The Goodman Mais Education Program, Brazil

Education, mentoring and employment for young people

Brazil faces a raft of issues stemming from serious social inequality. Young people are heavily impacted, with around one third of Brazilians not finishing high school so they can earn an income for their families. For this reason, The Goodman Foundation focuses on education, given its capacity to improve so many aspects of a person’s life.

The Foundation, together with experts from the education sector, developed the Goodman Mais (‘More’) Education Program to respond to challenges in education and employment focusing on young people in disadvantaged areas of Sao Paulo.

The bespoke program offers studies in Environment Management, delivered by training provider Senac, providing participants with an impactful technical qualification. In addition, soft-skill development, mentoring and career pathway support is provided via Goodman’s people, customers and partners, supporting its graduates find better paying jobs in the challenging Brazilian market.

The program is flexible, providing support as unanticipated challenges arise: in the first year, it became obvious that some students had no access to laptops – so were provided one. For others, the cost of bus travel to and from school was a barrier – monthly bus passes are now built into the program. 

Goodman continues to build on the success of the program, evolving it and bringing on new participants every year.

Stepping Stone House, Australia

Addressing youth homelessness 

About 45,000 young people in Australia are homeless with many having a background of trauma. To address this issue, the Goodman Foundation has partnered with Stepping Stone House, which provides safe places for children and young people at risk of, or experiencing homelessness.  

Programs help them begin to heal, build resilience and become the best they can be, while providing long-term accommodation and support until they are 24 years old.

This people-centred approach has already helped over 450 young people become independent adults. The educational outcomes alone are significant, with graduates having school attendance rates of 87%. They also have 100% employment rates on graduation from the program.

The Foundation, a long-term partner of Stepping Stone House, supports the organisation in a number of ways, including multi-year funding support for its Bawaga Indigenous program through the employment of Indigenous support workers for the home. 

Goodman also helps with a Community Hub housed within a Goodman site in Sydney’s Alexandria. The Hub is home to activities, as well as a safe place for the Stepping Stone community to meet outside the residential houses.

Goodman’s cars are also used to help residents learn to drive, and we’re a major partner of its key Sleeping Under the Stars fundraiser.

Hope in a Suitcase, USA

Supporting young people in foster care

Every year in Southern California, 30,000 kids enter the foster care system. Especially in emergency situations, they often enter the system with nothing but the clothes on their backs or with just a few personal belongings that they carry from home to home in a rubbish bag. Throughout the year, Hope in a Suitcase helps change the situation for many of these children by providing suitcases and duffel bags filled with new clothing and other essentials.

At its free of charge ‘Shopping Events’ Hope in a Suitcase provides an opportunity for foster children to stock up on clothes, shoes and other essentials. Volunteers walk with the participants to help them shop as they fill their bag with brand new items. For foster youth who are frequently at the mercy of other people’s decisions, the ability to select the items that they want and need is particularly empowering.

The Goodman Foundation contributes funds to help Hope in a Suitcase purchase the new items. The events have also seen growing numbers of Goodman volunteers. Many eagerly await these events, where the excitement of the young attendees is contagious.

Shanghai Sunrise, China

Education scholarships for disadvantaged students

Shanghai Sunrise provides education scholarships to high potential children from disadvantaged backgrounds in Shanghai to help them complete high school or higher education. Given the Foundation’s focus on education to empower, we support the program in a number of ways – all with the objective of increasing access to education.

Firstly, the Foundation provides education scholarships to support 20 students in secondary and tertiary education. In its 25 years of operation, Shanghai Sunrise has helped educate more than 3,200 students.

The Foundation also provides short-term support for 100 students through the Shanghai Sunrise program. Activities included webinars and mental health support, reading camps and annual online book subscriptions. Additionally, technology scholarships help students buy laptops or printers so they can engage with home education.

Clontarf Foundation, Australia

Closing the education gap for Indigenous boys

The Clontarf Foundation founded in 2000, aims to help close the gap for young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander boys. Today, the organisation partners with 152 schools across Australia, to help improve school attendance and graduation rates for over 10,400 at-risk teenage boys.

The Goodman Foundation supports five academies in NSW and Victoria enabling over 270 First Nations students to participate in the holistic program which focuses on education, leadership, employment, health and wellbeing.

Participants in Clontarf’s programs experience a wide variety of activities, environments and social settings to help broaden their thinking about life’s possibilities and their future.

In partnership with teachers, parents and each community, local staff work as mentors. They also assist graduates to find employment or help them transition into further study or training.

Our Watch, Australia

Ending violence against women 

Violence against women is a serious problem globally. In Australia, on average one woman a week is murdered by her current or former partner. Our Watch, an Australian organisation that works to prevent violence against women and their children, has undertaken evidence-based research which demonstrates gender inequality is at the heart of the problem for violence against women. Our Watch works to embed gender equality and prevent violence where Australians live, learn, work and socialise.

To expand the reach of its services and effect real change across the country, Our Watch is partnering with the Goodman Foundation to establish the Our Watch Institute. The Institute’s mission is to inspire and support Australians to end violence against women by doing their part to promote gender equality. Through training and practical tools, individuals and organisations will be equipped to lead prevention work in their own workplaces, communities and spheres of influence.

