A naughty boy. Trouble in the classroom. Hard to handle. Impossible to entertain.
There were no two ways about it: Kurt Jones was viewed as a disruptive child. His difficult demeanour saw him enrolled in and moved on from five different primary schools. He yo-yoed between foster and family homes. By any measure, he was lost and loose.
Ten years on and Kurt is still upsetting the status quo – but instead of being intent on tearing it all down, he is building something for the greater good. It is hard to imagine a bigger turnaround in life.
Kurt is the founder of Co-Exist, a movement that brings young people together to explore wild spaces and help protect and preserve natural environments.
In a few short years, Co-Exist collectives have been established in 16 locations nationwide and have planted 56,000 trees. More than 500 organised events have attracted 8300 attendees, and its members have put in 20,000 volunteer hours and removed 6.3 tonnes of rubbish from beaches and rivers. More than 130 young people have completed its leadership program.
It is nothing short of astounding, particularly as it is the brainchild of a 22-year-old whose start in life was tough. His dad died by suicide when he was in Year 1 and he was raised mostly by his grandparents. Amid the disruption, he was often at the centre of trouble. By the time Kurt reached high school age, he was deemed unsuitable for a mainstream school and was enrolled in a flexi-school for disengaged youth.
But it was there he found his passion and purpose. “I thrived almost straight away,” he says.
“We spent a lot of time outside, doing outdoor education, and I don’t even mean just on school camps – and we did a lot of school camps. But we were outside a lot and went on an adventure every week, whether going canoeing or fishing. We would literally spend half the day doing our schoolwork in the bush and would cook brekky on campfires next to the lake.”
Kurt says he always liked nature documentaries by Steve Irwin and David Attenborough, but until high school, it was something to look at rather than be immersed in. What had been art became life for him and he flourished, with the school identifying his leadership potential. On reaching Year 12, he was made its school captain.
“I loved camps in particular and by the middle of high school I found myself wanting to get into wild spaces and experience more of that,” Kurt says. “So I started to volunteer with wildlife organisations and those that are into landcare and that sort of thing.
“As I was going along that track, I realised what being in the bush did for me in terms of my wellbeing. And when I thought hard about it, I realised that young people might be really passionate about the environment and social and wellbeing issues, but they weren’t actually getting into the bush or out into the community and volunteering. That realisation spiralled and I got hyper-focused.”
Kurt says laying out the facts helped develop his big idea: people in their middle and older years make up the vast majority of volunteers in Australia and most young people are not keen to spend their weekends hanging out with older people. But young people are also lacking social connection and a sense of community and struggle to maintain good mental health.
“So I thought, ‘well, is there a space here to create a community where young adults can get outside together, but it’s more than just going hiking and going camping’. They need to be inspired to actually get involved in looking after the planet,” he says.
“I didn’t want it to feel like volunteering. I didn’t want it to be institutional; I didn’t want it to be particularly structured. I just wanted more young people to get outside, to be around good people, and feel that they can do good whilst they’re in the bush, or whilst getting involved in the community.”
Kurt formalised his idea in a business assignment in Year 11, developing a financial and marketing plan for the idea. That was the formal genesis of Co-Exist. Six months after he finished high school, Kurt registered Co-Exist as a non-profit organisation.
For the next six months, he burnt the midnight oil building the brand and developing the business model – all the while working full-time on Sunshine Coast Snake Catchers’ social media and marketing.
Word got around and Co-Exist was onboarding young people all over Queensland who wanted to not just come together, but to do something. At the start of 2023, Co-Exist launched a series of hikes, beach cleanups and tree-planting events.
In the three years since, the movement has surged. Co-Exist has secured enough funding through philanthropic organisations including the Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation and the Natural Resources Conservation Trust to develop and expand.
“I missed so much of the important parts of primary school and that left lasting marks, in that I failed maths all the way through and I still don’t know my times tables,” Kurt says.
“But I think I have managed to find workarounds and it is pretty funny to think that I now manage an annual budget of half a million dollars.”
“I am very entrepreneurial and I am very ambitious. I started this and it is going to make a difference, because there is a huge gap and such a huge need for young adults to make friends and reduce isolation and create more connection.
“A lot of my friends growing up were not thinking about volunteering, but they would go hiking or camping with the boys or go surfing. So we organise events like that with good marketing, that basically looks like ‘come camping, come for a hike, meet some new friends in a beautiful place’, but at the same time, we incorporate an element like a bit of tree planting or waterway clean-up. It works because it is fun as well as purposeful.”
Co-Exist’s core objective is to get more young people connected with nature instead of research, advocacy or activism.
“If people are appreciative of nature, they’re going to want to look after nature,” he says. “I think for too long there has been this disconnect between social and environmental issues, when I think they’re very interconnected.
“And there’s so much research that shows that being around good people, having good friends, being in a community and spending time out in nature is good for our mental health.
“We want to offer more opportunities for young people right around Australia to just get outside and to meet new people and be able to make a difference along the way.”