Top Blokes Foundation

The Top Blokes Foundation is an Australian charity specialising in social education for young men to improve their overall health and well-being. Founded in 2006, the Top Blokes Foundation currently works with thousands of Australian young men to improve their behaviour, wellbeing and their relationship with schools and communities. The vision of the Top Blokes Foundation is to see Australian young males live happy, healthy and safe lives.

Why Young Men?

The Top Blokes Foundation is one of very few Australian organisations that focus solely on the development of young men.

The below current research data underpins the Top Blokes Foundation passion for young men, its programs and advocacy:

Achieving the Top Blokes Mission

The Top Blokes Foundation's mission is to foster the inclusion, build the resilience and ensure the well-being of Australian young males.[7] The foundation aims to achieve this mission through four core programs.

Junior Top Blokes Mentoring Program

A 16-week boys mentoring program delivered by Youth Workers in schools for boys aged 14–17. This program was developed in 2011 to address the growing trend of negative risk taking and antisocial behaviours often associated with young men.[8] Topics this program addresses includes:

Building Blokes

A 1-3 day community engagement program designed to encourage young men to become community assets by donating volunteer labour in landscaping and maintenance projects, predominately assisting not for profit sites.[10]

Public Education

This program assists the Top Blokes Foundation to achieve their mission by educating the community on the challenges faced by young men and how these can be mitigated and addressed. These presentations for parents, teachers, educators and young people utilises current research, Top Blokes Foundation experiences, program evaluations and case studies to educate and empower the audience through presentations and interactive workshops.

National Boy's Health Forum

This annual forum is the Top Blokes Foundation's key advocacy platform and features key researchers, practitioners and advocates who present on emerging social issues affecting young males health and well-being. The 2015 National Health Forum featured speakers including His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley,[11] Dr Jo River, Melissa Abu-Gazaleh and Top Blokes Foundation Youth Ambassadors.[12]

History

The Top Blokes Foundation was founded in 2006 by Melissa Abu-Gazaleh who, at the age of 19, was frustrated at the lack of services for young males.[13] The Top Blokes Foundation began with a simple aim, to combat the negative stereotypes and media coverage associated with young men by contributing positive news stories about young men. This aim saw the birth of the Top Bloke Awards, an awards program to recognise and celebrate young men contributing positively to their communities.

Building on the success of these awards, in 2011 the Top Blokes Foundation began to develop and run its current programs to help empower more young men to break the stereotype and become ‘Top Blokes’. In 2015 Top Blokes Foundation joined the Safe Schools Coalition – a national campaign to reduce homophobia and transphobia in Australian schools.[14]

References

  1. ↑ Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.(2012) Leading causes of death. Accessed 02/09/2015 from http://www.aihw.gov.au/deaths/leading-causes-of-death/
  2. ↑ State Government of Victoria.(2015) Teenagers - sexual behaviour. Accessed 02/09/2015 from http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Teenagers_sexual_behaviour
  3. ↑ Hunter Institute of Mental Health.(2014) Youth mental health and wellbeing. Accessed 02/09/2015 from http://www.himh.org.au/home/our-programs/community-media-and-arts-program/YRBD/youth-mental-health-and-wellbeing
  4. ↑ Perls, T. Fretts, R.(1998) Why Women Live Longer than Men. Accessed 02/09/2015 from https://www.cmu.edu/CSR/case_studies/women_live_longer.html
  5. ↑ Huntsdale, J.(2015) Porn awareness should start early to combat a growing sex ed emergency: researcher. Accessed 02/09/2015 from http://www.abc.net.au/local/photos/2015/05/27/4243233.htm
  6. ↑ Dow, A.(2013) 90 killed in single-punch assaults since 2000. Accessed 02/09/2015 from http://www.smh.com.au/national/90-killed-in-singlepunch-assaults-since-2000-20131201-2yjtr.html
  7. ↑ Top Blokes Foundation.(2015). About us. Accessed 02/09/2015 from http://www.topblokes.org.au/about-us/
  8. ↑ Win News.(2015). A program to help teenage boys. Accessed 02/08/2015 from http://www.topblokes.org.au/media/news/win-news-junior-top-blokes-school-mentoring-program/
  9. ↑ Top Blokes Foundation[2].(2015) Junior Top Blokes. Accessed 02/09/2015 from http://www.topblokes.org.au/school-mentoring-program-for-boys/
  10. ↑ Illawarra Mercury.(2014). Students clean up homes for House with No Steps. Accessed 02/08/2015 from http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/2901775/students-spruce-up-houses/
  11. ↑ 2015 NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet.(2015). Thursday, 28 May 2015. Accessed 02/09/2015 from http://www.governor.nsw.gov.au/governor/vice-regal-program/thursday-28-may-2015/
  12. ↑ Savage, D.(2015). Illawarra students to address parliament. Accessed 02/09/2015 from http://www.illawarramercury.com.au/story/3095646/illawarra-students-to-address-parliament/?cs=300
  13. ↑ Abu-Gazaleh, Melissa.(2015). About Melissa.Accessed 02/09/2015 from http://www.melissaabugazaleh.com/#!about-melissa-abu-gazaleh/cay
  14. ↑ Foundation For Young Australians.(2015). Our Supporters. Accessed 02/09/2015 from http://www.safeschoolscoalition.org.au/our-supporters/organisations

External links

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