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A B O U T L O G A N T O G E T H E R

Logan Together uses collective impact

and community leadership to grow

Logan’s kids up well. The goal is to give

Logan kids aged zero to eight every

chance to achieve their potential by

uniting people from diverse

organisational and personal

backgrounds in a whole of-community

movement. Powered by a dedicated

backbone team, the movement

mobilises resources and work to ensure

every child gets the support they need

to be the best they can be.

We need to do things at every age andstage of childhood, and we need tostrengthen communities and supportfamilies too. Part of our vision is tobuild a long-term community movementwhere everybody knows lots about childdevelopment and values kids. We wantto see changes in the way governmentsdesign and spend their social investment dollars, and more devolveddecision making, at the local level, witha meaningful role for the localcommunity in decision-making

By 2025, if we can assist an extra 5,000 Logan kids to arrive at8 years old in great shape, we’ll have achieved our goals.

From the Co-Chairs of the Leadership Table From the Chair of the Board From the Executive Director From the Action Group Collaborative Governance The Deepening Democracy Project The 2019 Logan Get Together Community Active Partnerships Physical Activity Library Logan Rivers Project Community Gateways Kindy to Prep Stronger Parenting Stronger Together Logan Computers for Community Roadmap Project Highlights Our Thanks Financial Report

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F R O M C O - C H A I R S O F T H E

L E A D E R S H I P T A B L E

When we reflect on the last 12 months as Co-chairs of the Logan Together Leadership Table,we think about a period of transition, of rapidadjustment to the COVID pandemic, and ofgrowing confidence in the quality of our localgovernance.

Our key transitions

During 2019, we transitioned from a single Chairmodel for the Table to a Co-chair model that seesa member of our Warril Yari-Go Karulbo FirstNations Leaders Group always holding at leastone of the Co-chair roles.

The vision to ensure the voice of our First Nationsleadership was at the centre of our governancewas clear, but how that new model would work tostrengthen our Table’s decision-making andimpact was and remains a learning process. Ithas required a mind-set shift to value theknowledge and practices of First Nations peopleat the centre of our planning and governance, andit has required us to build relationships based ontrust and respect so we can navigate mis-steps,misunderstandings and learnings alongthe way.

This continues to be a work in progress but thebenefits for the ambitions of Logan Together areshining through. We are working hard together tohonour our pledge to breathe life locally into ourChangeFest 2018 statement. We are modellingFirst Nations practice to set a strong circle forLeadership Table business. We are embracingincreasing influence from our cultural andcommunity leaders in setting the direction andpace for change. And, we are growing in ourability to have respectful and robust debate toensure we support culturally-safe processes tosolve the right problems together with ourcommunity.

During 2019, we also transitioned to a refreshedmembership of the Leadership Table and agreedthe roles and responsibilities of all members whoare part of this cross-sector governance group. As a Table, we have become less-reliant on theBackbone Team to drive the agenda and the work of the Leadership Table. This is a positive sign ofour growing maturity as a governance group. With the dedication of our new secretariat and thecommitment of our Table members, we havestrengthened our forward planning for ourmeeting agendas, increased our discipline withagenda papers so members have the opportunityto prepare and consult on issues ahead ofmeetings, and we are holding our feet to the firewhen it comes to making decisions and trackingour progress with agreed actions. We willcontinue to build on these efforts in the next yearas part of our commitment to governing theLogan Together endeavour with transparency,with rigour, and through partnership and sharedaccountability.

Our response to the pandemic

Halfway through this year, our nation experienceda cumulation of toxic shocks – drought, floods,bushfires, and the COVID pandemic. Theseshocks have unleashed widespread destructionon our national economy and our assets, havestolen lives and livelihoods, and have changed ourway of life. The wave of consequences from theseshocks risk deepening poverty and disadvantagefor our community of Logan.

But the pandemic generated a razor-like focuswithin the Table to maximise the resources andrelationships of members to manage the risksfacing our most vulnerable members of ourcommunity. The crisis response led by our LoganCity Council delivered rapid coordination andtrusted information in support of our community.


