Past Great Ydeas recipients
Sustineo grants
Rae Knopik: The CBR Gals Network Directory
The CBR Gals Network Directory is Canberra’s inclusive repository of all women-run (including non-binary-run) businesses. It provides enduring value for Canberrans who wish to support women’s businesses and improve the status of women’s financial lives by serving as a ‘yellow pages’ of all the businesses that are owned and operated by women.
Based on research that found that Canberran women want to support other women in business, but lack the tools to, the Directory provides Canberra women in business with a free platform to showcase their products and collaborate with other women-run businesses.
Jean Du: Primary
Primary is a program to change the narrative on menstruation by providing menstrual, sexual health, and reproductive education and advising agencies of the optimal ways to implement considerations of gender.
It aims to address the gendered stigma of menstruation to empower women, girls, and others who menstruate, in Australia and around the world, with a focus on the Indo-Pacific, to reclaim ownership of their bodies.
Canberra Innovation Network grants
Natalie Williams: Currawong Collective
This project establishes an innovative new collective network of women composers based in Australia. As a professional association to promote women’s music and skills to the artistic industry, the Collective will fill professional gaps, and amplify and connect musical women with work opportunities. It promotes music written by women, raising their voices in a male-dominated field, and build a community of women composers.
Serina Bird: The Joyful Fashionista
The Joyful Fashionista is an online platform for buying and selling second-hand and sustainably produced new clothing. It aims to transform fashion in Australia by encouraging more women to embrace second-hand, vintage and sustainable clothing, and making it more accessible and affordable.
The Joyful Fashionista is about creating a community that celebrates the joy of wearing second hand and sustainable, and creating an inclusive image of fashion.
Beyond Bank grants
Zainab Farouk: Be Your Best
Be Your Best is a professional development conference for culturally and linguistically diverse women to be delivered by local multicultural women’s support group the Phoenix Sisters.
This one-day conference will inspire multicultural women and provide strategies and tool kits for them to lead and excel in the Australian workplace. Attendees will develop long-lasting networks in their local communities to leverage support to help grow and develop their careers. They will also have access to ongoing mentoring and networking sessions.
YWCA Canberra grants
Camille Schloeffel: Safe Response Toolkit
The Safe Response Toolkit Project provides information to victim-survivors of sexual violence and their supporters about how to safely respond to disclosures and access support services in Canberra.
Available in both digital and physical form, the toolkit will provide clear, trauma-informed and accessible information for victim-survivors in Canberra regarding the personal, legal and medical considerations when disclosing and reporting sexual violence.
It aims to reduce the stigmatisation of sexual violence and provide victim-survivors with the autonomy to access and navigate available support systems.
Kate Crowhurst: Financial literacy workshops for young women
With the worsening economic participation of women during the COVID-19 pandemic, this project aims to support the financial literacy development of young women by providing guidance on ways to manage their money and use it to afford the life choices they want to create. It aims to empower young feminists to feel empowered as economic participants making choices with their finances.
The course complements existing resources on the Money Bites website, which Kate developed from a previous Great Ydeas grant, as an enduring resource for young women.
Jae Brieffes: Young Visionaries Lab
Young Visionaries Lab (YVL) is a weekly program designed to introduce students to basic principles of project management, strategic communications, scaling, sustainability and impact measurement, while supporting them to develop the skills and vision needed to pursue a purpose-driven career.
It provides inspiration, training and guided implementation to empower young people to exceed in their communities as significant contributors to social progress.
Cinnamone Winchester: Memento Mori: Bossy Magazine’s Seventh Print Edition
Bossy magazine is the ANU Women’s Department’s annual print and online publication. Managed by undergraduate ANU students, Bossy accepts submissions from women, femme-aligned, non-binary, and genderqueer ANU students, staff, and alumni.
Bossy provides a platform for BIPOC and traditionally marginalised groups to inject their perspectives into mainstream culture. It aims to provide a space where contributors can speak loudly and without apology, to advocate for gender equity, to educate as many people as possible about intersectionality and intersectional feminism, and to shed light on the realities that marginalised members of our community face each and every day.
Saba Awan, On the Ground
The On the Ground website aims to recognise talented locally-based women of colour working in various fields and provide the broader community with a direct way to connect with them.
