What We Do
Local Councils
ARACY works with city councils and community groups across Australia to apply The Nest framework, helping improve the wellbeing of children and young people. Focusing on its six wellbeing domains, communities can better understand local needs, gather data, and develop long-term strategies for positive change.
In different regions, The Nest supports efforts to enhance the wellbeing of children and young people. Councils use the framework to guide planning, measure progress, and address key areas like health, education, and social connections. By adapting it to their local context, communities foster collaboration and ensure children and young people receive the support they need to thrive.
Launceston, Tasmania
Launceston, located in Tasmania’s Tamar Valley, is home to the Every Child Succeeds initiative, a collective movement aimed at improving the wellbeing of local children and families.
How is The Nest being used?
Every Child Succeeds, launched in 2015, uses The Nest framework to address the challenges identified by the community. The initiative aligns with the six domains of The Nest, with the goal that by 2035, all children in the region will be loved, safe, healthy, learning, and participating. Supported by Anglicare Tasmania’s Communities for Children program, this initiative continues to drive collaboration across local services to improve outcomes for children and families.
Learn More:
Logan, Queensland
Logan City, located in the south Brisbane area of Queensland, is home to Logan Together, a long-term, community-wide effort to improve life opportunities for every child.
How is The Nest being used?
Logan Together uses The Nest framework to guide its collective impact approach, mobilising resources across the community to ensure every child receives the support, love, and care they need. Through the Logan Together Roadmap, the initiative coordinates efforts between local stakeholders, education, health, and social services, fostering a connected and engaged community working toward better outcomes for children from birth through each stage of development.
Learn More:
“Our project is taking a collective impact approach to addressing child development at a whole of population level. There are a number of communities around Australia undertaking the same work, but good practice in this area is still emerging in Australia. The more we can agree standards and common ways of describing success, the better. We are using The Nest as the Australian standard for describing child wellbeing and we refer to it as an authoritative source in that regard. We are also using it as a conceptual framework within which to check that our planning and work addresses all the domains of child wellbeing.”
Maribyrnong, Victoria
The City of Maribyrnong in Melbourne’s West provides a range of services and opportunities for children, young people, and their families
How is The Nest being used?
The City used The Nest framework to develop its Strategy for Young People 2014-18, focusing on the five key domains essential for the health and wellbeing of young people. Through consultations with young people and local service providers, the strategy prioritised key areas for support. This approach has strengthened local services, fostered cross-sector collaboration, and produced a wellbeing report-card to guide future strategies and address data gaps.
Learn More:
City of Maribyrnong’s Children, Young People and their Families webpage
Merri-bek, Victoria
Merri-bek City Council (formerly Moreland City Council) located in Melbourne’s Inner North, delivers services that support and respond to local community needs, with a strong emphasis on improving outcomes for children, youth and families.
How is The Nest being used?
Merri-bek City Council uses The Nest to improve outcomes for children as part of a national initiative to improve child wellbeing in Australia, with clear links between the council’s work and the national agenda. Key initiatives and associated actions outlined in The Moreland Early Years Strategy 2016-2020 are linked to The Nest outcomes to improve and measure child and youth wellbeing. The strategy will be used by a number of organisations in the Merri-bek City Council LGA and The Nest provides a common language and shared framework for collaboration.
Merri-bek City Council encourages other organisations to adopt The Nest as its collective action approach so that more can be done nationally to improve the health and wellbeing outcomes for children and youth in Australia.
Learn More: Merri-bek Our Children, Young People and Families Plan 2021-2025
"What we are doing to improve outcomes for children is part of a much wider agenda. We are part of a national initiative and it is important to use a shared language and a common framework when we approach our work.”
Mooney Valley, Victoria
Moonee Valley Council is located in Melbourne’s North-West Suburbs. Their mission is to celebrate youth culture, promote equity and participation for all young people in Moonee Valley.
How is The Nest being used?
The Nest framework helped shape its Thrive – Strategy for Young People, which replaced the previous Youth Engagement Strategy. With a focus on health, wellbeing, and meaningful participation in decision-making, the strategy was informed by consultations with over 800 young people and 30 service and education partners.
The Nest provided a solid foundation for Thrive, helping identify local priorities and guide action areas to support young people’s wellbeing. Moonee Valley adapted the framework to reflect its unique context, such as replacing the focus on culture and identity with ‘supportive systems and environments.’ The Council created a monitoring and evaluation framework to track youth wellbeing, combining local priorities with The Nest’s indicators.
Learn More
Palmerston, Northern Territory
In 2014, community organisations in Palmerston (Darwin’s satellite city) joined forces using the Collective Impact approach to improve outcomes for local children and young people. Grow Well Live Well (GWLW) focuses on creating lasting change by strengthening partnerships between the community, government, and organisations.
How is The Nest being used?
GWLW adopted The Nest framework as a key tool for guiding its work in Palmerston. By using the Nest, GWLW is able to focus on the six domains of wellbeing, providing a clear structure for gathering and analysing data from community consultations and public sources. This framework not only helps GWLW understand the needs of children and young people in Palmerston but also ensures that efforts are grounded in research and best practices.
The Nest has played a crucial role in the development of Palmerston’s State of the Children Report, helping to organise and synthesise the findings in a meaningful way.
Learn More:
SHARE THIS
WHAT WE DO
Looking for more?
Search through our extensive Resource Library including Research papers, Submissions, Reports and much more.
What else we do
Right@home
right@home is a relationship-based nurse home visiting program for Australian families, delivered by trained professionals within the universal health service. It empowers parents to create a safe, nurturing environment that supports early child development.
Early Years Strategy
The Australian Government’s Early Years Strategy, developed with input from ARACY, outlines a vision to support children and families by prioritising child-centered policies and targeted investment in early years services over the next 10 years, recognising the crucial role early development plays in lifelong success.
Established in 2006, ARACY’s Longitudinal Studies Collaborative (LSC) fosters collaboration between Australian and New Zealand studies focused on children and youth. The LSC promotes data sharing, supports new and ongoing studies, advocates for longitudinal research, and disseminates findings to a broad audience.
Maximising the Middle
‘Maximising the Middle’ is a unique initiative based in Campbelltown and Penrith that aims to see middle years children and young people (MYC&YP), aged 8-14 years, thrive. It is a collaborative project initiated by Uniting NSW.ACT, ARACY and the Stronger Smarter Institute (SSI).
ARACY's The Nest
What's in The Nest?
With six connected areas, The Nest ensures young Australians have everything they need for the best start in life, helping them reach their highest potential.
Our Nest projects
Using The Nest, has helped ARACY to be at the forefront of disease prevention and the promotion of holistic health for young Australians.
The Nest initiatives
Here you’ll see some examples of how The Nest has been used in organisations outside of ARACY across Australia.