The Goodman Foundation has committed $1 million towards the establishment and launch of the Institute and will commit a further $700,000 over the coming years to assist the operations which will first focus on corporate Australia. Over time we plan for the Institute to inspire and support organisations, workplaces, education institutions and sporting clubs to collectively put an end to domestic violence in Australia.

Habitat for Humanity, Hong Kong

Helping to provide safe spaces for disadvantaged women and children

To support women and children in need in Hong Kong, and promote gender equality, the Goodman Foundation partners with Habitat for Humanity to support its Women Build program. The Foundation provides funding and utilises the Goodman team’s expertise in planning and design to renovate facilities that are dedicated to helping disadvantaged women and children. Work has included a Child Care Home for children without families and pregnant teenagers who cannot be adequately cared for by their families, creating a safer and more welcoming environment for the people living there.

Goodman also worked on an upgrade to a community centre and shelter that supports Hong Kong’s migrant domestic workers, making space for additional facilities and providing a more functional, welcoming environment for counselling, education and healthcare services.

Sternenbrucke, Children’s Hospice, Germany

Supporting terminally ill children and their families 

In the west of Hamburg, the Sternenbrücke Children’s Hospice cares for terminally ill children and their families. Since it opened in 2003, around 700 families have already been guests.

Families can stay at the children’s hospice not only in the final stages of the young people’s lives, but also for 28 days a year, allowing them to gain new strength and recuperate during this difficult time. Even after the child dies, the organisation continues to support their family through their grief.

Physical distancing requirements and the increased demand for Sternenbrücke’s service have led to new space constraints, so the Foundation donated funds towards construction of a winter garden. The conservatory will serve as both a dining and recreation room and will visually connect families with the beautiful Klövensteen forest area surrounding the hospice.

UZ Brussel, Belgium

Building a new paediatric intensive care unit

For several years, The Goodman Foundation has partnered with UZ Brussel, a leading university hospital in Belgium founded in 1977.  We have worked on a range of programs, with a particular focus on the needs of children.

The staff of the paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) in UZ Brussel in Belgium, have a saying: “We want to care, not scare.”

Built in 1984, and treating 400 children a year, the unit is outdated in both size and function. 150 children a year are turned away for lack of space. There are other problems too. The tubes, machines, blank ceilings, tiny rooms and excessive noise aren’t child-friendly or welcoming.

That will change with the build of a new paediatric intensive care unit, funded in part by The Goodman Foundation. By increasing to 10 beds, they will be able to treat up to 550 children a year. The unit will feature leading technology that helps alleviate the wires and beeps that can scare children and cause them distress. It also includes sofa beds for parents to stay with their children and much welcomed space to gather in. Video chat in each room means kids can stay in contact with friends and family while undergoing lifesaving care.

Inba Gakusha, Japan

Supporting people with physical and intellectual disabilities

Japanese social inclusion organisation, Inba Gakusha, provides employment, transportation and home care to people with physical and intellectual disabilities in Chiba. Employees are paid a fair wage to maintain grass areas, provide catering and charge e-bike batteries. Meanwhile, Inba Gakusha’s handcrafted furniture and art is featured in lobbies and resting areas in the Goodman Business Park in Inzai City where they are located.

Goodman has been investing in Inba Gakusha for a number of years at the Business Park providing funding and employment to allow them to continue to find independent income sources for people who may otherwise struggle to secure them.

One of the many ways Inba Gakusha earns income is through its space at Goodman Business Park, which is part art studio and part fresh food store. This is where it sells its wares to the general public.

Fareshare, Australia

Providing nutritious meals for people in need

FareShare operates charity kitchens in Melbourne and Brisbane, transforming quality rescued and donated food, together with vegetables in its own kitchen gardens, into millions of delicious of healthy meals for people who are struggling to put food on the table. Together with Moorabbin Airport Corporation, Goodman Foundation has supported FareShare since 2016, providing a 3,000 sqm kitchen garden on airport land. Our team  also actively volunteers with harvesting produce and maintaining the garden.

In addition, the Foundation provides multi-year funding for a farmhand on FareShare’s Baguley farm site. The support will help the charity harvest nearly 100,000kg of vegetables a year from this location.

The Foundation has also invested to scale up a new program by FareShare called Meals for the Mob. The program provides healthy meals – cooked by First Nations peoples for First Nations peoples – and transports them to remote communities. Our multi-year funding employs a chef to oversee the program, empowering Meals for the Mob to expand.

KiwiHarvest, New Zealand

Food rescue and reducing food waste

A founding partner of KiwiHarvest since it began operating in Auckland in 2015, the Goodman Foundation has supported KiwiHarvest’s growth into what is now New Zealand’s leading food rescue organisation. 

With local services operating in Auckland, the North Shore, Dunedin, Queenstown and Invercargill, KiwiHarvest collects nutritious but perishable food destined for landfill and redistributes it to those in need through foodbanks and other community agencies.