The increased outreach delivered through ourIndigenous and mainstream hubs deliveredpractical support and new ways of buildingconnection for our families who were at greatestrisk from the isolation measures. The work of ourschools and early learning centres supported ourfamilies to continue our children’s learning fromhome. Our service delivery partners kept theirdoors open and stayed on the road despite theinherent challenges. Our governments increasedresources to address emerging need. Theopportunistic work of our Backbone Teamcapitalised on economic stimulus recoveryopportunities to bring new investment intoessential community-building infrastructure forLogan. These examples highlight the agility withwhich our Leadership Table responded to a crisisin our community to maximise safety and health,while in parallel leveraging the crisis to helpLogan build back for a stronger future.

Our growing confidence in our ability to govern well

Our progress over the last 12 months to achieve apositive transition with our Leadership Tablemodel with the support of our new membership,and our collective efforts to respond to the COVID-crisis, give us confidence in the skill andwill of our Leadership Table to strengthen ourimpact to support our community’s aspirations.Most significantly, our growing shift in dynamicthat sees power starting to be shared moreequally across our movement, greater valuing ofand support for grass roots voice andcontribution, and greater effort from the Table todrive our planning and accountability, anchor ourLeadership Table efforts going forward to governwith transparency and integrity.

Finally, we want to express our gratitude to our fellow Leadership Table members for theirsupport, encouragement and patience throughwhat has become known as a year of“unprecedented” challenges. We feel both theenormous privilege and the enormousresponsibility of our role as Co-chairs of ourdiverse and dynamic group of impact warriors.Together as Co-chairs, and together with ourTable, we will continue to learn and improve ourgovernance in support of the Logan Togetherambition – to ensure all our children have theopportunity to reach their potential, with thesupport of their loving families and their strong,connected community.

Janet Stodulka and Peter Eather

F R O M C H A I R O F T H E B O A R D

Bridge the digital divide - access to bothcomputers and data became an essentialingredient in learning and connecting, and thedigital divide that we knew existed reallybecame a chasm. We worked with Substation33; philanthropic contributors; and localagencies to get data and refurbishedcomputers into the hands of families needingthem, especially to facilitate home schoolingand learning.

2019-20 has been a significant year for the LoganChild Friendly Board marking the half-way point inthe 10-year life span of the initiative. There is nodoubt that 2020 has brought with it significantchallenges for us in our governance, planning andaccountability roles as – like everybody else –we rapidly came to grips with new ways ofworking that both safeguarded the wellbeing ofour staff and kept our work going.

Our focus earlier in the year was largely aboutworking through the implications of COVID-19both to ensure the organisation and movementwere supported – facilitating and bringingtogether the Logan Community - and managinghealth and safety of the Backbone Team.

I am proud of the way we, as a board,organisation and movement were able to changevery quickly, doing our work in quite differentways, learning on the go, while also prioritisingthe health and safety of the team.Our decision to keep the office open and combineworking from home with working from the officemeant we could keep a presence in thecommunity physically and provide reassurancefor those people wanting to work from home.

As a Board, we decided very quickly with theonset of COVID-19 that we needed to maintainsupport for our community despite the lack ofcertainty about what might be possible and thelength of time during which alternative servicestrategies would need to be deployed. Thefacilitated the Backbone team to:

·

Explore new ways of connection - werecognised that staying connected was key tobeing resilient in this new world. To helppeople connect and provide a single point oftruth for critical information, we built StrongerTogether Logan an online platform to keeppeople connected through adversity. Withhundreds of posts providing activities for kids;parents; info about how to discuss COVID andinformation about how to find all sort ofsupport Stronger Together Logan became aninvaluable resource for the community.Keep the community moving - a key response tothe pandemic was to try to keep kids andfamilies physically active. Repurposing thework of the Community Active Partnershipsprogram, a Library of physical activity wasdeveloped in partnership with the MulticulturalSports Club and local coaches. Sessions wereprovided for families everyday on StrongerTogether Logan.

Our face-to-face interactions very quickly becameonline as we learned and supported our partners inthe gentle art of online meeting.

We welcomed a new member to the Board this year, Lyn Hamill.

I also wish to thank Cath Bartolo from YFS whosteered the Board for many years and steppeddown at the end of 2019. We are fortunate to haveCath continue her role on the Leadership Table. Wealso farewelled Bris Ibanez who was with the boardfor a number of years, following her move toSydney to take up a new job Without thecontribution of these extraordinary women, wewould not be where we are today.

