As CEO of St John’s Youth Services, Nicole Chaplin knows well the challenges facing young people, particularly when it comes to finding work.

“We’ve always known this is a real gap for our young people. In many instances of employment, you’re required to have a driver’s licence.

“If you want to get into construction or hospitality, if you finish at 3 o’clock in the morning, the buses don’t run.

“For people who have experienced homelessness and either don’t have strong connections with their families, or their families don’t have a car or a licence, it just compounds and gets really difficult.”

This month, St John’s launches its pilot driver training program in partnership with Credit Union SA. The program will see at-risk young people undertake formal driving lessons through the RAA and then build up their required 75 hours with volunteer driving supervisors from the credit union.

The driver training program is also funded by Credit Union SA, who approached St John’s about corporate sponsorship over a decade ago.

“We were looking for a charity partner that cared deeply about our local community,” says Debbie Meich, Credit Union SA’s sponsorship specialist.

“We wanted to work with a South Australian organisation that was making an impact in their work with youth, and the ability to forge a partnership that went beyond giving money.”

Currently, the criteria for eligibility for driver training is that the young people have been connected to St John’s Foyer Port Adelaide crisis accommodation or their post-accommodation support program, Next Step.

Around 40 youth use this crisis accommodation each year. St John’s also have another site, Youth110 in Adelaide’s CBD.

“In a perfect world they don’t end up in a homelessness service. But if they do, our service in the city is the only one of its kind in the work around crisis accommodation for young people.

“It’s apartment-based living, rather than the old shelter-style. Every young person or couple comes and lives in an apartment for up to three months.

“From that crisis accommodation, they move out into more stable accommodation – and we work our butts off to make that work.”

This work that Chaplin mentions includes outreach and support, preparing young people for “the real world”.

“Part of what St John’s is really passionate about is working, coaching, mentoring young people, so that they don’t live within that welfare system.”

Consequently, the driver training program is no free ride and young people will contribute $10 per lesson toward running costs.

While there have been similar programs in Adelaide, Chaplin says many of these have been disbanded or are focused on youth in the northern suburbs.

The partnership between Credit Union SA and St John’s Youth Services is now in its twelfth year and Chaplin says the credit union’s non-financial contribution has been invaluable in other areas of the charity’s operations, including staff training and corporate governance.

Chaplin says their partnership has also made the logistics of running the pilot driver training program significantly easier.

“It’s about how do we, as a small organisation, fund the vehicles, the insurance, the registration, the driving time and supervise the volunteers.

“So, Credit Union SA have come in and they’re just making all that happen.

“We just have to support the young people to make sure they’re standing there at the kerbside when the car pulls up.”

St John’s crisis accommodation is fully funded by the South Australian Government. All other programs and work is made possible by philanthropy, corporate sponsorship and income from corporate hire of their gallery and event spaces at say.kitchen.