Invest in Me Fund
Home Stretch WA offers young people the ‘right’ to a visible and secure financial safety net. Invest in Me Funding is used to support young people towards their aspirations, to help them in times of crisis, and to grow their skills, knowledge and connections to community and culture. Invest In Me funding is not just about paying for things; every time it is used it is an opportunity to grow a young person's agency and self reliance.
Invest in Me funding is offered through the coaching relationship and administered by Home Stretch WA service providers. Home Stretch providers are provided a pooled funding amount to enable a young person to access more or less dependent on their individual needs. By following the Invest In Me Practice guidelines, a broad range of support needs can be met whilst also growing young people's financial self-reliance.
Young people are supported to access mainstream resources and public services, and where there are gaps the Invest In Me Funding should be used as part of a plan. There is always an expectation that young people contribute (chip-in) to costs, but this isn't always financial.
Invest In Me effectively replaces young people's need to access Leaving Care Funding through a district office, but for some high value costs a transition coach will work collaboratively with the district office to agree on how these costs might be covered.
Invest In Me Flow Chart
Practice Tools & Resources
All the tools and resources to provide a young person with Invest in Me Funds to support their needs are in the table below.
You can filter by the Stage the resource is used by the Transition Coach in providing a young person with access to Invest In Me Funds or by the Document Type, to easily find the one you want and click on the document's title to open the document.
* Don't forget there are more Invest In Me Funds Resources on the Training page
# | Document Title & Link | Stage | Purpose of Document | Document Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Invest In Me - Flow Chart | Awareness | Invest in Me Flow Chart and Application & approval process | Practice Guide (PG) |
2 | Invest In Me - Fact Sheet - Young People | Awareness | Information to provide to a young person explaining all about the Invest In Me funding | Fact Sheet (FS) |
3 | Invest in Me - Practice Guide | Awareness | Practice Guide for Invest in Me Funding | Practice Guide (PG) |
4 | Invest In Me - DoC Guidelines for Providers | Awareness | Department of Communities Invest In Me Guidelines for Providers | DoC Policy/Guideline (DCP) |
5 | Invest In Me - Data Definitions for Funding | Funding request | Funding Definitions for Invest in Me funding Safety net spending categories and data recording | Practice Guide (PG) |
6 | Invest in Me - Decision Matrix - Practice Guide
| Funding Request | Practice Guide for Invest in Me Funding | Practice Guide (PG) |
7 | Invest In Me - Decision Matrix - Young Person | Funding Request | Practice Tool to explain Invest in Me | Practice Tool (PT) |
8 | Invest In Me - Centrelink & Home Stretch WA Payments - Reference Guide | Awareness | Handy reference guide for available Home Stretch WA and Centrelink payments that can support young people financially | Practice Guide (PG) |
9 | Invest In Me - Application Form - Over 100 | Application | Core Form for Transition Coach to complete with Young Person to apply for Invest In Me funding over $100 to submit to Coordinator | Form (FOR) |
10 | Invest In Me - Bulk Application Form | Application | This form is for multiple amounts over $100 which require coordinator approval. | Form (FOR) |
11 | Invest In Me - Leaving Care Fund Form | Funding request | This form is for recording the financial support costs that have been agreed in a Leaving Care Plan that exceed the funds available through the Invest In Me funding or identified as required from the Leaving Care Fund during receiving support through Home Stretch WA | Form (FOR) |