I am looking forward to 2020-21 and the challengesthat lie ahead. Finally, I would like to acknowledgeMatthew, Sue and the whole Backbone team forgetting us through what has been – yes, I’m goingto say it – an unprecedented year.

Marg Allison


Incredible as it seems, by the time this annual reportis published Logan Together will be five years old. Inmany important ways the Movement has evolved andmatured over that time and the events of the pastyear point to that emerging maturity.

2019-20 marked the first full year of operating underour new independent charitable company – LoganChild Friendly Community Limited, so ably chaired byMargaret Allison. It is also the first full year ofoperations under our five year partnership with theQueensland and Commonwealth Governments.

The stability these two developments have deliveredhave allowed us to accelerate work across thecommunity and also begin the planning and thinkingto set sail for the next five years.

Developing our community leadership processes hasbeen an important focus this year, with the co-chairing arrangements for the Leadership Table andbuilding up the governance structures around theWarril Yari-Go Karulbo First Nations Leadership Groupa highlight. We are currently working across thecommunity to advance appropriate arrangementswith the Pasifika and CALD communities.

The year has also seen widening adoption of theLogan Children’s Charter developed by the ChildrenTogether group – another important foundation forthe Movement.

A host of projects have progressed across our areasof interest including the Community ActivePartnerships project promoting physical activityamong the under 8s; the Logan Rivers projectreaching out to families in the Logan Village andYarrabilba districts; the very exciting Logan Singsproject – as well as continuing projects such as theMaternity Hubs, ToTs health outreach project,Backing Young Parents, Kindy to Prep andCommunity Gateways project.


F R O M T H E E X E C U T I V E D I R E C T O R

"My thanks as always to the dozens and dozens of partners, funders

and local community leaders who make the Logan Together Movement

what it is – it is a pleasure to share this journey with you all."

Involvement in the new Stronger Places StrongerPeople National Leadership Group has been apersonal highlight for me – connecting our workhere in Logan with similar projects all around thecountry and sharing our hopes and aspirations withsome of Australia’s most respected social policythinkers and leaders.

For the full story on all that has beenaccomplished, can I recommend to you the recentlycompleted Progress Review completed by ClearHorizon and available on the Logan Togetherwebsite.

My thanks as always to the dozens and dozens ofpartners, funders and local community leaders whomake the Logan Together Movement whatit is – it is a pleasure to share this journey with youall.

Matthew Cox

On the National Stage

This year has seen a lot of movement in on thenational front for fundamental social change and agrowing understanding of the importance of place-based initiatives like ours.

Logan Together joined forces with many others incivil society to start a campaign to keep themomentum of change going. Australia Togetherwas formed in the belief that Australia can be bold,visionary and #BuildBackBetter from thepandemic. We believe that there’s a uniqueopportunity for Australia to build on the goodwilland collaboration seen through the COVID-19experience to tackle some of the country’senduring challenges.

https://australiatogether.org/

F R O M T H E A C T I O N G R O U P

The Action Group is an operational coordinationand collaboration mechanism which meets monthly. It both informs and is informed by thework of the Leadership Table. Its members assistwith the establishment and oversight of projectworking groups and commit to cultural andsystematic change. The Action Group links to theSupporting Families, Changing Futures childprotection reform agenda and its associatedgovernance structure. The Action Group has worked on developing aconsistent membership group where membersparticipate in meetings and the actions that flowfrom discussions at the meetings. An inductionbuddy process facilitates the introduction of newmembers with the aim of supporting them as theyjoin the Action Group. A significant achievementhas been the development of the Logan Children’sCharter and associated Toolkit. Plans were inplace to implement this from April 2020 with afocus on a range of Logan business and then seekfeedback to further refine the approach for widerimplementation. These plans were reviewed due tothe impact of COVID. The revised approach whichis expected to be implemented from September2020 will focus on Early Childhood LearningServices and organisations associated with theLeadership Table and the Action Group.Participants will be supported through training andcoaching sessions including a session onConsulting with Children.

The Kindy to Prep initiative has been a major focuswith members of the Action Group contributing tothe associated work including providing adviceabout approaches, distributing collateral, sharinginformation across networks and social mediaplatforms.

Financial wellbeing was raised as an issue via theBacking Young Parents Working Group in responseto pop up photo shops in local shopping centresenticing vulnerable families into high cost financialcommitments.