It will feature profiles of these women highlighting their experience and interests (at no cost to them). It will serve as a conduit through which organisations, businesses, schools and other institutions can directly invite these women to speak at events, consultations and other collaboration opportunities.
Greater public visibility of these women via the website will create meaningful networks between women of colour and the broader community and will enhance the impact of future social initiatives and events undertaken in Canberra.
Rosalind Moran, Living Letters
Living Letters is a series of guided workshops aimed at increasing engagement with literature throughout the local Canberra community.
In celebration of the 100th anniversary of Children’s Book Week, Living Letters will provide a space for people to interact with their favourite books by writing letters as, or to a character they are interested in, or to their favourite authors.
Participants will also be able to share their writing with others and have the opportunity to share works of literature that are important to them.
Katherine Guerin-Smith, Sexy Health Social Hour
Sexy Health Social Hour is an event for LBQ (lesbian, bisexual and queer) women, including trans, non-binary and gender diverse people who are connected to women’s communities.
Queer sex ed is often not covered during general sexual education and can leave members of the community vulnerable.
This event will be run by, and for, queer women and gender diverse people. It will empower the community through forming bonds, providing inclusive sexual health information to an under-served community and allowing LBQ (lesbian, bisexual and queer) women, including trans, non-binary and gender diverse people to take leadership roles. All education will be inclusive and consent-based.
Sophie Holloway, How You Bin
How You Bin is a campaign in the Bungendore community to promote sustainability at a household level.
Sophie has developed a suite of innovative, original, targeted strategies to give Bungendorians the tools to implement simple steps in their lives, whether these be installing “No Junk Mail” signs, recycling soft plastics/plastic bags or simply being certain of whether they should recycle milk bottles with the lids on or off!
Such actions require so little effort, yet on a house-by-house basis can create such a lasting difference in reducing unnecessary waste. Through her research (including a local survey) Sophie has discovered that the vast majority of Canberra-region inhabitants would want to live more sustainably.
The main barrier to adopting more environmentally-friendly household behaviours is simply the absence of accountability and sufficiently compelling sources of motivation to instigate changes in habits.
Sophie wants to make people accountable by creating a community movement and putting the tools for change directly into their hands. She is working with the community including with the local Farmers’ Market, Op Shop and businesses.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank our 2019 Great Ydeas Innovation Partners:
CBR Innovation Network mentoring idea to impact workshop series
The 2019 CBR Innovation Network Great Ydeas Mentoring idea to impact workshop series provides a grant of $2,000 to a girl or woman of any age to pursue an entrepreneurial activity, such as a social enterprise start-up, or other small business ideas.
Kate Crowhurst, ‘The Money Bites’ financial literacy podcast and blog
‘The Money Bites’ financial literacy podcast and blog aims to normalise conversations about money.
It will cover the experiences with money that aren’t covered in mainstream media including managing money after a divorce or death of a partner.
Money can either represent an opportunity or a barrier to women shaping their community. With 46 per cent of Australian women reporting that they find dealing with money stressful and overwhelming, it’s clear that the resources being produced have not significantly decreased the anxiety we feel when dealing with money.
EY Great Ydeas Creativity Grant
The EY Great Ydeas Creativity Grant provides a grant of $2,000 to a girl or woman of any age to support a project, artwork, production, or business idea focusing on
architecture, dance, visual arts, literature, film production, music, or theatre.
Vendulka, Musical project
At for 21 years, singer/songwriter Vendulka has a slew of impressive achievements under her belt. From captivating audiences at some of New South Wales’ biggest folk festivals to touring internationally at the age of 14, to celebrating a #1 EP just a year later, this young artist is blazing a fierce trail. A two-time National Busking Champion, Vendulka has opened for some of the biggest names in Australian Folk music, including Pete Murray, and The Audreys.
Through the grant, Vendulka will be able to hire one of Australia’s up and coming female producers, Antonia Gauci to collaborate on a single to be released on all platforms and enable Vendulka to become a resource for any young women in music wanting advice on how to jump into a music career.
Microsoft Great Ydeas STEAM Start-Up Grant
The Microsoft Great Ydeas STEAM start-up grant provides seed funding of up to $2,000 to a woman entrepreneur and/or small business owner of any age, in the science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics arena.
Jennifer Robertson, WeiJenTech
WeiJenTech is the product of the work of two female entrepreneurs. Jennifer Robertson who is a neuroscientist and junior doctor with an interest in Neurosurgery and Wei Wei Hou a computer science PhD student.
