Media Kit - Top Blokes Foundation

WHO WE ARE
The Top Blokes Foundation is Australia’s leading boys health organisation that works specifically with young
men aged 14-24 to improve their mental health and well-being. The Top Blokes Foundation is a youth-led
organisation that uses mentoring, leadership and resilience programs to challenge young men to make better
life decisions, break negative male stereotypes and to grow into future top blokes.
OUR VISION
OUR MISSION
To see young men who are happy, healthy
and safe within their communities.
To foster inclusion, build resilience and ensure
the well-being of Australian young men.
OUR HISTORY
The year was 2006. Peak news hour hit and the headline screamed ‘alcohol fuelled violence – a generation of
disengaged and angry youth’.
One of the thousands of viewers of this news story was 19-year-old Melissa Abu-Gazaleh, a determined and
daring young woman from Wollongong, NSW who after seeing that headline decided that Australia’s
relationship with its young men needed to change.
So in 2008 she established the Top Blokes Foundation, Australia’s first youth-led organisation that challenges
young men’s stereotypes within the media and empower young men to reduce their own anti-social and risky
behaviours.
Today, the Top Blokes Foundation is a different style of social educator, engaging over 1,000 young men aged
14-24 each year through mentoring programs designed and delivered to young men. The Top Blokes
Foundation’s message is clear: young men thrive when you arm them to win the battle against negative
influences.
The future is bright. The Top Blokes Foundation movement is growing fast. Their programs are reaching more
young men while leading a national conversation on how young men are the solution to reducing Australia’s
trends in risk-taking and anti-social behaviours.
WHY YOUNG MEN?
82.6%
Articles about
young men
are negative
15.7
The average age
when a young man will
start to drink alcohol
3.5%
The increased risk of death
from accidents for young men
as compared to young women
25%
Teenagers have been
victim of an unwanted
sexual encounter
90
11
Lives taken by
one punch assaults
between 2000-2013
The average age
when a young man
will watch porn
75%
Of all poor mental
health emerges
before the age of 25
3:1
The ratio of suicides of
young men as compared
to young women
TESTIMONIALS
“The program got me to communicate better with more people and just feel better about my life.”
Participant 2014
ii
“Today I presented seminars to our boys in Year 9. All the boys who you had worked with were well
behaved, respectful and engaged. It was evident that they appeared to have grown in their time with you.
Top Blokes Foundation Annual Report 2014
I witnessed first hand how cooperative they can be, even those who do not count me in their top 100
Andrew Horsley, Dapto High School
teachers of all time.”
“We learn about stuff that we will actually use and do cool activities to learn it instead of it being
like class. We are heaps more honest in Top Blokes than we would be with a teacher.”
Participant 2013
PRESS
Over the past two years, the Top Blokes Foundation has received media coverage across many mediums.
Here are some highlights:
The Channel 10 program The Project featured Top Blokes Foundation’s Senior Youth
Educator, Brenton White discussing issues of masculinity and social influence on young men.
This show airs to more than 400,000 regular viewers.
Founder and CEO of the Top Blokes Foundation, Melissa Abu-Gazaleh, was featured
on Nightlife with Tony Delroy discussing regional youth unemployment. This show is
number 1 in its timeslot in VIC, WA and SA and number 2 in NSW.
The following platforms are regular supporters of the Top Blokes Foundation:
MEDIA ENQUIRES
Please contact the Top Blokes Foundation Media Liaison.
Lauren Gale - 0423-353-760 - lauren@topblokes.org.au