Evaluation of the Brimbank Young Men's Project: final report, June 2011

The Brimbank Young Men's Project (BYMP) has been a two year pilot initiative of the Centre for Multicultural Youth (CMY), funded by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC). The project has targeted young men of African backgrounds who are: disengaged (or at high risk of being disengaged) from education, training and employment; have had contact with the police; and are experiencing other difficulties with settlement. The BYMP comprised activities designed to address the young men's social isolation and to assist them in building peer and community connections. In 2009 the CMY invited the Youth Research Centre at the University of Melbourne to undertake a formal evaluation of the program. An interim report (August 2010) examined delivery of the program in its first year and initial outcomes, drawing primarily on interviews with program staff and key stakeholders. This final report incorporates data subsequently generated by a survey of program participants and is informed by further input from staff and key stakeholders. Feedback from program staff and stakeholders indicates that CMY and its staff have successfully met the central aim of the project, i.e. in identifying and trialling a service response for newly arrived young men from African backgrounds, with a view to enhancing their capacity of engagement in education, training and employment and to helping them rebuild their lives through supportive family, peer and community relations. In view of that success, the authors make a number of initial recommendations geared towards program sustainability.

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