It will apply cutting edge computer science research to develop devices to help patients with neurological diseases. Its first aim is to produce a device to help stroke patients with speech deficits to communicate while also improve their speech. helping stroke patients speak with their loved ones, return to work and engage with the wider community.
Julia Faragher, From Amateur to Artist
From Amateur to Artist is a documentary series about the lives and work of young female artists in the Canberra community. The series aims to feature a diverse range of artists, both in the sense of artist styles, such as musicians, visual artists and writers, as well as culturally diverse backgrounds. It will consist of five 4-6 minute episodes each featuring a different artist.
Each episode will contain three separately filmed segments: an interview, an average day in their studio or regular place of work, and a performance, exhibition or concert out in the Canberra community, wherever they share their art. From Amateur to Artist is about giving young female artists a voice and a chance for more people to access their art. It also provides an opportunity for the audience to learn about their journeys and get an insight into what a career as an artist actually looks like. Ultimately, the series is about empowering both the female artists themselves and young girls who may be discovering their own artistic potential.
Caitlin Figueiredo, Jasiri Trailblazer Fellowship
The Jasiri Trailblazer Fellowship is designed as an inclusive, resilience-building program that promotes leadership, active participation, and therapeutic potential, through self-defense and skills-based training.
The program will support 10 young, multicultural and Indigenous women aged 15-22 to participate in sessions and activities designed to unlock their leadership potential, fight stereotypes, and increase self-esteem and confidence, and build skills in social entrepreneurship, mentoring and professional and leadership development.
Yasmine Gray, GetAboutAble
GetAboutAble is an innovative Canberra-based start-up which, through its website getaboutable.com, enables people with disability, their families, friends and supporters to share information about accessible and inclusive travel and leisure activities around the world.
Think of getaboutable.com as a Trip Advisor for the 20% of the population that finds it difficult to experience new places and activities, mostly because of a lack of information about accessibility. GetAboutAble innovatively combines online map-based and text-based search tools and applying them to the accessible travel and leisure sector, addressing the lack easily available information for people with disabilities, their families, friends and carers who want to get out and about.
While the types of search/listing tools and revenue model used by getaboutable.com are also used by a number of well-known online platforms in the travel and leisure industry, no global online platform yet exists that applies these tools and revenue model to the accessible travel and leisure market. The website getaboutable.com won a 2017 ACT Chief Minister’s Inclusion Award for Innovation in Design.
Sita Sargeant, Change the Frame
Change the Frame (changetheframe.org.au) is a youth-led initiative for young people aged 13-18. The aim of the program is for participants to leave with an understanding that all people are equal and deserve access to the same rights and opportunities. Through her project, Sita hopes to empower young people, and create a generation of more socially aware, inclusive and empathetic Canberrans.
Change the Frame will deliver an eight-week workshop series, introducing and defining the concept of intersectionality through feminism, masculinity, sex and gender, LGBTQIA+ identities, and healthy relationships. The series will conclude with a workshop exploring identity, and challenge participants to analyse their place in society and to brainstorm some of the ways they themselves can initiate change.
Ultimately, participants will have the ability to critically evaluate and discuss these systems, while also gaining a better understanding of, and empathy towards, a range of different lived experiences within society.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank our 2018 Great Ydeas Innovation Partners:
CBRIN Mentoring/Lean Startup Workshop Series
The 2018 CBRIN Great Ydeas Innovate Grant provides a grant of $2,000 to a girl or woman of any age to pursue an entrepreneurial activity, such as a social enterprise start-up, or other small business idea.
Hayley Teasdale, Buzz Balance Ball
Hayley is a PhD candidate at the University of Canberra, working to improve balance for people with severe balance impairments. Her Buzz Balance Ball is a new medical technology that will rapidly improve balance and reduce the risk of falls for people with neurological conditions, as well as the elderly.
Hayley’s vision is to support people with neurological conditions to stay at work, stay engaged with their community, and stay independent for longer. Hayley is currently preparing to launch her Buzz Balance Ball under her own start-up, which will design, produce and manufacture innovative pieces of technology that can be used towards solving global health problems.
Hayley also received the 2017 NAB Great Ydeas Innovate Grant for this project, and YWCA Canberra is pleased to continue to support her incredible work through the Great Ydeas program for a second year.
