A new partnership in Western Australia between Social Ventures Australia (SVA) and Dismantle will see $150,000 invested into engaging and mentoring at-risk youth back into employment and education pathways through BikeRescue – an innovative bike mechanic and therapeutic support program.
Dismantle will be the second Western Australian venture in Social Ventures Australia’s Venture Philanthropy portfolio. SVA’s Venture Philanthropy services enable a community of engaged philanthropists to support high impact social ventures that improve the lives of people in need in Australia.
SVA’s partnership with Dismantle will focus on scaling the BikeRescue program into regional communities where issues such as youth suicide, anti-social behaviour and disengagement from education and employment are more prevalent than in metro areas:
- Young people in regional and rural areas are 1.5-1.8x more likely to be at risk of suicide
- 67 per cent of students in regional areas complete Year 12 compared to 77 per cent average for WA
SVA will be supporting Dismantle over a three-year partnership, providing funding, capacity building support and connections to pro bono partners to enable Dismantle to develop BikeRescue into a social franchise using a ‘train-the-trainer’ delivery model – supporting Dismantle to more effectively scale across regional WA.
Dismantle supports disengaged young people (aged 12-17) through a 10-week bike outreach program (BikeRescue) that engages, mentors and inspires them back into employment and education pathways.
BikeRescue focusses on improving the social and emotional well-being of young people, while also building transferrable skills. It is run exclusively in partnership with youth service organisations, ensuring appropriate wrap-around support is available before, during and after the program.
Dismantle operates as a social enterprise, using proceeds from BikeDr, a mobile bike repair business to support BikeRescue, while also creating work experience and employment opportunities for BikeRescue graduates.
SVA CEO Rob Koczkar said, “Dismantle is already having a profound impact in the Perth metro communities where programs have been in place for six years and we look forward to leveraging this impact and scaling their operations into regional and rural WA through an innovative expansion strategy.”
‘The success of Dismantle’s BikeRescue program to date has been largely due to their partnership approach and focus on supporting the young people to develop core skills including relationship building, problem solving and self-discovery,” he said.
Dismantle CEO Pat Ryan said, “The partnership with SVA is providing us with the financial and professional support that will enable our youth programs to scale across WA and we look forward to creating social impact far greater than we could without SVA’s business and strategic investment.”
Marking SVA’s second investment in WA, the Venture Philanthropy partnership with Dismantle was announced at an event in Perth, hosted by King & Wood Mallesons, on 5 April, where SVA’s funders and supporters from across the WA business, government and philanthropic community heard from:
- Shiri Leventhal | Associate Director, WA Venture Philanthropy, SVA
- Brooke Small | Studio Manager, Marnin Studio
- Pat Ryan | CEO, Dismantle
- Simon Axworthy | Azure Foundation
- Rob Koczkar | CEO, SVA
- Shaun McRobert | Partner / Pro bono Chair, KWM
SVA has worked with 40 social ventures like Beacon Foundation, Ganbina, STREAT and AIME, and distributed more than $20 million to support their work, build capacity and develop high impact models. The focus areas include access to great education, pathways to fulfilling jobs, social and affordable housing, and working with First Australians. In WA, Marnin Studio was the first venture to join the portfolio.