The Logan Financial Literacy Action Group (FLAG)was invited to present to the Action Group andthis highlighted a range of financial wellbeingissues including those as a result of the impact ofCOVID. The Action Group committed to work withthe FLAG to explore options to improve financialliteracy for families. In regard to the photos,Action Group members considered options suchas whether their organisations might be able tosupport activities around photos, havephotographer at events etc.

Another issue raised in the Action Group was avery visible display of gel blaster guns in a shopnear the supermarket in a major shoppingcentre. The response included meetings withcentre management, the retailer and Gel BlasterAssociation with the result that some of the gunswere moved from view. Further meetings werearranged with Logan City Council and QueenslandPolice Service and submissions were made inresponse to a related State Government survey.

The COVID impact and response was a majorfocus from March 2020. Action Group membersand their organisations worked together to shareinformation about impacts and support theresponse in accordance with priorities identifiedby the Leadership Table. Most effort involveddeveloping a proactive support network forvulnerable families, addressing the digital divideand support for home schooling, routines andisolation. Examples of actions included thedevelopment and dropping off of activity packs tofamilies who were home schooling andcontribution to the development and delivery ofthe Mobile Outreach Project. This project involvedidentifying streets that were safe and wherepeople could come out to the front yard, seeand/or participate in activities and receive activitypacks. The focus was about formingrelationships and supporting families.

Thanks to the many people who have contributedtheir time, expertise and action to the groupthroughout the year.

Ellen Ferris, Secretariat


C O L L A B O R A T I V E G O V E R N A N C E

Our strength and our success will come from working together. This

framework shows the different moving parts of Logan Together, how

they interact and how together we are all part of the movement.


The Deepening Democracy Project - Loganemerged from a Logan Together initiative tosponsor invited social change leaders from withinLogan to attend ChangeFest 2019. Communityleaders who were supported to attend decidedthey wanted ongoing connection with each other,and community activism based on their personalexperiences and what they had learned together.On this basis, a working group was formed at thebeginning of 2020.

Discussions and shared stories among theworking group members, along with thoserecorded on community day events at theinaugural ChangeFest in 2018 and in ChangeFest2019 revealed a clear theme that citizens wanttheir voices to be heard on decisions that impactupon them. People felt frustrated that policiesand services were being designed withoutcommunity input that led to services that did notmeet community needs or popular services beingwithdrawn. People articulated that they wanted tobe a serious part of policy and program decisionmaking and to be involved in the co-design ofpolicies, programs and services from theirinception. In short, that no policy, program orservice design should be decided by anyrepresentative without the full and directparticipation of members of the group(s) affectedby that policy or program.

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T H E D E E P E N I N G

D E M O C R A C Y P R O J E C T

Democracy gives a name to the idea of givingpeople “voice”. In its most basic form, democracyis a system of governance by “the people”.Strengthening people’s voice through deepeningdemocracy will mean that people andcommunities directly participate in policy andprogram decision making. This structural changemeans that pressures and challenges that peopleface in their lives will be heard, makinginstitutions more accountable and responsive tothese challenges. Without this shift, people’smovements may continue to work on and evenwin individual campaigns. However, outside ofone-off wins, without permanent participativemechanisms in place, ongoing and systematicissues are likely to continue to be overlooked.

W H Y T H E F O C U S O N D E M O C R A C Y ?

H O W D O W E F I N D O U R P O W E R ?

Learning through organising / populareducation, and peer to peer supportBuilding alliances to build movementsCreating change through doing / activecampaigning

The goal of Deepening Democracy is to buildcommunity network and support communitymembers to become better at being active insocial change and to build leadership capabilityso that people can mobilise to have influenceover the policy decisions that impact their livesby:

Deepening Democracy sits at the Logan TogetherLeadership Table as a community leadershipgroup, which enables participation in the LoganTogether Collective Impact movement.

"Noth ing about us wi thout us"

The Logan Get Together was an amazing day, filled with inspirational localpeople, ideas being exchanged, connections being made, and fantastic

keynote speakers – not to mention the excellent entertainment.

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Getting our children active from a young age is reallyimportant and The Community Active Partnerships(CAP) program is a way of backing local kids andfamilies to get active during the next three years.