EY Great Ydeas Creativity Grant
The EY Great Ydeas Creativity Grant will provide a grant of $2,000 to a girl or woman of any age to support a project, artwork, production, or business idea focusing on
architecture, dance, visual arts, literature, film production, music, or theatre.
Fiona Hooton, Lakeside Stories Pilot Project
Fiona’s Lakeside Stories Pilot Project is a digital story telling tour, intended to take place at night time, and comprises a walking tour at Lake Burley Griffin between the Commonwealth and King’s Avenue Bridges, and uses urban spaces for creative play.
The project is a social enterprise start-up with a cultural and environmental mission, and brings together years of research and experience interpreting Australian art and culture. Fiona will use stories of place to connect audiences to Australia’s cultural and natural resources, and motivate action to sustain them.
Microsoft Great Ydeas STEAM Start-Up Grant
The Microsoft Great Ydeas STEAM start-up grant will provide seed funding of up to $2,000 to a woman entrepreneur and/or small business owner of any age, in the science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics arena.
Alexandra Green, ANU Women in Leadership – Skills for the Future workshops
Through their involvement with ANU Women in Leadership, Alex and her team will use this grant to facilitate a whole-day workshop for women university students to develop skills and competencies using a range of digital software, in order to further prepare them to enter the workforce, and increase their future employability.
The workshop will provide the opportunity for attendees to participate in a range of practical professional development activities, learn about some of the aspects of the professional world that can be a bit unclear, (such as how to negotiate pay and superannuation), build self-confidence and empowerment, and make connections with other students across a range of fields.
Sophie Fisher: Girls on Bikes
Through her project, Sophie aims to empower young women in the community by teaching them how to ride a bike. She came up with the idea after having a conversation with a student she tutors at the Migrant and Refugee Resource Centre who confessed that she had never owned a bike and never been taught how to ride. Girls on Bikes has two parts: the first the restoration and donation of a second hand bike to each woman in the program, followed by five weekly training sessions that promote independence, mobility, fitness and strength, as part of a supportive and cooperative community.
Sarah Lovelady: Aid Memoir
Sarah intends to develop an Aid Memoir for School Age Care Educators to use as a resource to support them to work with children with additional needs. Her motivation for the project is the recent changes to inclusion support funding, which has caused an inability to roster additional support workers at programs, and results in families being turned away.
Sarah hopes the project could overcome this issue by empowering educators with specific strategies and information that will give them the confidence to be able to provide quality support for children with additional needs.
Sarah Lovelady: Social and emotional learning program
Sarah plans to design a Social and Emotional Learning Program to be delivered in School Age Care Programs across Canberra. The program will aim to help children between 6 – 12 years develop the necessary skills to promote a positive sense of self, establish respectful relationships with peers, make responsible decisions and build student understanding of how to manage their emotions.
Hannah Gissane: Young Women Speak Out
Through her project, Young Women Speak Out, Hannah aims to provide support directly to young women leading change in our local community. The project provides training for young women to plan and develop a campaign, and take the lead on issues that are directly about them.
Through a series of workshops, Young Women Speak Out will create a space for 16 and 17 girls to strategise, and plan advocacy and campaigning on an issue that would drive the political participation and engagement of many more young Canberrans.
Francesca Maclean: Fifty50’s Big Ideas Breakfast: Gender Equity in STEM by 2025
Fifty50 is a student-led movement dedicated to promoting gender equity in STEM. Through the Fifty50’s Big Ideas Breakfast event, Francesca hopes to create a meaningful discussion and catalyse real action in Canberra, ultimately leading to a more timely achievement of gender equality, especially in STEM, given the current estimation for reaching this target isn’t until 2186. The breakfast will bring together industry professionals, academics, government representatives (ACT and Federal), and current ANU students, and aims to engage all parties in the development of tangible strategies to achieve gender equity in STEM by 2025.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank our 2017 Great Ydeas Innovation Partners:
Microsoft Great Ydeas STEAM Start-Up Grant
The Microsoft Great Ydeas STEAM start-up grant will provide seed funding of up to $2,000 to a woman entrepreneur and/or small business owner of any age, in the science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics arena.
