The UWA‑led Australian Child and Youth Wellbeing Atlas has received a vital funding boost from the Stan Perron Charitable Foundation to unlock the next stage of development of the project.
As Australia’s leading geospatial child-data mapping platform, the Atlas helps organisations turn data into stronger planning, investment and action for children and young people. The new investment will expand access to localised data, enhance reporting tools, develop new measures of child and community wellbeing and support enhanced analytical capabilities that help users more easily identify areas of need.
The Atlas Project Chair Professor Rebecca Glauert thanked the Stan Perron Charitable Foundation for its generous support, acknowledging the Foundation’s longstanding commitment to improving the lives of children and families in Western Australia and nationally.
“The Foundation’s contribution comes at a pivotal time and will help accelerate the Atlas’ growth, making a meaningful difference to how organisations across Australia understand and respond to the needs of children and young people,” Professor Glauert said.
Image: (L-R) Dr Gervase Chaney, Professor Rebecca Glauert, Catherine Rennison and Marketa Reeves
The next stage of development for the Atlas will strengthen its usability as a practical resource, helping users spend less time locating and interpreting information and more time applying evidence in practice. New functionality will improve the way users discover, interpret and present information, including AI-assisted search and plain-language summaries.
Importantly, the investment will support continued partnerships, training and community engagement activities, ensuring that organisations and communities across Australia have access to data and the capability to use it effectively.
Children benefit when decisions about services, investments and policies are informed by robust evidence, and the impact is already being demonstrated in communities across Australia.
Atlas data has supported the development of child dental health initiatives in regional Western Australia, informed youth mental health planning in Belmont and Victoria, strengthened support for young parents in far north Queensland, contributed to community-led youth strategy development in remote communities, and supported national child wellbeing reporting through collaboration with UNICEF Australia.
“This funding by Stan Perron Charitable Foundation, awarded in partnership with Minderoo Foundation and The Ian Potter Foundation, will unlock the next stage of growth for Australia’s leading evidence infrastructure for children and young people,” Professor Glauert said. “The ultimate impact is not simply better data, but better decisions that help children and young people thrive.”
To find out more about the Australian Child and Youth Wellbeing Atlas, visit https://australianchildatlas.com.au/