“We need to affect change. With your help, we can.”
Naarm not-for-profit label HoMie was created with a mission to support young people affected by homelessness or hardship. Last year, the brand launched its first-ever collection of Hoodies4Homelessness – a range of ultra-soft embroidered hoodies designed to raise awareness of Youth Homelessness Matters Day. With the annual event coming up again on April 19, HoMie has launched its second edition of Hoodies4Homelessness; designed to help break the cycle of youth homelessness in Australia.
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You can get involved and support the HoMie cause by purchasing a hoodie (and encouraging your friends, family and coworkers to do the same) to wear on April 19. The genderless designs are available in colours like hot pink, lilac purple, forest green and plain black, ideal for sporting through Naarm’s notoriously blustering winter. Below, HoMie founder Marcus Crook speaks on the upcoming campaign, and why Hoodies4Homelessness is such an important cause.
Tell us about Hoodies4Homelessness. How did it get started, and what is the aim of the campaign?
We launched Hoodies4Homelessness for the first time last year as a way to raise awareness of Youth Homelessness Matters Day (which falls on Wednesday, April 3 each year). The aim is to bring more attention to the alarming issue that one in four of the homeless population is aged between 12 and 24 – and to raise money for our social impact programs.
Our programs are focused on prevention and early intervention, providing paid retail education and employment for young people affected by homelessness or hardship. We do this by paying young people in our programs to undertake a Cert III in Business, alongside additional paid personal and professional development, while also delivering six months of guaranteed retail employment. The campaign mechanism, where people supporting our campaign can receive a hoodie in the process, is a win-win!
Tell us a little about the charities this campaign supports. How do they work to support young people affected by homelessness?
100 per cent of our profits (from all sales, including the hoodies purchased during Hoodies4Homelessness) go towards achieving our mission: to support young people affected by homelessness or hardship by equipping them with the skills, confidence and experiences to be more work-ready and better prepared for their future. We do so by running two social impact programs:
- The HoMie Pathway Alliance, HoMie’s own accredited paid retail training and internship for young people (aged 18 to 25) affected by homelessness or hardship.
- HoMie’s VIP Program, where young people are welcomed into our store to shop for brand new HoMie garments, haircuts, beauty services, personal care packs and lunch with our team.
If you are wearing your own hoodie on April 19 and making a donation, it is split between HoMie and Launch Housing – an independent Melbourne-based organisation with a mission to end homelessness. Through providing high-quality housing and innovative support services, education, and employment opportunities, they help thousands of people at risk of or experiencing homelessness.
How can people get involved?
On Wednesday, April 19, there are two ways you can get behind the cause. [Firstly,] get all of your friends and colleagues to buy a HoMie hoodie and wear it to work, school or wherever you may be on April 19. Or make a donation and wear your own hoodie on Youth Homelessness Matters Day!
However you decide to support it, make sure you take a photo, upload it to socials and use [the hashtag] #hoodies4homelessness. Youth homelessness is a crisis situation – we need to get the word out there, and we need to affect change. With your help, we can.
Shop the Hoodies4Homelessness collection here.
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