Kavinya Welikala, Dry Electrode Heart Monitor
Kavinya aims to create a heart monitoring app that can detect irregular heart activity, and can instantly provide a notification to emergency services, along with the person’s location in the event of a heart event. Through her project, Kavinya aims to eliminate the need for human intervention, and provide a cheap, fast and reliable response in emergency situations.
NAB Great Ydeas Innovate Grant
The NAB Great Ydeas Innovate Grant will provide a financial contribution of $2,000 to a girl or young woman age 12-21, who is pursuing an entrepreneurial activity, such as a social enterprise start-up, or other small business idea.
In addition to the funding, NAB will provide up to three advisory sessions with a NAB business banker, and the opportunity to meet with the NAB social media team in Canberra.
Hayley Teasdale, Buzz Balance Ball
Hayley is a PhD candidate at the University of Canberra, working to improve balance for people with severe balance impairments. Her Buzz Balance Ball is a new medical technology that will rapidly improve balance and reduce the risk of falls for people with neurological conditions, as well as the elderly.
Australian Catholic Super Great Ydeas Enrichment Grant
The Australian Catholic Super Great Ydeas Enrichment Grant will provide a grant of $2,000 to a young woman aged 12-25, to reach her potential through personal development.
The grant can be used to attend a conference, fund an extra-curricular activity, or participate in a learning opportunity, for example.
Elise Kellett, The London International Youth Science Forum (LIYSF)
Elise will use her grant to help her fund her attendance at the London International Youth Science Forum later this year. The forum will attract around 500 young scientists between the ages of 17 to 21 from over 60 countries, and bring together a diverse range of the world’s leading scientists, who will conduct presentations and discussion forums about the latest advancements and potential career opportunities.
Soroptomist International ACT & Monaro Great Ydeas Diversity and Inclusion Grant
The Soroptomist International ACT & Monaro chapter will provide a grant of up to $2,000 to a woman of any age, identifying as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, culturally or linguistically diverse, LGBTQI+, or a woman with a disability.
This grant is for any activity covered under the general Great Ydeas funding opportunity, including to help fund a start-up, new project, professional development, or more.
Deborah Evans, The Jarjum Project
Deborah is an Aboriginal Elder (Gija/Djaru), and works part time in the criminal justice system, and has established a program to support the children and families of offenders. Deborah intends to use her grant to introduce a cultural program at the Alexander McConochie Correctional Centre.
EY Great Ydeas Creativity Grant
The EY Great Ydeas Creativity Grant will provide a grant of $2,000 for a woman of any age to support a project, artwork, production, or business idea focusing on
architecture, dance, visual arts, literature, film production, music, or theatre.
Lucy Nelson, Girls Write Up: Canberra
Girls Write Up (GWU) is a daylong festival for teenagers that teaches empowerment through writing and sharing stories; explores the relationship between language, gender and power; and examines the effects of unconscious bias on our sense of self. The program is administered by the Stella Prize and has already run in Melbourne and Sydney. Lucy plans to assist Noted Writers Festival to bring GWU to Canberra for the first time in 2017.
CBRIN Mentoring/Lean Startup Workshop Series
This year, we’ve partnered with the CBR Innovation Network (CBRIN) to offer one grant recipient the opportunity to participate in CBRIN’s “Lean Start Up Workshop” series in 2017, and 3 x 1 hour mentoring sessions with experienced entrepreneurs.
Kavinya Welikala, Dry Electrode Heart Monitor (above).
Ritu Clementi
Ritu is committed to helping girls to shape their own future through leadership. She plans to establish a Leadership Academy to provide a monthly seminars for college aged girls, creative a supportive, empowering cohort of young women.
Sarah Collett
Sarah is passionate about keeping children and young people safe. Along with her two business partners, Sarah plans to establish a local training and consulting business to deliver high-quality, affordable and flexible workshops on child and family safety to early childhood staff, as well as other community organisations.
Gemma Killen
Gemma is a PhD candidate at the Australian National University. Gemma has been invited to present at the 7th Appearance Matters Conference in London on her research, which explores how young, queer women use the Internet to understand and speak about their bodies. The Great Ydeas grant will support Gemma to travel to London.
Erin-Claire Barrow
Erin-Claire is a talented and unique local artist. Her project is to write, illustrate and exhibit feminist fairytales, to contribute to how we think about gender and increase the visibility of traditionally under-represented characters in these well-loved stories. After holding a local exhibition, Erin Clare aims to publish a book of the stories and illustrations and hopes to run workshops with young Canberrans on storytelling and illustration in the future.
