Giving back with Position Partners

Position Partners became a keen supporter of The Smith Family in 2020.

Position Partners is making an impact on some of Australia’s disadvantaged youth through its support of The Smith Family charity. Marketing and Communications Executive Manager Gina Velde explains.

Honesty, integrity and respect are just three of the core values shared by Position Partners and The Smith Family.

Primarily a provider of positioning solutions for surveying, civil works, mining and building activities, Position Partners is also driven to make a lasting impact on its local community.

Which is why in 2020 the company committed its support to The Smith Family, Australia’s largest education charity, which has helped young people in need for more than 100 years.

Gina Velde, Position Partners Marketing and Communications Executive Manager, says the commitment was made without hesitancy, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“A lot of businesses were reining in expenses and were not in a position to make financial commitments. But we thought, ‘well this is actually the time when people probably need that support more than ever’,” Velde says.

“We made an executive decision to make sure that we could have a real impact. The Smith Family is a national organisation, that has great governance and management, so it really was an easy decision to support it. It also supports families located near our own branches, so we knew that we’d be supporting our local community as well.”

Position Partners has sponsored 299 students through several initiatives, including its Christmas Toy and Book Appeal.

According to The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS), one in six Australian children and young people live in poverty. The Smith Family aims to create opportunities to ensure young, disadvantaged Australians have access to long-term support, to enable them to participate in education.

Alan LeMay, The Smith Family Queensland General Manager, says every child deserves the opportunity to access essential educational tools.

“We believe education is one of the most powerful agents of change,” LeMay says. “Our vision is to create a world where every child has the opportunity to change their future. The Smith Family currently supports more than 58,000 students with our flagship ‘Learning for Life’ program, which helps to break the cycle of disadvantage through targeted, long-term educational support.”

Position Partners Programs

Throughout the past two years, Position Partners has increased its support of The Smith Family by participating in five programs, each aimed at opening doors for students to transition from school, tertiary education or training into the workforce.

“Corporate partners are so important to The Smith Family as their generous backing allows us to support students through our ‘Learning for Life’ program,” LeMay says. “This support also helps us to provide learning and mentoring programs to thousands of children across Australia.

“Many of our corporate partners also engage with our students directly, taking part in programs such as ‘Cadetship to Career’, which sees our tertiary students placed on a paid internship with a company, or programs such as ‘Work Inspiration’, which gives high school students the opportunity to visit workplaces and speak to staff about their employment pathways. These are meaningful touchpoints and our students, as well as corporate partners, always get a lot out of them.”

Three tertiary students had the opportunity to gain industry experience through Position Partners, as part of the Cadetship to Career program.

Position Partners sponsored 68 children through the ‘Learning for Life’ program and three tertiary students as part of the ‘Cadetship to Career’ program. Two of the three students have since secured paid roles within the business.

Velde says the experience of supporting The Smith Family has been gratifying.

“All of our employees have the opportunity to volunteer and give some of their time. Some of our employees have told us that it’s the most rewarding thing they’ve done in their careers. By engaging with these young people and having those connections, it’s been beneficial for both the students and our people too,” she says.

“We have an employee within the business whose mother or grandmother was supported by the Smith family. So, we can see first-hand how the program is breaking that cycle of disadvantage for generations to come.”

Velde says Position Partners has also received mail from sponsored students, detailing the impact the support has had on their own educational journey.

“Every year we write them Christmas cards, and on their birthdays we give them a gift card. We’ve received lots of really nice cards back which detail what our support means to them,” she says.

LeMay says that Position Partners’ contributions have been significant.

“Employees have generously given their time, volunteering as part of our ‘Work Inspiration’ program, and hosting several events,” LeMay says.

“Altogether, Position Partners has had a direct impact on the lives of 299 students through student sponsorship, ‘Work Inspiration’, our ‘Christmas Toy and Book Appeal’, ‘The Dream Run’ and ‘Cadetship to Career’.”

Position Partners is now looking to contribute to an upcoming program focused on online mentoring and hopes to expand some of the existing programs.

“We’ve established a great working relationship with our contacts at The Smith Family,” Velde says. “It can take some time to embed these programs, but I feel as though the partnership has gained quite a lot of momentum which will continue well into the future.”

This article was originally published in the October edition of our magazine. To read the magazine, click here.

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