Online Safety Grants Program – Round 1 recipients

Project name

Safe Online Together

Project description

The University of Canberra’s Safe Online Together project delivered a series of evidence-based workshops and online resources that aimed to reduce family conflict around technology use.

Families with school-aged children and students participated in the four-step program, which included family workshops, peer-facilitated training sessions for young people and families, and school-based interactive sessions for students.

The project concluded in February 2022 with a total of 1,300 participants learning about balancing the risks and opportunities of digital technologies. 

For more information, head to Safe Online Together.

Focus areas: Preparing our citizens and preparing our communities

Audience: Children, young people, families

Funding: $118,000.00

Project name

Crushed But Okay

Project description

The Alannah & Madeline Foundation developed Crushed But Okay, an early intervention campaign to help young men communicate respectfully online and be more accepting and understanding of rejection.

These resources and interventions were co-designed with a diverse group of young people (of mixed genders) and included capacity building online, face-to-face forums and a major social media campaign, which provided an opportunity for young men to share their online experiences. 

Since launching in April 2022, the national campaign has reached 2.5 million people.

The project won gold at the Melbourne Design Awards 2022 for best mobile-based marketing as well as a Good Design Award 2022 for the Communication category. It also received Silver in the w3 Awards for digital excellence.

For more information, head to Crushed but Okay.

Focus areas: Preparing our citizens, preparing our communities and supporting innovation

Audience: Young people aged 15 to 17 years

Funding: $714,800.00
 

Project name

Online Safety for All Abilities

Project description

The Endeavour Foundation co-designed and developed an Online Safety Academy that allows young people with intellectual disability to improve their online safety skills and awareness to safely navigate digital environments. 

Young people with intellectual disabilities were involved in all aspects of program creation including design and content production. The modules were designed with accessibility in mind and include animation, video content and text to speech activities using characters and imagery that young people with disability can relate to. 

Since launching in April 2021, approximately 2,000 participants have worked through modules covering cyberbullying, online scams as well as personal rights and responsibilities while navigating the internet.

This project has also supported Endeavour Foundation to build new and expand existing relationships with around 20 specialist schools across regional Queensland.

For more information, head to the Online Safety Academy.

Focus areas: Preparing our citizens and preparing our communities

Audience: Young people with an intellectual disability aged 16-18 

Funding: $100,000.00
 

Project name

Online Safety in Out-of-Home Care

Project description

The Association of Children's Welfare Agencies developed co-designed online training resources for children and young people in out-of-home care and their caregivers. 

The resources include a series of short videos for children and young people in out-of-home care, as well fact sheets and an online training course for caregivers. The project also created videos with and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people.

Resource development was guided by an expert reference group, and a diverse range of young people. Delivery was via the Association of Child Welfare Agencies’ Centre for Community Welfare Training platform with the package also available for use by welfare agencies and national partner bodies.

Since launching in June 2022, the project has reached over 200 agencies across New South Wales, with wider availability to other agencies anticipated in future. 

The resources are available on the Association of Children's Welfare Agencies website.

Focus area: Preparing our communities

Audience: Young people in out-of-home care, families

Funding: $485,000.00

Project name

Stay Safe Online, Tell Someone

Project description

The Y created an online education package that empowers children, young people, and community members to report unsafe online behaviours. 

Each package addresses different challenges that children, young people and adults face in the online world and encourages everyone to tell someone if they see, hear or feel something online that makes them feel worried or unsafe.

The resources were co-designed with over 500 young people from diverse communities whose experiences and stories shaped the storylines that educate participants about online safety and reporting. 

Since launching in March 2021, over 20,000 participants have used The Y’s ‘choose your own adventure’ resources. 

For more information, visit Stay Safe, Tell Someone.

Focus area: Supporting innovation

Audience: Children, young people, families

Funding: $332,500.00
 

Project name

Staying eSafe

Project description

QRAM has co-designed engaging and relatable online safety radio segments for use in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. 

The resources were developed with community members from the Northern Peninsula Area (Yarrabah, Kowanyama, Wujal Wujal and Doomadgee), drawing on real life stories and experiences of online safety issues such as online bullying, sharing content online and online grooming.

Six of the eight radio segments have also been paired with engaging animations featuring locally designed imagery. 

The resources were launched on air in September 2021 and have been distributed through community networks in 16 regional and remote communities in Queensland, and broadcast on over 100 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander radio stations nationally.

For more information, head to Stayin’ eSafe – keeping ourselves, our families and our communities safe online.

Audience: Children, young people, families

Funding: $232,480.00
 

Project name

Souths Cares Cyber Safety Program

Project description

Souths Cares’ ‘Cyber Safety Program’ delivered online safety education programs to primary aged children and members of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in NSW. 

Recognising that strong, positive role models play an important role in influencing the behaviours of children and young people, high profile athletes Rhys Wesser, Alex Johnston, Damien Cook, Jayden Sua and Monique Donovan were trained to deliver informative and engaging online safety sessions on topics such as cyberbullying, privacy and online scams and safe gaming.

Since launching in April 2021, 15,000 primary school students participated in the program through school-based workshops and online webinars across metropolitan and regional NSW.

The project has been incorporated into Souths Cares’ suite of workshops under the Rabbitohs Wellbeing Program. For more information, head to Rabbitohs Community Wellbeing Program.   

Focus areas: Preparing our schools and preparing our communities

Audience: Children, young people, families

Funding: $121,000.00

Project name

Overshare

Project description

Constable Care Foundation’s project developed a virtual reality (VR) experience that teaches young people about online safety. Co-designed with young people, the ‘choose your own adventure’ VR film was developed in conjunction with the WA Screen Academy.

Overshare is available as an incursion to schools and community youth groups across Western Australia using a class set of VR headsets. The film and supporting resources are also available online.
 
The project has reached hundreds of young people across Western Australia, and more widely through its online presence. The Overshare VR incursion program has now become an ongoing and popular offering in Constable Care Foundation’s ‘Youth Choices’ repertoire of incursion workshops for secondary schools and youth centres. 

For more information and to access the resources, head to Constable Care Foundation.

Focus areas: Preparing our schools, preparing our communities and delivering safer online services

Audience: Children, young people, families

Funding: $145,820.00