Roslynn Black is the Social Impact and Engagement Manager at Hand Heart Pocket, the charity and philanthropic foundation of Freemasons Queensland. The organisation partners with community organisations like YFS to deliver practical, community-led solutions that create meaningful opportunities for young people and their families across Queensland and Papua New Guinea.
“One of our key responsibilities is to partner for change for people in need,” Ms Black said.
YFS’ wide range of support services has allowed it to continue as a long-standing partner of Hand Heart Pocket.
“We’ve got an audacious goal to support and equip 10,000 young people with the tools they need to thrive in adult life by 2030 and YFS is definitely helping us on that journey.”
Hand Heart Pocket’s main initiative with YFS, the Thriving Young Families Demonstration Project, supported 73 families between July and December 2024. The project helps young parents to build on their strengths, access safe housing, stay healthy, and develop key life skills—laying strong foundations for their children and themselves.
“We found YFS was exceptional at meeting our preferred partnership model. The team could pull out different elements of the program and then identify and design what the endgame strategy would be for each element. It was just fantastic,” Ms Black said.
“YFS has a level of sophistication that is incredibly unique. It’s a really good partnership for us because we’re learning from them as well,” she said.
Evaluation is central to Hand Heart Pocket’s outcomes-focused approach.
“We’re very fortunate YFS has a dedicated evaluation team that produces fantastic reports. Honestly, it makes my job so much easier because they give us such good quality documentation,” Ms Black said.
Ms Black also appreciates YFS’ willingness to share its results with other organisations.
“The other thing that YFS does exceptionally well in evaluation is publishing learning papers. They’re open source, they’re shared, and it’s fantastic that YFS are at the forefront of learning from what they’re doing and evaluating it,” she said.
“I’ve worked really hard to develop a relationship with my grantees that’s open and transparent. With YFS, I know I can ask Katie [YFS’ Evaluation Manager] about the efficacy of any of their projects and she will give me an honest, evidence-based answer. That relationship is so important for us because how can you change things that you don’t know about?”
Ms Black said a recent highlight of the partnership was a visit to a YFS family fun day.
“We did a site visit when YFS was hosting a family fun day, and we invited our Board and some of our team members to come along,” she said.
“We don’t often have the opportunity to interact directly with participants, but it was such a beautiful experience for everyone involved.”
“I recall listening to some of the young mums talk about how participating in the programs has changed their lives. It was really warming to know that we’ve helped contribute to that.”
Ms Black says these experiences are what fuel her commitment to this work.
“I’d love to be a social worker, but I don’t think I could cope with it. Being able to contribute with Hand Heart Pocket makes me feel like I’m still helping, even though it’s not directly,” she said.
“That’s why I get up in the morning and come to work each day, because I know that I’m contributing in some way to helping young people who are really struggling.”
