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Celebrating supporting 200 participants through our Direct Giving Programs 🌟

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We are absolutely thrilled to announce a significant milestone in our journey to help end homelessness in Australia! Since launching our direct giving programs in late 2023, we have successfully enrolled our 200th participant. This achievement is just a glimpse into our impact, as each participant represents not only an individual but also their children, families, and partners, meaning our reach extends far beyond this number.

This milestone marks an incredible moment in our mission to provide sustainable pathways out of homelessness for vulnerable Australians. Over the past year, We Are Mobilise has introduced five innovative direct giving programs: Mobilise Matched, Kickstarter, Pay, Wellbeing, and Mobility. 

These initiatives have been designed to offer direct financial assistance, providing vital support such as covering bond and rent, paying for kids extracurricular activities, covering mental health diagnosis costs, transport expenses, and essential services for individuals and families at risk of homelessness.Each program is crafted to empower participants to regain control of their lives and build stable, independent future. 

Here’s a quick overview of our programs:

  • Mobilise Matched: Australia’s first direct cash transfer program for people at risk of homelessness, offering matched savings and wraparound support. Version two coming soon…
  • Mobilise Kickstarter: Providing direct rental assistance to help individuals secure and maintain housing. We have covered +45 years of housing so far! Further to this, recently we have managed to help numerous people access secure housing after extended periods sleeping rough.
  • Mobilise Pay: Supporting single-mother families by covering essential expenses such as groceries, bills and extracurricular activities for a year, easing the burden of financial stress. One mother said, “Since starting the Mobilise Pay program I have the opportunity to watch my son start his soccer, he has been able to make new friendship and he has become more confident”
  • Mobilise Wellbeing: Covering the cost of psychiatric assessments to ensure mental health support is accessible to those in need. A case manager expressed that “It’s been so incredible seeing her [client] kicking goals since we jointly started supporting her. Uni is going great and she’s about to start getting a support worker to help her at home.”
  • Mobilise Mobility: Offering tailored transport supports through one-time assistance and ongoing options to address individual needs. In December, a man that had been rough sleeping in Northern NSW expressed his desire to reconnect with his family in Queensland and get off the street. Through Mobilise Mobility we were able to help him cover the cost of the bus tickets up to Brisbane and out to his family home in time for Christmas.

We couldn’t do it without our network of amazing charity partners!

 

This graph shows when we first started working with each of our charity partners. They refer their clients to our direct giving programs, we provide funding and they provide the ongoing case management and wrap-around support services. You can see how quickly we are growing the number of charity partners and participants. We are on an exponential trajectory and on our way to meeting Project 10,000 – our goal of positively transforming 10,000 lives by 2030!

 

Our First Participants… and their adorable baby girl.

Earlier this week, we had the pleasure of meeting Jasmine and Syman, participants 4 and 5 in our Kickstarter program. After experiencing homelessness, they found the youth foyer and sought their first home. However, a setback depleted their savings, leaving them unable to cover a bond and deposit for an offer they received. Mobilise Kickstarter was designed to address situations like theirs, and we provided the funding for them to secure their first rental home, ensuring they had a safe place to live. A year later, we reunited with them and were overjoyed to meet their beautiful 11-month-old daughter. They shared that without Kickstarter, they might have welcomed her into the world while still experiencing homelessness. This is exactly why our programs exist – to provide opportunities for those in need. 

Hear their reflections.

We can all contribute to helping our fellow Australians who need it most. As we celebrate this milestone, we eagerly look forward to the continued growth and success of our programs. We have an ambitious goal: Project 10,000, where we aim to positively impact 10,000 lives by 2030. We’re incredibly proud to have reached 200 already and are excited to see this number grow exponentially in the coming years! Together, we are making a tangible difference for the lives of many Australians, helping them forge a brighter future. 💙

Andrew Sloman

Andrew has recently joined the Board after initial conversations with Anthony and Noah where they expressed a desire to source risk, governance and financial expertise to the organisation and would Andrew recommend anyone from his networks.

So taken was Andrew with the organisation, the mission, strategy and people that he decided to contribute himself and leverage his 30 years experience as a registered company auditor, risk and internal audit practitioner.

As a Fellow of Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand, you can often find him criss crossing the Tasman Sea and mumbling the occasional word of Te Reo Maori. He also holds governance roles as a Board Member of the Victorian Local Governance Association and is an independent member of Risk Committees at the Richmond Football Club and the A.G. Coombs Group.

He is passionate about managing risk in sectors including charities/not-for-profits, Local Government, Sport and Sport Infrastructure, and you will find him most weekends at the MCG cheering on his beloved Tigers.

Jenna Downer

Having spent the last decade working across corporate and philanthropic partnerships, across both National Sporting Organisations, and international not-for-profits, Jenna is passionate about the human experience, believing we all have opportunity, and the responsibility to improve to world of tomorrow.

