ARACY: Helping Queensland kids thrive

Organisation:

ARACY - Thriving Queensland Kids Partnership

Amount:

$255,000

Project:

To fund a Thriving Queensland Kids Country Collaborative Partnership Officer position in regional Queensland

Year of grant:

2022-2024

A collaboration for better outcomes for children, young people, their families and communities across Queensland.

In 2022, JVT committed foundational support to the Thriving Queensland Kids Partnership (TQKP).

In 2022-23, Tim Fairfax Family Foundation (TFFF) and Helping Hands Network Foundation joined the collaboration alongside founding members JVT, Hand Heart Pocket, The Bryan Foundation, and Paul Ramsay Foundation – boosting the combined philanthropic funding of TQKP to a total of $9.1m.

TFFF funding is committed to specifically support country Queensland alongside JVT, and also to amplify Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices through the TQKP Thriving First Nations Kids Initiative, in partnership with the Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Protection Peak (QATSICPP).

Helping Hands Network Foundation committed $300,000 over two years for the Thriving Lockyer Kids project, which is part of the Thriving Places, Thriving Kids initiative.

TQKP is now focusing on 10 key state-wide initiatives to help Queensland children, youth, families and communities thrive.


May 2024

A framework for building children’s resilience to thrive in life

ARACY/TQKP is committed to supporting families and communities to help children thrive. As part of the Thriving Kids Brain Builders Initiative, they commissioned a new video to explain how The Nest wellbeing framework and the Resilience Scale tool can be used together to understand the impact of environment and experiences on children’s brain health. 

The video talks about how reducing adverse experiences and environments, strengthening positive supports and relationships, and building skills and abilities help kids become more resilient.

It’s another great early intervention tool to help adults teach the children in their lives about healthy ways to take on opportunities and face challenges. 

Watch the video now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Xodw-CDwuI 


August 2023

Thriving Kids Brain Builders Initiative

Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth (ARACY), TQKP and The University of Queensland launched the Thriving Kids Brain Builders Initiative (TKBBI) in 2023, helping those working with children and young people, and their families and communities, build capability and understand more about the science of brains and brain development, and what it takes for young people to thrive.

TKBBI brings together partners across research, government, non-government organisations, and social enterprise to collaboratively generate and translate neuroscience knowledge, so that it can be applied across systems and settings that support children, young people and families.

One of the first products from the Brain Builders Initiative is the ‘Understanding Brain Development’ modules, developed with Queensland Brain Institute and Emerging Minds. The four free modules cover the foundational concepts of neuroscience, presented in a format that is easy for workers and carers to understand and apply in their daily lives. They are all online, making them great resources for those in rural, regional and remote Queensland. Click here to access the modules.


April 2023

Partnership Officer

A new Thriving Queensland Kids Country Collaborative Partnership Officer role, co-funded by JVT and TFFF, was created and Jacinta Perry was appointed to the position in April 2023.

In this role, Jacinta is enabling greater opportunity for TQKP to embrace and support more country Queensland communities and organisations. That means more local input into the initiatives and ideas being developed by TQKP, and a better understanding of the unique issues and needs of the communities they support.

Jacinta’s conversations across country Queensland have already highlighted the potential and ingenuity of many communities, but also their gaps, challenges and opportunities for further partnerships and resourcing to ensure kids can thrive.


April 2023

Thriving Queensland Kids Country Collaborative

Given our love of country Queensland, our funding is dedicated to the Thriving Queensland Kids Country Collaborative, which amplifies the voices of rural, regional and remote communities to achieve systemic change.

Throughout 2022-23, TQKP set up the Country Collaborative and formed the partnerships needed for co-hosting the leadership position for this initiative in a regional Queensland location. This ensures the initiative will remain focused on, and informed by, the real needs of regional communities by centring on the voices and lived experience of country Queensland.

With funding from JVT and the TFFF, the Country Collaborative has now been established as a joint initiative between TQKP, CQUniversity and James Cook University (JCU), which hosts the lead Partnership Officer at its Cairns campus.

The Country Collaborative brings together local leaders and organisations from across the state to collectively address the unique challenges that impact children, youth and families in country Queensland, which includes those living in regional, rural and remote communities.


December 2022

TQKP Leadership table established

JVT Chair Ian Galloway AM and JVT CEO Lea-Anne Bradley attended the launch of a new Leadership Table for TQKP in December 2022, established to provide strategic leadership, advice and assistance.

The diverse, multi-disciplinary group of experienced and emerging leaders and collaborators bring perspectives from across Queensland, and a great depth and breadth of cross-sectoral knowledge and experience to TQKP.


Better together

We know we have more impact when we work together. Partners and funders of TQKP will play a critical role in driving significant, long-term changes in child and youth wellbeing in country Queensland.

The collaboration is a great example of the benefits of co-funding and partnering, and highlights the importance of multiple grants, funding and donations to the success of making real, lasting difference in people’s lives and the places they live.

Read more about JVT and ARACY / the Thriving Queensland Kids Partnership