The 2016 Australian Catholic Superannuation Great Ydeas Enrichment Grant
We are delighted that this year Australian Catholic Superannuation partnered with us to provide a unique Great Ydeas grant for a young Canberra woman to further her potential. The Australian Catholic Superannuation Great Ydeas Enrichment Grant was designed to help a young woman (aged 12-25) reach her potential through personal development.
Elyse Lenehan
Elyse is a young dancer with a big dream. A Canberra local, Elyse was one of 17 young people across Australia selected last year to attend the National Aboriginal and Islander Dance Academy in Gosford. The Australian Catholic Superannuation Great Ydeas Enrichment Grant will help to support Elyse with the practical expenses of homestay and other living costs, and hopefully to purchase a laptop.
The 2016 EY Great Ydeas Impact Grant
YWCA Canberra and EY share a commitment to supporting young people, and this year we were pleased to announce that EY had generously supported the Great Ydeas Grants Program. The EY Great Ydeas Impact Grant was designed to to support a young woman to kick-start a project in the areas of wellbeing, social connectedness and inclusion.We are thrilled to continue our strong relationship with EY, one of Canberra’s leading professional services organisations.
Emily Warburton
Emily is passionate about promoting health and wellbeing, and wants to establish a yoga and meditation program at her high school. The EY Impact Grant will help Emily to facilitate regular classes, as well as providing yoga mats and water bottles. She hopes to be able to replicate this course at other high schools after a successful pilot program.
The 2016 NAB Great Ydeas Innovate Grant
We were pleased to announce that NAB and YWCA Canberra teamed up to offer a Great Ydeas Grant for a young Canberran woman with a passion for innovation and a budding entrepreneurial spirit. The NAB Great Ydeas Innovate Grant was designed to support a young woman to kick-start a small business, a social enterprise start-up or an online shop.
Kate Butler
Kate has founded Enrol 4 Change, an advocacy body designed to promote democracy and encourage young Canberrans to enrol to vote. She plans to roll out the ‘Enrol a Mate’ campaign, engaging with university colleges and community organisations, and using social media to target young Canberrans. The EY Innovate Grant will help Kate to establish a professional website for Enrol 4 Change.
Hannah Massingham & Billi McCarthy-Price
WomenCANPlay is an inspiring web-based not-for-profit project that attempts to increase female sports participation by providing information on the opportunities available for sport participation, including up-to-date contact details; by connecting young women with a welcoming network of sportswomen; helping their participation through scholarship opportunities; and increasing the understanding of contributing factors to low sport participation through research.
Chiara Grassia
Girls Rock! Canberra is a school holiday program that aims to empower girls aged 8-17 through music, encouraging creativity, and fostering teamwork and leadership skills. Chiara will use the grant funding to travel to the USA in June-July to volunteer at two Girls Rock! camps, before returning to run the inaugural Girls Rock! Canberra at Ainslie Arts Centre in January 2016.
Update: Read this blog about Chiara’s experience of attending Girls Rock! camps in the US, and check out this great ABC news story about singer-songwriter Courtney Barnett rocking Girls Rock! Canberra.
Clare Conroy
The Women Talk Work podcast will feature interviews with women in a range of jobs and at a range of levels, to get an insight into what the working lives of Australian women are really like. The interviews will explore what an average day/week involves, the interviewee’s highlights, frustrations and future aspirations, what success in this particular job looks like, and what makes work interesting and enjoyable – or not. Importantly, the interviews will also discuss why women have made certain choices regarding their work and how work fits within the broader context of their lives.
Update: Keep up with all of Clare’s Women Talk Work podcasts at www.womentalkwork.com.
Lee Constable
SoapBox will be a radio program that provides a platform to local people to discuss their social justice passions. It will be produced and broadcast on local community radio station 2XXFM, and re-broadcast on national digital youth broadcaster SYN Nation. Soapbox will be a weekly interview presented live, of those who are involved in initiatives and projects which make the Canberra community more sustainable and equitable. It aims to inspire listeners to consider social equality and environmental sustainability, and will promote services and initiatives available within our community.
Update: Check out SoapBox on Soundcloud, and keep up with the podcast news via Facebook and Twitter.
