8 NEWSBOYS FOUNDATION ANNUAL REPORT 2017 STREAT Newsboys grant helps homeless young people and showcases Newsboys stories In April 2017 Newsboys made a special 125th Anniversary Grant to STREAT. The multi-year grant continues through Newsboys 125th year next year and ends in 2019. The special grant will help STREAT, which is a social enterprise that supports young people who are homeless, run the Bowen Street Café at RMIT in the CBD. STREAT supports and trains young people in the skills necessary to thrive in the hospitality industry. STREAT was established in 2009. Its first café site was opened in Federation Square in March 2010. Newsboys began supporting STREAT in 2011 with a grant to provide a social support worker. More than 80 percent of STREAT participants graduate from the 17-week life-skills, work experience and hospitality training and successfully move onto their first job or further education. Since its inception, STREAT has gone from strength to strength. STREAT has: • Trained 900 young people • Provided 60,000 hours of support and training to young people • Served 2 million customers • Established seven social enterprise initiatives. Newsboys CEO Sandy Shaw said the Bowen Street Cafe will have special significance for the Foundation. “The site has a long, rich history and was one of the many city areas in which Melbourne newsboys sold papers on the streets. “Given the role of newsboys in the area, the Bowen Street Café will have a newsboys theme. Historical newsboys stories will be told through the café – providing an ideal opportunity to bring the newsboys story alive in a public space that provides training and employment opportunities for homeless young people.” As well as the grant, the cafe will feature photos and stories provided by Newsboys Foundation. It will be officially opened in February 2018. Sandy Shaw said: “Like the Newsboys Club in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, STREAT is having a profound impact on the lives of hundreds of young people. STREAT also educates the broader public around the complex issues that homeless young people face. “This is an exciting opportunity to further support STREAT and young people while sharing the 125 year old Melbourne newsboys story.”