9 May 2007
GAME ON! Melbourne teens tackle youth debt
A board game developed by a 23-year-old while he was living on Melbourne’s streets five years ago is set to take Victorian schools by storm.
Anthony Radford’s dream will become a reality this week as 1,000 copies of his game, ‘Another Day, Another Dollar’, are distributed to local secondary schools, with the support of Melbourne Citymission (MCM) and corporate sponsor Tate.
The game, to be launched at Hawthorn Secondary College this Thursday, is the centrepiece of a financial literacy campaign Melbourne Citymission is aiming at Year 10 and 11 students.
It uses ‘play’ money, along the lines of Monopoly, and highlights potential debt traps for young people, including credit cards.
The idea for the game came to Mr Radford while accessing Melbourne Citymission services at Frontyard, a drop-in centre in Melbourne’s CBD that acts as an umbrella for a number of services that address the physical, emotional and social needs of young people who are homeless or marginalised.
Talking to other young people in the waiting room, Mr Radford said a recurring theme was mobile phone debts and the financial impact of expensive habits, such as cigarettes, alcohol and other drugs.
Partnering with Melbourne Citymission, Mr Radford developed ‘Another Day, Another Dollar’ with a view to preventing other young people from falling into debt.
An early prototype of the game received an enthusiastic response from young people and schools, with Mr Radford and Melbourne Citymission taking calls from as far afield as Queensland.
Melbourne Citymission Chief Executive Officer, Anne Turley, said the game’s research and development had revealed that a large proportion of young people leave school ill-equipped to manage their finances.
“They turn 18 and are legally able to sign contracts, but if they don’t understand all the nuances of the contract, or haven’t been taught how to budget, they can be swamped by debt very quickly.”
“It sounds incredible, but we see 18 and 19 year olds at Frontyard, who have debts as high as $8000,” Ms Turley said.
“And the problem is growing. Research shows that Generation Y is experiencing higher levels of debt than previous generations.”
Melbourne Citymission is the largest provider of services to homeless young people in the Melbourne CBD. These services include early intervention, crisis accommodation, material aid, casework, outreach and refuge accommodation, as well as links to employment, education and training opportunities that provide pathways out of poverty and exclusion.
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