About us

Our Story

The Mower Shed has been operating since 2016 as a social enterprise. It is a business with the social objective to provide employment and training opportunities to young people, and adults in our local community who’ve found it more difficult to gain and maintain employment. Like any business, our aim is to make a profit, but profits are used to fund this and our other social programs, so we can continue to put community first.

The Mower Shed plays a valuable role in providing employment, job readiness training and mentoring, which has enabled over 85% of our casual staff to transition onto other employment pathways and training. Training that has included the SPARK JobTrainer Conservation Land Management program, run through one of our major clients Ginninderry.

Employment plays a crucial role in people’s lives, providing structure for:

a daily routine and identity (personal and social)

ways of gaining skills and knowledge

making money that enables access to essential and
non-essential goods and services

physical and mental well-being

A social enterprise of:

UnitingCare Kippax

At UnitingCare Kippax, The Mower Shed offers employment opportunities to people of all ages, who have found gaining and maintaining employment more difficult.

Canberra Police Community Youth Club Inc.

Canberra Police Community and Youth Club Inc. (Canberra PCYC) has collaborated with UnitingCare Kippax to expand The Mower Shed social enterprise, to now service all areas of Canberra and the surrounding region. Canberra PCYC operates The Mower Shed on the southside of Canberra and surrounds, providing valuable employment and training opportunities to our young people, many of whom are entering the workforce for the first time.

Through the provision of job readiness and on-the-job training, combined with mentoring by our lead gardener, who is also a trained case worker, it is our mission to empower people to create pathways towards a better future for themselves.

The Mower Shed’s purpose is to contribute to addressing intergenerational disadvantage, building pride in place, building a strong and positive community, and modelling ways in which employment programs and mainstream employment overall can be more inclusive and supportive. We do this by providing training and employment pathways for people who find it hard to gain and maintain employment in the mainstream market.

By assisting the casual staff to re-establish work habits as well as build capacities through supporting them to gain general certificates (Working with Vulnerable People card; police check; white card; Programmed identification) and where possible to gain working at heights; chainsaw ticket; and other similar role-specific certificates, as well as teaching them how to meet work ethic expectations, they have increased their employability.

The casual staff are led by our dedicated Team Leaders who, with over 20 years’ experience in the gardening industry teaches them about quality and timeliness of jobs and tool maintenance, as well as training and practical on the-job support

Job Readiness and On-the-job Training

On-the-job training for service provision and equipment is provided by our lead gardeners, including safety talks, quality checks, and regular reviews.

The Mower Shed offers a variety of employment and training opportunities, in collaboration with our partners, including:

apprenticeships in gardening and landscaping
studies in horticulture
building and construction training
security training
studies in fitness
community services training
employment in facilities management

We look for opportunities suitable to each individual, and work with our partners to provide options to try out different trades in a practical work environment.

“The Snow Foundation has a long history of supporting ground-breaking social enterprises and for-purpose organisations, and are proud to partner with The Mower Shed. We encourage the Canberra community to get behind this social initiative and help create social change.”

The Snow Foundation