The Little Social
Who we are
The Little Social is a social enterprise café network operated by Youth Projects, a Melbourne-based organisation that supports young people experiencing homelessness, disadvantage, and marginalisation. The cafés are a vehicle for Youth Projects' broader mission: empowering young people to lead meaningful lives. The Little Social model embeds employment training and mentorship directly into a working commercial café environment, so young people build real skills while the business operates as a genuine hospitality venue.
The Little Social is grounded in a commitment to community, sustainability, and social impact. It sources menu ingredients as locally as possible to support local suppliers and reduce its environmental footprint, and works only with suppliers whose values align with its own. All takeaway packaging is 100% recyclable or compostable, supplied through BioPak, and the cafés actively encourage customers to bring their own reusable cups and containers.
What we do
The Little Social runs social enterprise cafés across Melbourne, serving espresso coffee and nutritious food to the public while providing hands-on training and mentoring for young people facing barriers to employment. Training is individually tailored to each young person and covers practical hospitality skills, employability skills, and confidence-building, supported by mentors with industry experience. The goal is to help young people find realistic and meaningful pathways to work.
Customers at The Little Social can also participate in a pay-it-forward initiative: anyone can anonymously purchase a menu item and leave it for someone experiencing homelessness to claim. This allows everyday customers to contribute directly to the cafés' social mission through their regular coffee run.
We’d love to hear from you!
Reach out to one of our team members, and share input and ideas about how we can evolve Understorey.
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