Both of your organisations exist to create deeper connections – with community, with purpose and with those facing disadvantage. What does ‘connection’ mean to you on a personal level?

Steph: Connection means belonging. It means belonging to a community, something bigger than yourself that brings meaning to you and those around you.

Alan: For me, connection is the idea of meeting people where they are and understanding their hopes and their needs, and then helping provide a pathway to get there. It’s about opening doors. In this sector, we talk about the idea of a ‘hand up’ rather than a ‘hand out’ and I really like that. 

Was there a pivotal moment or experience that shaped your path into this kind of work?

Alan: I was studying to be a lawyer and I saw an organisation within my university that was teaching students about philanthropy. I wasn’t fond of their approach – it was transactional, rather than something built on connection. My mentor at the time told me that if I didn’t like it I should step up and do something about it – and so I did. I still remember the first funds I raised and how these helped provide laptop and bookshop vouchers to students who needed a hand up. A student returned $400 of their $500 laptop bursary – all they needed was $100 for a new laptop charger so they could study from home and not have to walk home from the library at 1am each night. It made me realise that no one gets through life alone and a hand up means something different for everyone. When you start to understand people and their needs, you can make a difference in such a small way. It literally changed my life – I didn’t become a lawyer and have worked my entire career in the non-profit sector.

What have you learned about what it really takes to build meaningful, long-term connections with people who are often overlooked?

Steph: Ultimately, it comes down to treating people the way you want to be treated. Everything we do at HoMie, we operate from a place of centering the young people we exist to support. This allows us to effortlessly create a community that young people want to be a part of because it’s not fake, it’s not manufactured and it’s grounded in our values.

Alan: It’s about taking the time to listen, ask questions and be curious. In the non-profit sector, it’s not about how much money you spend on marketing or digital – what gets your organisation or the causes you work for ahead is understanding and building rapport, working out where someone’s ambitions are and then finding the path forward. Building trust is actually listening rather than jumping the gun.

What role does connection play in preventing homelessness – especially among young people?

Steph: We know the leading cause of homelessness in Australia is family and domestic violence so we know that young people are fleeing unsafe home environments, which is a really isolating and lonely experience. So connection – being seen for who you are and being treated with dignity and respect, which are core tenets of HoMie’s work, has a huge role to play in taking steps forward on the pathway out of homelessness.

Alan: Our work is all about connecting people back to stability and safety, and helping them build a pathway forward. We know that isolation and loneliness are things that impact young people in a range of inter-sectional ways – including having a safe home. By supporting and enabling organisations working with vulnerable populations – older people, women, First Nations communities, LGBTQIA+ individuals – through microgrants and material aid, we aim to help people feel grounded, safe and connected to a supportive community.

Steph, HoMie connects fashion, retail and purpose in a truly innovative way. How do you use that space – both the physical store and the brand – to create a sense of belonging?

Steph: We believe that fashion can be a vehicle for change – a huge amount of how we identify and present ourselves derives from clothing. One of the programs we run is our VIP Day where we shut down our store roughly once a month and invite young people affected by homelessness to come in and shop for free. We bring in barbers, nail technicians and it’s fully catered. It’s a dignified shopping experience and it gives young people the autonomy to choose what feels good for them. That philosophy extends to the broader space at HoMie – not just fashion as a force for good, but community as a force for good. People who come to our space in Fitzroy often say how warm and welcoming it is. We invite people to show up and express themselves as uniquely as they are.

As CEOs, how easy is it to stay connected to the people and communities you serve, especially as your organisations grow?

Steph: Truthfully, it’s not difficult at all. Because we’re a work-integrated social enterprise, we employ the cohort of young people we exist to support within our business. We have young people working in our Fitzroy store every day, and young people also come into our Head Office once a week to complete their Cert III in Business, so we always have young people in our space, we know everybody by name and there’s a great rapport.

Alan: To be a CEO of a non-profit, you have to have a connection between your head and your heart and balance the two wisely and finely. CEOs often think about the big ticket items – operations, strategy, finance. These are important and shouldn’t be forgotten, but for me, the best way to stay connected is to make sure that the thing that often sits at the bottom of the report – the outcome, the impact, the case studies, the storytelling, the heart – actually sits at the top. It should be the first thing we report on because then we’re not losing sight of our purpose and mission. So when we get money from philanthropy, corporates and the general public – we are spending that money in the absolute best possible way to get impact and outcomes. It’s also important for me to get out to our community partners, meet the organisations we work with, roll my sleeves up and get involved. I try to stay curious, answer questions and add value where I can.

Leadership in this space requires both resilience and empathy. How do you stay connected to your values when the work is challenging?

Steph: We’re not a typical non-profit so we do need to run a commercial operation while leading with empathy and understanding. The way I strike that balance as CEO is ultimately thinking about what is going to be the best outcome for our mission. At times, that means leaning into empathy and being really human-centred in my leadership, and at other times it involves leaning into a more commercial mindset and making good business decisions that allow us to deliver on our mission in a more meaningful way.

How can organisations like those based at 101 Collins deepen the way they give back? What can people do?

Steph: As individuals we often think about what we can do to fill our cup, but a great start can be asking yourself what you can do to fill someone else’s cup. When you’re factoring in others into your everyday thinking, it organically builds that sense of community without you having to artificially engineer it.

Alan: We need to build awareness of what homelessness actually looks like in Australia. Most homelessness is hidden. Only 6–8 percent are sleeping rough at any one time, so that’s a small portion despite what people perceive homelessness to be. It’s people sleeping between homes,

couch surfing, sleeping in their cars, in shelters, people who have lost their homes due to circumstances beyond their control, particularly older women – so it’s being open minded to what the concept of homelessness looks like. It’s also about always approaching homelessness with dignity and respect. There’s a beautiful opportunity to think more broadly about what homelessness is – so for those in more fortunate positions, I’d say just changing the way you think about homelessness will help change perceptions and behaviour.

I’d also say that StreetSmart exists not to be a frontline service, because there are skilled professionals who are doing that work well. Our work is to enable over 1,000 grassroots and community organisations, many run by volunteers, to help the thousands of people facing homelessness across Australia every day. So if you want to connect with grassroots organisations and be a part of change at a very localised, place-based level, StreetSmart can help make that happen. We’ve done the due diligence, we know what their needs are, we listen to their lived experience, so we know where the money or material aid needs to go. For corporate Australia, which can often be detached from the grassroots, that’s really exciting. What a great way for us all to work together.

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HoMie - homie.com.au

StreetSmart - streetsmartaustralia.org