A 10-year, $20 million partnership between Minderoo and South Australia’s state government will help children and their communities in Adelaide’s north to thrive.
The ground-breaking Children in the North Alliance focuses on place-based approaches, where geographical communities partner with governments, business and other stakeholders to co-design innovative responses to improve the health, development, and social and emotional wellbeing of their children.
This new approach is already underway at Davoren Park through the Swallowcliffe Children’s Precinct – surrounding Swallowcliffe Primary School – where local leaders work with local families to plan and implement new initiatives to support children, including:
- The introduction of children’s nurses at Swallowcliffe Primary and Preschool for all children and their siblings
- Health and development checks at the Swallowcliffe Preschool and early learning centres
- Allied health supports responding to needs identified in the health and development checks
- Cooked school lunches providing nutritious meals 5 days a week for preschool and primary school students
- Community BBQs and events to provide opportunities for community connection and relationship building
- Children’s Mural involving 100 local children painting what was important to them
- A Kids’ Club and parent engagement to provide free after school and holiday activities
“This partnership puts communities in the driver’s seat, assisting them with the resources and capability to be innovative and find ways to overcome adversity and create long-lasting change,” said John Hartman, Minderoo Foundation CEO.
The alliance will continue to support local communities by listening to the voices of families and children to prioritise and deliver solutions that will work for them.
Each program delivered under the alliance will be evaluated to learn what works best, so innovation and targeted assistance can help all children and communities in South Australia and across the nation to thrive.
“To break cycles of adversity, we need to tackle issues at their root cause and the most effective way to do this is by empowering communities to lead the way,” said Penny Dakin, Minderoo’s Executive Director of Communities.