Pimpama State Secondary College have partnered with Seven Positive to establish Fix-ed - a school operated social enterprise, due for launch in 2017. Fix-ed will build on the success of the Good Design Australia award-winning Jump Start program, with a sharper focus on repair-culture as a social, cultural and environmental response to community hardship now and in the future.
At it’s core, Fix-ed will divert waste and waste objects designated for landfill (such as mobility scooters) and in the process teach high-school age students how to repair and reuse discarded objects (via an intensive Human Centred Design & Entrepreneurship program). The repaired objects will be leased to service providers, who give them to those most disadvantaged in the community. The initiative will aim to improve the wellbeing of the community and make a positive difference in the lives of people who need it most.
Fix-ed is an innovative, scalable, school based response to developing social enterprise, design and repair skills. The project provides value to the community in 3 key ways:
- create opportunities for our young people by providing experience and training in valuable social enterprise, design and repair skills, as recommended by research,
- improve wellbeing of our communities dealing with hardship by providing access to much needed products and services,
- divert waste from landfill and create strong value from broken and discarded objects.
Fix-ed will develop a train-the-trainer model to scale out to schools and communities who would like to participate in the program – building capacity and maximising the impact locally and nationally.
In the first year, Fix-ed will run 2 programs within Pimpama State Secondary College and aim to deliver at least 5 mobility scooters to those who most need it. During the pilot projects, the enterprise will adapt and respond to student and community challenges and be refined, with an aim to scale up for the beginning of 2018.
There are two main target groups for Fix-ed.
- Our young people – the Foundation of Young Australians Unlimited Potential and New Work Order reports argue that learning enterprise skills is essential in helping young people navigate future challenges. Learning to turn problems into opportunities via a program which teaches entrepreneurship, design and repair, will arm them with strong skills for the future.
- Our local community – whether this be the ageing population (40% of Queenslanders aged 65 to 74 years and 66% of Queenslanders aged 75 years and over reported having disability), homeless or those experiencing hardship, this target demographic will receive the repaired objects, such as mobility scooters or other aids which could significantly improve their life quality, opportunities to recover and enhance their social connectedness.