As we have previously reported, Jesuit Social Services will release a new Dropping off the Edge report in the second half of 2021.

This continues our research into locational disadvantage conducted over more than 20 years, including previous Dropping off the Edge reports in 2007 and 2015.

This edition of the Jesuit Social Services newsletter is focused primarily on our education, training and employment programs. The importance of this work is supported by findings emerging from an early analysis of our Dropping off the Edge data. We can see that in communities with five or more indicators ranked as highly disadvantaged, jobless parents and young people not engaged in training or work are two of the most prominent indicators.

Dropping off the Edge 2021 measures disadvantage based on 37 indicators spanning seven domains including: social distress, health, income, education and inter-generational disadvantage. Environmental indicators, such as air quality and green canopy, are included for the first time.

We look forward to sharing more of the report’s findings with you in the near future.