The Queensland Government has provided $1 millionover 2020 - 2022 for the Community ActivePartnership Program to enable Queenslanders toparticipate in sport and recreation activities.

Today’s kids face extra challenges to being active.The amount of time Australian kids spend beingactive outdoors has plummeted. 73% of the previousgeneration spent most of their childhood outdoorsplaying as opposed to just 13% of the currentgeneration. And in Logan, the number of kidsconsidered vulnerable under the Physical Health andWellbeing domain in the Australian EarlyDevelopment Census (AEDC) is growing.

In 2015 14.2% of Logan kids were vulnerable on thePhysical Health and Wellbeing domain. In 2018, thatnumber had risen to 16.3% - nearly twice the nationalaverage. Logan kids are now more likely to bevulnerable on this domain than any other measuredthrough the AEDC.

If we are to achieve our overall Logan Together goalsof growing kids up well, we must get seriousabout physical health and wellbeing. That is theoverarching goal for this project.

Kicking off in January 2020, this program waschallenged by the ever changing rules of COVID.However with ingenuity we have still stayed in therace and kicked a few goals.

1,150

Physical activity

packs distributed


C O M M U N I T Y A C T I V E

P A R T N E R S H I P S

A major goal was the production of videos by localcoaches with the goal to support children toswap sedentary screen-use for active screen-use.This is a proven approach to supporting Loganchildren to participate in physical activity, workingtowards achieving overall health, wellbeing, and lifesatisfaction.

The Activity Play Packs initiative also responded toCOVID conditions. The aim of the project was toprovide 1,000 children with physical activityresources to encourage and support children tobe active during social distancing. Ninetypercent of the activity packs were distributed in the3 key locations (Woodridge, Kingston, Eagleby) byLogan Together Partners and local serviceproviders particularly in Community Gatewayservices. Eighteen Logan based partners supportedthis project through distribution to children andfamilies experiencing hardship in Logan

The program is overseen by the Strategic AdvisoryGroup established early in the program. Thismultidisciplinary cross-sectoral group, guides thedirection of the program and provides valuableinsight and advice. Member agencies representedinclude Queensland Government, Logan CityCouncil, Nature Play QLD, QUT, Griffith Universityand Logan Together.

The focus moving forward is on growing thecapacity of people working with children toembrace the importance of play and physicalactivity. This will happen hand in glove withgrowing the capacity of parents to embrace play fortheir own kids.

more than

1, 000

Logan Families played more

Ongoing support and professional development

for local sporting organisations

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P H Y S I C A L A C T I V I T Y L I B R A R Y

Community Active Partnership Program contributed to the Stronger Together portal byproducing and/or sourcing quality local physical literacy content aimed at buildingthe capacity of the Logan community to provide physical activity options that alignedto COVID-19 health measures and physical distancing requirements. Short videoswere developed by local coaches with the goal to support children to swap sedentaryscreen-use for active screen-use.

125 online resources

100 physical activity

resources

825 you tube views 408 Kid's page views

Check out the library by scanning the QR code

1314 COMMUNITYMEMBERS

TOOK PART

41 ACTIVIT IES DELIVERED

17DIFFERENTTYPES OPFACTIVITYPACKS

WEEKS17

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L O G A N R I V E R S P R O J E C T

The Logan Rivers Project is a place-based initiative that aims to promote child well being,strengthening family functions and relationships, and support community participation andconnections within Yarrabilba and Logan Village. This was achieved through delivery of a rangeof fun community activities designed as part of a holiday and outside school hours program.parents were encouraged to participate to allow positive interaction with their children. Theactivities were delivered in easy accessible locations in Logan village and Yarrabilba,comprising of face to face sessions and during COVID-19 disruption, by means of activitypacks. These are the key numbers from the project.

take part in activities that benefit them and theirfamilies; at their own time and in their own wayget help to navigate the wider service system tomeet their needsbecome active as community members andcommunity leaders in building thrivingcommunities.

Logan Together's Community Gateways project isbuilding up the strength of the many communityhubs and centres across the city that provide anessential platform for community life.

While Logan’s Gateways are deeply valued by thecommunities they serve, and the wider servicesystem, this is not reflected in the way they areresourced.