Rosanna Stevens
Rosanna is an accomplished young Canberra writer who wrote a popular essay, The Right Kind of Blood, on the social abnormalisation and normalisation of menstruation in 2014, published by The Lifted Brow. Now, with the support of publishers, Rosanna is embarking on research to turn the essay into a nonfiction book. The book will make commentary on how the world perceives, treats, shames and celebrates menstruation. Rosanna will travel to Cusco in Peru to participate in a five-day intensive about Peruvian and shamanic women’s knowledge around menstruation, providing an adventurous and multicultural tone to her writing.
Update: Read Rosanna’s blog about her experience participating in a Shamanic women’s knowledge retreat in Peru’s Sacred Valley.
Three of our Great Ydeas 2014 recipients participated in the Changemakers Festival, Women Leading Change panel:
Caterina Giorgi – People for Purpose
People for Purpose (P4P) is a pilot project that will develop and implement tailored professional development training to support women working in the ACT not-for-profit sector, such as advocacy campaign design, strategic communications, and project management. The project will include a ‘Getting to Know the Sector’ training course, featuring presentations from established Sector workers and leaders. Upon completion, participants will become members of the P4P Ideas Network, a sounding board and support system to assist in professional ideas development and problem solving.
Update: Caterina is the Co-Founder of For Purpose, a professional development and coaching and advisory service for NFP professionals.
Hannah McCann – attendance at the Femme Hive 2014
The Femme Hive Conference is a community-run conference that seeks to explore, discuss and support queer femme as a transgressive, gender-queer, stand-alone, and empowered identity. Attending the conference will provide Hannah a valuable contribution to her research, while extending her academic skills. Hannah will present a paper at the conference, based on her research. After attending the conference, she will present her PhD research on queer femme identity.
Update: Hannah wrote a fascinating blog about her experience of attending Femme Hive.
Caitlin Sandercock – Development and Aid Workers Network
The Development and Aid Workers Network (DAWN) is an online knowledge hub for volunteer and professional aid and development workers. The project aims to enhance DAWN by developing a suite of new resources for aid workers, recruiting volunteers to provide advice on key topics, and advocating for accreditation by country embassies.
Hannah Wandel – Country to Canberra
Country to Canberra gives passionate rural girls the opportunity visit Canberra, Australia’s heart of decision-making, to motivate leadership potential. It aims to combat unique barriers faced by regional and remote students, and strengthen links between them and Australia’s political epicentre. The project will run an essay competition for Year 11 students, with the winner travelling to Canberra to attend a breakfast with four powerful female community leaders, and participate in tours of Parliament House and the National Gallery.
Update: Country to Canberra offers a range of opportunities to empower rural girls to reach their leadership potential.
Heidi Zajac – Cooking Circles
The Cooking Circles project will leverage digital communication and social media to connect Australian and Timorese young women to share cooking processes and recipes, stories, and build friendships. Each Cooking Circles event will be recorded using video, stills photography and blogging technology, and shared via social media. The project will provide participants with an opportunity to learn about community development, gender equality and strengths-based work.
Update: Visit the Cooking Circles website to read about the network, and find a new recipe to try!
Anna Ehmann – Co-Op Pop-Up
Anna is an aspiring female entrepreneur who will open a ‘pop-up’ style café inside the Food Co-Op at ANU. The Co-Op Pop-Up will serve high quality, organic, healthy breakfasts in a comfortable and relaxing environment. This project will assist Anna to develop her business skills and build her confidence to begin additional projects in the future.
Claire Natoli, Alisa Draskovic, Elaine Li – Australasian Youth Justice Conference – Changing trajectories of offending and reoffending
Claire, Alisa and Elaine are committed to achieving social reform and have spent time volunteering in the community sector, with a focus on criminal justice. They are also members of the ANU Prisoner Advocacy committee. This grant will provide the opportunity for two members of the ANUPA committee to attend the Australian Youth Justice Conference, 20-22 May 2013. Through attending the conference they will further their knowledge and also build networks within the area of their passion.
Jo Allebone – Martial Women and Girls ACT
Martial Women and Girls is a community network that provides all women and girls with an opportunity to explore martial arts in a safe and inclusive environment. Through this grant, Jo will be able to run four workshop events and a martial arts performance, as well as develop branding and promotional materials, including the development of a website.