The Goodman Foundation helped establish KiwiHarvest’s Auckland operations and provided both office and storage space to ensure it can continue to expand across the New Zealand Islands as national rescuers of good food.

With rising food insecurity issues KiwiHarvest’s services are in greater demand, with record amounts of food and grocery items being redistributed. 

The sheer volume of food being rescued reflects the determination and drive of the KiwiHarvest team and its commitment to feeding the most vulnerable in our communities.

Oz Harvest, Australia

Providing food relief and reducing food waste

The Goodman Foundation has been a founding partner of OzHarvest since it began in 2004.  Our wide-ranging support of Australia’s leading food rescue organisation includes  operational assistance, funds for disaster relief and project specific funding that helps OzHarvest scale its impact.

Committed to halving food waste by 2030, OzHarvest works with more than 1,800 charities around Australia to deliver delicious, nutritious food to charities across Australia that feed those in need.

The latest OzHarvest initiative the Foundation has supported is the establishment of a unique social enterprise initiative - OzHarvest’s community space, Refettorio OzHarvest Sydney. This social impact collaboration between OzHarvest and one of the world’s leading culinary figures, chef Massimo Bottura and his charity Food for Soul., was an Australian first. The Refettorio is a physical, zero-waste space designed as a community hub to inspire and empower human potential. By day, Refettorio OzHarvest Sydney (on Crown Street in Surry Hills) opens its doors to the most vulnerable people in the local community, providing a gourmet nourishing meal and a place to connect in a dignified restaurant environment. By night OzHarvest uses the space to host paying customers to support its charitable operations. 

UKHarvest, UK

Addressing food insecurity and providing food education

UKHarvest is on a mission to eliminate hunger and reduce food waste, rescuing and redistributing 75,000 meals every week, supplying fresh food, dry goods hampers and pre-made meals that make a real difference. UKHarvest focusses on innovative new solutions for communities, such as pop-up pantries.

UKHarvest operates pantries which enable families to visit, fill up a bag of fresh produce for £2.50, and access wraparound care from services like a Citizen’s Advice Bureau and housing support.  Education is a big part of UKHarvest’s mission and families are offered classes in reducing food waste or cooking well for less, while they are on site.

At the charity’s Nourish Hub in London’s Shepherd’s Bush, an eclectic mix of diners visit for the daily ‘pay what you can’ lunch. On-site food education classes run for everyone including refugees, including recent refugees from Afghanistan and Ukraine, while school holidays are used to teach disadvantaged youth how to become food waste warriors and to combat school holiday hunger. 

As founding partner of UKHarvest, the Goodman Foundation is helping UKHarvest continue to scale operations and feed more people finding it tough. 

Second Harvest Foodbank of Orange Country, USA

Providing food relief and enabling more fresh produce

Finding enough affordable food is an ongoing struggle for many in Orange County, California, with one in seven children experiencing food insecurity. 

Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County is driven by its purpose to end hunger in the local community. The organisation collaborates with over 250 food pantries and partners that all work towards this goal.

The Goodman Foundation has partnered with Second Harvest Food Bank on a number of innovative solutions that work to provide food to those that need it most. These include the funding of a mobile fresh food truck calls the “Park-it Market” which provides free food to senior communities across Orange County. Seniors can choose food that fits their needs, diets and cooking preferences in a manner that is respectful and provides dignity.

Another is the provision of an electric/hybrid farm vehicle to help transport produce from the Harvest Solutions Farm. Developed in partnership with the UC South Coast Research and Extension Center and A.G Kawamura, Chairman of Solutions for Urban Agriculture, the farm allows the non-profit to grow its own food. 

Thread Together, Australia

Redistributing fashion excess to communities in need

In Australia one in eight adults and one in six children do not have adequate access to essential clothing. Thread Together believes that circumstances and disadvantage should not prevent people from accessing clothing to allow them to realise their full potential.

Thread Together works with 1,000 brands and retailers nationally, providing new clothing to those experiencing homelessness, escaping domestic violence, or surviving natural disasters.

New clothing is also provided to the long-term unemployed, seeking equal standing when going to an interview, those coming out of long-term health care, and many who are rebuilding their lives after being devastated by the droughts, the recent bushfires and now the pandemic.

The Goodman Foundation is an early partner providing support since 2016. With our support, Thread Together expanded its operations into flood-affected communities and launched its Wardrobe and Capsule service - a initiative to install over 100 wardrobes into women’s refuges across the country. The service will allow women and children escaping domestic violence to get new clothing and sleepwear when they access crisis accommodation. 

Good360, Australia

Repurposing surplus brand new goods to those in need

Good360 connects surplus goods from businesses with charities, schools and Australians who need them most. Good360 allows charities to get the right goods to the right people, at the right time. In addition to helping charities all year round, Good360 works to help communities impacted by disaster – at the outset and long into the recovery phase. 

As a founding partner of Good360 in Australia, Goodman has provided Good360 with both an office for their team to grow and an extensive warehouse space to support their operations. We also helped them establish their disaster recovery operations in response the 2020 droughts, fires and pandemic.

Goodman Foundation continue to provide cash grants for Good360’s annual operational costs and remains a close partner.