Logan Together partners define a CommunityGateway as a place or service for the wholecommunity. Through Community Gateways,community members can:

The work undertaken clearly identified that differentGateways operate in different ways, and not allelements of this definition will apply equally to all ofthem. ‘Gateway work’ describes a particular styleand focus of work, not necessarily an organisation –some organisations may specialise in Gateway workexclusively, but for others it may be one of a numberof things an organisation does.

What Community Gateways currently operate inLogan and what are some of their key resourcingneeds?What are the existing gaps in provision and howcould these be met?What future needs are likely to emerge as Logangrows?

The definition is useful because it outlines a formand approach to community services work whichvarious agencies engage with to a greater or lesserextent.

These insights are just part of the Logan'sCommunity Gateways - Operating Framework reportwhich provides an outline of how CommunityGateways operate, the evidence behind theseoperations, and the strategies which can make themmore effective.To compliment this a needs analysis was alsocompleted. It examines the current supply andresourcing of Community Gateways in Logan in thecontext of the city’s demographics, and attempts toanswer three questions:

These two reports provide valuable resources tounderstand Community Gateways in Logan.


C O M M U N I T Y G A T E W A Y S

Download the Community Gateways Operating Report

https://logantogether.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/200227_CommunityGateways_OperatingFramework_Final-1.pdf






With so many different projects underway the Kindyto Prep year has been a big one. Many, many LoganTogether partners have been part of the work. Hereare some of the highlights:

Kindy Scholarships

For many families in Logan cost is a significantbarrier to accessing a Kindergarten education. TheKindy Scholarship Program reduces this barrier byproviding scholarships to families most in need tocover their kindergarten fees for 1 year (or 40weeks). As part of this program, facilitating partnersaccess the scholarships; support families throughthe enrolment process; and, help to address otherbarriers to kindergarten participation. TheseScholarships are only possible thanks to thegenerous support of the Logan Community BankBranches of the Bendigo Bank and individualdonors.

Early Years Champions

The Early Years Champions will be newly createdroles that are dedicated to authentic engagementwith parents and caregivers to increase uptake ofkindergarten and other behaviours and practicesthat are essential for healthy child development. Engagement with families will be through a varietyof channels including one-on-one conversations,group workshops and events. Early YearsChampions will also be responsible for embedding along-term sustainable strategy for kindy and earlyyears promotion in Logan and leveragingpartnerships wherever possible.

These special roles will be hosted in communityorganisations and centres for the best possibleoutcome. They are expected to be on the ground inthe last half of 2020.

Logan Loves Kindy Month

The Logan Loves Kindy Month will be the peak eventfor the Kindy to Prep Program this calendar yearnow scheduled for October. Initially planned forearly in the year COVID pushed it back but did notdampen the enthusiasm of the organising group -made up of more then 13 interested organisations inLogan. The purpose of this month will be topromote and support families get a kindy experiencewith the longer-term goal of kindy enrolment. Themonth will showcase the best of kindergarten andgive families an opportunity to experience kindy life. Information about every aspect of kindy will beproduced and be accessible in both online andprinted formats.

Strategic Advisory Group

This work has been guided by the Strategic AdvisoryGroup. The group is made up of key decisionmakers across the early childhood education andcare sector as well as relevant governmentdepartments.

The group met every month to six weeks to discussthe high level strategies that are needed to supportLogan children and the early childhood educationand care sector. Key issues included: differentmodels of kindy that are inclusive of all; differentways to reach and build relationships with familiesnot currently considering kindy; cultural safety inmainstream kindies; and significant barriers togetting kids to kindy like cost, transport, and lack ofawareness.


K I N D Y T O P R E P

Communities thrive when children thrive, andchildren thrive when their parents are supported.

During the early years of a child’s life the quality ofchildren’s relationships and interactions with theirparents and other carers has a significant impact onhealthy development. Building parental confidence,supporting parents to develop the knowledge andskills to increase the richness of everydayinteractions with their children, and strengtheningcommunity connection are three effective ways ofimproving children’s health, development andwellbeing in both the short and longer term. Thebiggest issue we face is that despite knowing this, alot of our families are not receiving the support theyneed in the way they need it. Logan Together islooking afresh at better ways to engage withparents, drawing on the best knowledge andexperience of partners across the movement.