Katherine Meacham and Tanya Bae – Supporting Our Sisters
Katherine and Tanya are involved in SOS (Supporting Our Sisters), a local group who hand out water every Friday night in the City, in a bid to ensure young women get home safely and to reduce the negative effects of intoxication. This grant will provide First Aid training for six members of SOS as well as the purchase of six First Aid kits to help them assist other young women and keep them safe.
Merija Gilbert-Puttock – Women Reclaiming Themselves
Merija aspires to publish a book detailing the experiences of women and children who have experienced foster care. This grant will provide Merija with a one year membership to the ACT Writers Centre and provide her with the opportunity to attend a one day editing course to assist her with her project.
Tjanara Goreng Goreng – United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues
In May 2013 Tjanara will attend the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous issues at the United Nations in New York. She will be attending as an Elder and mentor for a young Aboriginal woman, and will support her to make decisions and sign off on interventions. This will also assist Tjanara to develop her own skills in lobbying for interventions, diplomacy and engagement at an international level. This grant will provide funds for Tjanara to purchase her flights.
Courtney Sloane and Melanie Poole – Global Youth for Reproductive Rights
A social movement to raise awareness of the importance of sexual and reproductive healthcare and rights in achieving gender equality and other major development goals.
Diane Kambanei and Melissa Burford – Freedom Marketplace
A pilot project to establish an online store supporting female artisans in Papua New Guinea.
Julianne Williams – Ngnunnawal Aboriginal Arts
Through setting up a studio space in her home, Julianne will create her own small business to create artworks and teach young women at college.
Melissa Burford – The Powerhouse Sisterhood
A gathering of social entrepreneurs who will meet on a monthly basis supporting each other to take their initiatives to the next level.
Jac Torres Gomez and Kiri Dicker – Feasibility Study in Papua New Guinea
Jac and Kiri will form a partnership with the YWCA of Papua New Guinea (PNG) to examine the feasibility of locally produced, culturally appropriate, environmentally friendly and affordable sanitary products for women in PNG.
Tanya and Casey Keed – Dance Beyond Barriers
Tanya and Casey, through Dance Beyond Barriers, will put together a performance for the National Anniversary of the Apology on 13 February 2012. Dance Beyond Barriers is a new dance group in the ACT created to raise awareness of sexual abuse, domestic violence, drug and alcohol abuse, and many other issues within the Aboriginal community.
Donisha Duff – Indigenous Business Excellence
Donisha will be undertaking professional development at Harvard University Summer School from June to August 2011. This experience will contribute towards the progression of Donisha’s Masters of Business Administration and will support her commitment towards reconciliation by supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women to be educated and empowered to lead in their communities.
Abbey Townsend – English4everyone
Abbey will run ‘english4everyone’, a program offering migrants, refugees and visitors opportunities and support to develop English language skills in order to understand Australian society and to share culture, resulting in increased feelings of belonging and enhanced abilities to contribute to community life.
Anya Dettman – Voices of the voiceless: the women of East Timor’s resistance
Anya will be creating an oral history archive of filmed interviews (subtitled in English) with several East Timorese women who worked for the Resistance against Indonesian occupation. At the completion of the project, Anya will hold a screening to show the films and talk about the project.
Helen Moran – Shades of Brindle Cross Cultural Educational Resources
Helen will be developing and publishing a series of six cross cultural educational resource books for pre-school to year six students. Dindima’s Adventures: Learning Aboriginal Culture, will tell the story of a young Aboriginal girl and a group of native Australian animals and didgeridoo characters as they learn about Aboriginal culture.
Nicole Ella – Professional development
Nicole will be undertaking professional development courses, including attending the 6th National Homelessness Conference in Brisbane. These opportunities will help Nicole gain a better understanding of the homelessness sector, the alcohol and other drugs sector and Indigenous sector.
PJ Ann Aguilar – Simplicity Retreats
PJ will be running two Nurturing Yoga retreats for mothers, in order to give mothers a day off to feel refreshed, and regain balance and focus. PJ aims to introduce yoga as a tool to cope with stress, maintain physical fitness and mental balance.
Rita Markwell – Stripping off the Layers
Rita and her project partners will script, produce and perform a creative stage production combining theatre, dance, song and film. The performance piece will explore the journey of cultural identity and belonging from the outside, as seen through the eyes of three Canberra women.