The Street University is a youth development project created by the Ted Noffs Foundation which provides various community based services and interactive spaces for people aged 12 – 25. Our aim is to help them realise their dreams, harness their potential and to create positive outcomes for their lives and their community.
The Street University’s trained directors, mentors and facilitators use a multifaceted range of youth work, counselling and community development techniques in order to combine progressive approaches to social work with grassroots community participation. We experiment with the artistic and social potential made possible by a uniquely Australian multi-ethnic, inter-faith, socially diverse culture.
Operating in this multicultural environment, the Street University opens up dynamic and democratic spaces for marginalised and displaced cultures. Programs specialise in channelling young people away from personally destructive and anti-social behaviours to improved self-esteem, inter-communal co-operation and social engagement. Our services involve parents, schools, local councils and businesses, the state government and community and religious groups and leaders.
The Street University uses the commonality of cultural settings that are familiar and attractive to young people to guide, support and transform their interests into vocational and educational success.