With attitude of curiosity, and a knack commercialising programs, Jenna creates value for organisations seeking to make tangible social impact, championing sustainable development principles across commercial and philanthropic partnerships. 

With a career built around relationships and networks, weekends mean are a change of pace, often spent at the dog park with a great Melbourne-brewed coffee in hand.

Trent Milvain

Trent is the Chief Operating Officer of Law Squared.

He has overseen the firm’s growth over the past eight years alongside Demetrio Zema and the business, laying and executing the firm’s strategy–from new legal and non–legal service lines to integrating teams across Australia, United Kingdom, and most recently an office in Auckland, New Zealand.

A sample of Trent’s responsibilities includes leading the firm’s culture, capability, and day-to-day operations.

His strategic approach has also led to the establishment of a Legal Technology function that provides helps corporate legal departments optimise their legal operations & technology.

Trent advises a Melbourne-based FinTech and is a founding board member for We Are Mobilse which is on a mission to positively transform the lives of those facing homelessness across Australia.

Previously, Trent worked as a Commercial Manager for one of Australia’s leading retail groups and has advised a construction firm in Melbourne.

In his free time, Trent enjoys learning and experiencing new things, spending time with friends and family, and watching live sports.

Chris King

Chris King

Chris is one of the founding volunteers of We Are Mobilise, which started in 2016 and has served as a director on the board since its conception.

Early in his time with We Are Mobilise, Chris realised the power of conversation and was troubled by the isolation that those facing homelessness felt. It became clear that the isolation was feeding a disconnect, not only from society but also from their sense of humanity; compelled by this, Chris continued to do what he could to recognise, acknowledge and help those living with homelessness.

Over the years, his role has changed from a more hands-on approach running the volunteer marketing team to a more strategic role assisting the full-time staff to grow We Are Mobilise to its most impactful state.

In his day job, although rarely just during the day, Chris is a founding employee of the creative business Bullfrog, specialising in communications, commercialisation and innovation. He primarily works across Production and Client Management for various national and international companies.

Anthony Alsop

Anthony Alsop

Attracted by the impact of multiple outreach experiences in 2022, Anthony joined the board of We Are Mobilise that year before assuming the role of Chief Marketing Officer in 2023.

His career journey spans the sports industry, with stints at the Australian Football League’s Richmond Football Club and Brisbane Lions as well as Tennis Australia, and Channel 7. Beyond our Aussie borders, he left his mark in the hustle and bustle of New York with the National Basketball Association.

Anthony’s passion is storytelling, having created documentaries, TV shows, and podcasts throughout his career. He’s not just a behind-the-scenes guy; he’s been in the executive hot seat and led communications during his tenure within the AFL. He leads our marketing function and infuses his unique storytelling into our branding, communications, partnerships, and fundraising efforts.

Off the clock, you’ll find Anthony playing basketball, at the movies, or hanging out with family and friends. Catch him in action from his appearance on ABC’s Hard Quiz for a dose of his lighter side.
Danielle Schutte

Danielle Schutte

Danielle joined the Mobilise board in 2021 after a conversation with Noah where they decided they could change the world. After 2 years of volunteering, she decided that the only way we could get there was to focus on the mission full-time, when she joined as Chief Operating Officer.

Danielle has always been interested in the big global systems that impact people’s lives every day and has built a career on trying to understand and change these for the better.

This long-time hospo worker journeyed through a Masters in Public Health, stints in advocacy, to management consulting in the health sector and a strategy at a large federal government agency.

She’s been able to use this to develop our flagship programs from scratch and build the back-end of Mobilise into a more efficient operation, and making sure we’re focussed on using technology to help us help our friends on the street. You can check out her weirder side in her passion project: a podcast mixing health technology and the healing powers of music.

Otherwise you can find her riding a scooter to a gig near you or doing circus aerial tricks (badly).

CEO Noah Yang

Noah Yang

Noah is the Founder of We Are Mobilise and currently serves as Managing Director/CEO.

Challenged by the understanding that no-one in Australia should have to sleep on the street, the Mobilise journey began when Noah and a friend set out with bags of bread to have conversations with those they met. Since that day, Noah has lead We Are Mobilise from a grassroots movement focused on assertive outreach through to an ACNC-registered national charity which has recently completed the $2 million+ Nedd Brockmann campaign – positioning it ready to deliver impact across its 3 core pillars.

Noah’s background was in management consulting and he has an inquisitive nature, passionate about leveraging commercial solutions to make a social impact.

He has coupled a diverse consulting experience with a global education, informing his passion for innovation and an eagerness to deploy an entrepreneurial approach to business building.

Outside of Mobilise, Noah enjoyed building a project called ‘ASX Investor’ – a digital media channel that amassed 25,000+ total followers and featured interviews with CEO’s from across the ASX.

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