to more than just the hospitality
industry.
Providing a high standard of food and coffee alongside the innovative concept of nurtured training has mutually benefitted Ways & Means. Through the program, the staff pays close attention to the well-being of the youth and promote two-way communication. Youths are unconditionally offered a chance to share and introduce new ideas for the business. Customers are familiar faces even their ideas for new menu items gets through such as the unusual order for 'damper', a traditional Australian soda bread.
From a business
perspective, the current creativity being practiced paves way for more and more
challenges. Challenges in the form of opportunities and lessons in which Ways
& Means can use to train and develop the youth’s work skills and social
ability.
In brief, Ways & Means is a Café that is passionate and active to bring more than the ordinary market offer. They make their mark in the heart of Melbourne as a strong advocate for the well-being and development of youths in transition to adulthood and in doing so; they not only help the youths that come in to prosper and grow, they promote and support a better way of life for all that enter the premises.
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Katie Farley, Manager
Ways & Means is a social enterprise established in 2014, located at the heart of Melbourne. The boutique Café serves a fresh and wholesome menu in the middle of a busy government district while offering vulnerable and disadvantaged youths an opportunity to develop new skills.