Our approach has three key components:

Aligning our resources: The Stronger Parentingproject is developing a strategic framework, inpartnership with our parent-facing communityorganisations, that seeks to map and focus theparent-facing projects of Movement partnerstowards achieving Logan Together outcomes.

Honing our focus: Logan families have told us akey challenge they face is finding the time andheadspace to navigate the avalanche of parentingadvice which descends from all angles in multipleformats. We’ve heard this can be confusing on agood day and paralysing or triggering on a toughday. In the same vein, our service provider partnershave asked for a core set of behaviours andmessages to focus on when engaging with parentson child development.

The Essential Child Journey seeks to respond toboth insights. Our vision is to create resources thatsupport community workers who engage withparents across the Logan Together movement. Ourtheory is that if we collectively focus our efforts onthe key things that make the greatest difference to achild’s development outcomes, we will be able tostrengthen childhood outcomes universally andfaster. A generic version of the Essential ChildJourney has been drafted and we’re now connectingwith our partners, starting with community hubsstaff, to operationalise this.

Designing activities that families want to be part of: The way we engage with families, and theenvironment we do this in, has an enormousinfluence on the uptake and practicing of the homebehaviours we’re keen to see. ‘Logan Sings’ is aproject in the design stage that aims to bringfamilies together and act as a gateway of changefor parents to develop stronger parenting skills.Using the universal language of music and the arts,children and families from across the rich tapestryof Logan, will connect, have fun and celebratecommunity, family and culture … a recreationalexperience that is inextricably tethered to childdevelopment outcomes (using the Essential ChildJourney as the source).

A thorough assessment of the impact of thisprogram will be undertaken to ensure the outcomesare worth the investment and level of risk in tryingsomething new. This will include a familyengagement phase, working with community hubsand families connected to them to determine thefeasibility, roll out and reach strategy and fundingscope.


S T R O N G E R P A R E N T I N G

Stronger Together Logan in an online portaldeveloped in March 2020 when Queensland wentinto a COVID-19 lockdown. At this time there wasan avalanche of, and constant change in,information, updates and messaging. The portaloffered a space that was reliable, useful, andrelevant to Logan families.

On the site information was curated to assistpeople find the information they needed when theyneeded it! For families, for kids, for sector wereall points of entry. Community members wereencouraged to share how they were living throughCOVID.

The site created much interest and was theinspiration behind many other collaborations. Notably the writing, recording, singing and filmingof a new Anthem for Logan - Stronger Together.


S T R O N G E R T O G E T H E R

A N A N T H E M F O R L O G A N

The strength, spirit and resilience of the Logancommunity was captured in an unofficial localanthem made by its community, for its community.Launched during Under-8’s Week, a celebration ofLogan’s littlest people will combine with acelebration of the community spirit at the Logan’sheart to create Stronger Together: the song.

The song, part of Logan Together’s StrongerTogether Logan campaign and driven by First 5Forever and the Logan Together Backbone Team,was penned, composed, sung and produced byLogan locals, and the video features images ofLogan’s kids throughout. Local vocalists Mad Mike(Michael Orcher), Tuuta Finau aka Junior Finau,andEmily Pluckrose are the singers.

As a result of COVID-19 social distancingrestrictions imposed by the QueenslandGovernment, many primary, secondary and tertiaryeducation facilities have transitioned theirprograms from class-based delivery to onlinedelivery formats. Additionally, closure of Councillibraries in Logan prevent families from accessingpublicly available computer resources for studypurposes.

These factors exacerbated an existing digitaldivide - where most in the community have accessto home computers and could continue theirstudies online - a large number of disadvantagedfamilies experienced interruption to theireducation because they didn't have a computer orsufficient internet data for use in the home.

In response, Logan Together partnered with YFS’Substation 33, ConnectUp and Giveit, andCommunities for Children to distributereconditioned desktops, laptops, tablets for $100per unit, and free student desks to communitymembers in need. In addition, Logan Togetheroffered $100 mobile data bursaries to recipientsof units where required.

C O M P U T E R S F O R C O M M U N I T Y

Families needing hardware and data wereidentified by Logan’s Community Gateways, withthese organisations also collaborating inthe distribution and set up of units in the homesof families receiving the computers with theassistance of trained volunteers sourced throughthe Care Army.

In total this amazing partnership was able toprovide 125 desktop computers and 50 tabletswith docking stations to Logan families.

