Cody Forrester had always dreamt of being the first in his family to go to university. But by the end of year 10, the Albury teenager had given up on that ambition.
Things at home had become difficult, and he knew he had to leave.
"I didn't have any other options at the time," he said.
"I had the plan — drop out of school, get a job, get my own place as soon as possible."
But then he was handed an anonymous survey at school.
The first step in a pilot program called the Albury Project, the survey identified that Cody was at risk of homelessness and school disengagement, and he was immediately offered support.
He was helped to find accommodation and wrangle with Centrelink; furniture, school supplies and a laptop were sourced and driving lessons were organised — anything he needed to keep him going to school.
Now 19-year-old Cody is gearing up to his Year 12 exams and has already been accepted into a Bachelor of Business at Charles Sturt University in Albury.
He said the support he received from the Albury Project was all he needed to make his dream come true.
"I can confidently say that without their help I would not be where I am today," he said.
"They understood what was going on, they could tell it was going on when nobody else could."
But Cody is acutely aware of how lucky he is. If the program had started a year later, he would have already dropped out of the system.
And there is one other crucial factor: the program is available in Albury, but not in Wodonga.
"If I lived over the border, if I went to school 15 minutes away, my life would be completely different."
Bringing the project to Wodonga
On a sunny morning at Wodonga Senior Secondary College, a group of teachers, health bodies, mental health organisations and advocates have gathered to launch a community campaign called Building Brighter Futures 3690.
They are calling on the state government to commit to funding a Wodonga version of the project in the next budget.
The model was first launched in Geelong in 2015, using a Community of Schools and Services approach to help kids before they reach a crisis point.
Based out of the secure environment of school, students complete the Australian Index of Adolescent Development survey, which screens them for early indicators known to correlate with a risk of homelessness, school disengagement or mental health issues.
The young people are placed into three categories of risk which then determines the level of support they might need.
Then the schools, local health services and networks become a single team, working together to provide early-intervention solutions.
Piloted over three years, the project saw a 40 per cent reduction in youth homelessness, and a 20 per cent reduction in early school leaving.
The project was launched at the end of 2019 in Albury, covering Albury High, James Fallon High and Murray High.
The schools have already seen a decrease in the rates of at-risk young people leaving, which goes against the upward trend across schools during COVID.
Assistant principal at Wodonga Senior Matt Moylan noted the need was already high at their school, but things have become more urgent.
He says the rates of suicide attempts, reports of sexual assault, homelessness and anxiety are rapidly increasing.
"Our purpose is to get [students] to a point where they can go to class and they can be successful in class," he said.
"Increasingly, it's becoming just keeping young people alive."
He said it is frustrating knowing there is a successful program out there, but it is just out of reach for their students.
"We know it works; we've seen the data from Geelong, we've seen it in Albury," he said.
"We're jealous that Albury's got it, and Wodonga doesn't. That shouldn't be the case when there is just a river dividing us."
Project lead Rachel Habgood says the beauty of the model is that it is tried and tested.
"The research behind this model is huge; it's incredible," she said.
"We're not talking about a nice bright idea that somebody wants to put in place and hope for the best."
Ms Habgood says they are trying to get community support for the project, asking people to sign a petition, raise awareness throughout the community and lobby their local members.
"Over the last few years there's been quite a lot of engagement with all sides of government," she said.
"There's general recognition that this is a good project; what we need to do locally is make sure we're first cab off the rank."
Ms Habgood also said the amount of money needed to operate across the four public high school campuses in Wodonga was quite low, about $800,000 a year.
"We're saving a lot of that money by putting the money in early; the research shows it's about a $5 benefit for every $1," she said.
"The money is small; the impact is huge."
