LikeWISE, a new six-year pilot delivered by STREAT and supported by the Paul Ramsay Foundation, officially launched at the Purpose Precinct at Melbourne’s Queen Victoria Market.
LikeWISE brings Work Integration Social Enterprises (WISEs) together in a shared ecosystem designed to strengthen enterprise capability, grow trading revenue, create collaborative employment pathways and explore what can be achieved when organisations work together rather than in isolation.
A new approach to strengthening WISEs
WISEs play an important role in creating employment pathways for people who face barriers to entering or sustaining work. Across Australia, these barriers can include homelessness, disability, limited access to education and training, substance addiction and other complex circumstances.
But creating social impact through a sustainable business is challenging. WISEs must balance their social purpose with the commercial realities of running an enterprise, generating revenue and building strong operational foundations.
LikeWISE asks whether investing in those foundations can create a ripple effect: stronger enterprises, more sustainable trading, stronger collaboration and, ultimately, better employment outcomes.
Over six years, the pilot will support up to nine WISE organisations through enterprise development, peer learning, shared infrastructure, collaborative trading opportunities and a matched-trading model designed to help participating organisations grow their commercial revenue.
Starting with three organisations
The inaugural LikeWISE cohort brings together three organisations working with different communities and approaches:
- Purpose Precinct, co-founded by STREAT, creating employment pathways for young people facing barriers to work.
- Killara Foundation, supporting First Nations economic participation through enterprise and innovation.
- WomenCAN Australia, supporting women to build financial independence through education and employment.
While their work is different, the organisations share a common goal: creating meaningful pathways to economic participation and employment.
Bringing them together creates an opportunity to share knowledge, infrastructure, networks and commercial opportunities — and to learn from one another along the way.