A very big thanks to the Bryan Foundation formaking this possible.


Bridging the digital divide inside and out!

MObile outreach - Afternoon antics

Due to Covid-19 restriction, many local supportservices and activities moved to online formats.As a result, families with no device or data athome that were previously able to access supportservices could no longer do so. In an environmentwhere employment, housing and income havebeen effected, Logan’s children and families are atrisk of becoming increasingly more disadvantagedduring this time as they are socially isolated andlacking connection to local services, informationand support.

A working group of key local partner organisationsare collaborated to deliver the Mobile OutreachPilot Project, a place based initiative reaching outto local Logan families. The Project providedaccess to information, resources and connectionto their community during this time and as wemoved into covid-19 recovery. The LoganTogether Backbone team is providing coordinationand working closely with local communityorganisations to lead the delivery of the mobileoutreach activity in their local community, inpartnership with Reclink Australia, and othersupporting partners.

Children's Charter

Renewed vigour has accompanied the Children's Charter as COVID restrictionslifted and life began returning to normal and this project to build a childfriendly community is set to take off. Expressions of interest forimplementation of the Children's Charter were distributed to members of theLeadership Table and Action Group late in the year, with some partnersalready on board and taking up the offer for assistance to implement withintheir organisations.

Moving into the 2020-2021 financial year work will focus on capacity buildingactivities with early learning services in Logan.

R O A D M A P P R O J E C T H I G H L I G H T S

Maternity Hubs

Since the opening of the Village Connect Maternity Hub in April 2020 there isan Increased level of engagement, with over 85% of mums getting involved inother Village Connect activities, along with strong engagement in playgroups,men’s group and Gestational Diabetes education sessions. Women andmidwives reported increased satisfaction due to the supportive environmentprovided by the Village Connect hub. Village Connect has also agreed to hostthe Singing for Strength Pilot commencing in the near future. The commitment to achieve 30% of women having access to MGP / HUB modelcare by July 2020 was reached early and the number of midwives across allfour hubs increased from12 to 33 during the year, again signalling patientdemand and funder commitment!

R O A D M A P H I G H L I G H T S P A G E 1 9

Thriving and on track

Thriving and On Track (TOTS) is a collaborative initiative that aims to increasetimely access to child development checks and early intervention services forchildren in the 2.5 – 3.5 year age group in target locations.

In 2019-2020, a number of studies/workshops identified changes to be madeto the TOTs model for 2020. These changes were expected to improve theuptake of child health checks and subsequent referral and access tospecialist support.

In late 2019, it was agreed by the steering committee and executive level toexpand the TOTs program to an additional six communities with high levels ofdevelopmental vulnerability and to support program coordinator positions forimplementation in these communities. There is excitement about how thesechanges will improve the lives of children in Logan moving forward.

T H A N K S T O O U R S U P P O R T E R S

The Australian GovernmentDepartment of Social Services

Queensland Government

Logan City Council

Vincent Fairfax Foundation

The Bryan Foundation

Dusseldorp Forum

Bendigo Bank

This year we were grateful for the rapid support offered by many partners to help us respond to the COVID-19 emergency.

A huge thanks to:

for their extra support this year.

Logan Together can only achieve things for Logan children because ofthe support we receive from our funding partners. Our deep thanks to

the following wonderful institutions:

O U R S U P P O R T E R S

T H A N K S T O O U R C O V I D P A R T N E R S

Vincent Fairfax Foundation

The Bryan Foundation

Dusseldorp Forum

O U R F I N A N C I A L R E P O R T

The Logan Child Friendly Community Charitable Trust was establishedprior to Logan Together as a vehicle to attract donations andphilanthropic investment for the benefit of Logan children. FundingGriffith University to host the Logan Together project became the mainfocus for the Trust from 2015 to 2018.

From July 2018 Logan Child Friendly Community Ltd – a charitablecompany – took over from Griffith University as the entity responsiblefor the Logan Together project. The Company enjoys DGR1 status as aPublic Benevolent Insitution (PBI).

The Charitable Trust continues as a vehicle to fund activity that isinconsistent with the operating requirements of a PBI (such asundertaking policy or research work) and may be used more widely toresource other community benefit activity into the future.

F I N A N C I A L R E P O R T

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