On-Country Pathways is committed to closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous employment rates in Australia. The Indigenous owned and operated not-for-profit provides work experience, traineeships, job placement support, cadetships and a driver-mentor program for First Nations people aged 15-24 years. Here at GH Commercial we are proud to donate to On-Country Pathways to support their career and employment programs.

We recently had the opportunity to speak to Jebb Hutchison the General Manager of On-Country Pathways and find out about the fantastic work his organisation does to support First Nation youth in gaining stable employment within the community.

Jebb Hutchison is a proud Wiradjuri man who started his own commercial construction company - TVN On-Country – in 2017, with fellow founders Jonathon Whelan and Gareth VanNoort. 

“We took on several young First Nations trainees in the Albury Wodonga area and started to show them the ropes, exposing them to all aspects of the business. There are more than 70 roles in the construction industry, it’s not just trades, there are management and project co-ordination jobs as well. We enrolled them in a Cert III Business Administration course at the local TAFE and ensured our senior staff were on hand as mentors.” - Jebb Hutchison, General Manager of On-Country Pathways

Jebb explained how his original initiative through TVN On-Country to support and provide opportunity to First Nations youth within the construction industry grew to become a non-profit organisation that could more broadly support young Indigenous people.

“It soon became apparent that TVN On-Country was limited in the number of employment opportunities we could provide to local Indigenous youth and so the need for a separate entity – a not-for-profit, was identified and On-Country Pathways was born. We officially launched in June 2022.” - Jebb Hutchison, General Manager of On-Country Pathways

Creating Generational Change

On-Country Pathways strives to deliver employment and career pathways programs for First Nation youth across a broad range of industries and sectors expanding beyond the construction industry focus of TVN On-Country. Working with businesses and organisations within local communities, On-Country Pathways assist participants in securing placements to improve employment opportunity beyond career pathways programs. 

Jebb identifies the overall vision of On-Country Pathways being “To create generational change by supporting youth of today to become job ready and find a career.  This will have significant positive impact on the individual, their families and communities – known as the ripple effect. Our focus is on influencing the youth demographic (15-24 years).”

Working to deliver five employment related programs, On-Country Pathways strives to support First Nation youths in becoming ‘job ready’ and finding a career pathway that is suited to their interests and skill set. These employment and career programs include:

  • Driver- Mentoring 
  • Work Experience 
  • Traineeship 
  • Cadetship 
  • Job Placement Support

Jebb touches on the organisation’s vital offering of mentoring and cultural safety. “This underpins all our programs and is what makes us different.”

On-Country Pathways

A National Approach

Speaking to Jebb about how far On-Country Pathways has already come after only 12 months of operation he reflected on some of their proudest achievement to date being “24 Work Experience Programs, three Traineeship Program placements, two Job Placement Support Program placements and over 300 Driver-Mentor Program hours.” Looking ahead to the next 12 months and beyond Jebb touches on expanding their current programs across more communities throughout Australia, to continue to grow towards a national approach with local consultants in each community to ensure support is provided effectively in each local area.

“Our current programs work; we know this because we have seen them in action over the last 12 months. I see On-Country Pathways expanding by replicating what we do now, but over a wider geographical area while at the same time engaging with new communities.” - Jebb Hutchison, General Manager of On-Country Pathways

Jebb lastly spoke about the multitude of ways businesses, companies, community groups and individuals can assist On-Country Pathways in delivering their valuable programs to the wider First Nations communities.

“If you are a business, consider employing First Nations people, learn about and apply cultural safety principles to your workplace, so that you can recruit and retain great people – we can help with this. If you are a large corporate, consider sponsoring or donating to our not-for-profit – our programs have a social impact that will make real generational change, but this is a marathon not a sprint.” - Jebb Hutchison, General Manager of On-Country Pathways

Better For People

Our Support

Here at GH Commercial, we are proud to support On-Country Pathways’ programs through donation which we hope will assist in creating more employment and career opportunities for future First Nation generations.

On-Country Pathways
Authored date: 13/07/2023

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