How we started

Former AFL player Mark Bolton was Ladder’s founding Executive Director, guiding the organisation through its formative years to become a leading force in youth mentoring and development. Mark shares Ladder’s backstory and what he sees as the game-changing opportunity our delivery model offers Australian society. 

“In 2006, I was playing for Essendon, Joel Bowden was playing for Richmond and Paul Licuria was with Collingwood. Apart from meeting on the playing field, we didn’t really get to know each other until we ended up volunteering in the Salvo’s outreach van together.   

Each night we’d visit around a dozen places where homeless people were known to be, and we’d serve up soup, tea, coffee and other sustenance to anyone who showed up.  

I volunteered in the outreach van for about a year. Before doing that I’d had preconceived ideas about what led to someone being homeless. Those preconceptions were dashed on the first night!  

Over time, we got to know some of these people better and we heard their stories. I’ll always remember one young guy who came to the van a few times and our conversations went a bit deeper. I asked him why he was living on the street, and he told me it was safer than sleeping at home. He wouldn’t have been older than 15. 

It was shocking to realise just how many young people were homeless. I was in my mid-20s, and we were talking to kids who were 12 and 13! The more young people we met who were homeless and living rough, the more fire we felt in our bellies about doing something more to help them. 

As AFL players, we led very privileged and lucky lives, and we felt passionate about doing something to help young people who were less fortunate than we were. It was already a long-held tradition that all AFL players donated a portion of their match fee to support community activities. However, our donations were being spread in small amounts across a lot of different organisations. It made sense to consolidate that contribution and direct it into a community initiative of our own making, to achieve a bigger impact.  

Back then, we thought we were creating a ‘program’ rather than an entirely new non-profit organisation. We naturally thought that providing homes for these young people was the way to go. It seemed so simple – these people are homeless so let’s give them a home! But as we gained a deeper understanding of the complex issues contributing to youth homelessness, we realised that housing is only one part of the solution.  

Then we encountered the Foyer Federation’s ‘Advantaged Thinking’ approach to empowering young people and knew that was exactly what Ladder needed to be doing. We found our niche providing mentoring and development programs for young people at risk of ending up homeless. And our strong ties with AFL players and the wider footy industry meant we were perfectly positioned to bring our A game to the task. Major Brendan Nottle and Derek Linsell, then CEO of the AFL Foundation, played pivotal roles in supporting our vision.

I’m extremely proud of what Ladder has evolved into today – an organisation focused on supporting all young people in need. Ladder is doing what the AFL industry does best – developing young people so they can reach their full potential. 

“The ability to rapidly scale an effective, tailored intervention and prevention model is critical and that is exactly what Ladder is capable of delivering.”