Stars Foundation - Australia

Stars Foundation’s mission is to support and enable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander girls and young women to make active choices towards realising their full potential in all aspects of their development and wellbeing. Our purpose is improving education and health outcomes for young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. Over recent years significant investment has been directed at young Indigenous men, resulting in good outcomes. Unfortunately, this has not been the case for young Indigenous women. Since 2015, Stars has been running in-school engagement, mentoring and support programs for young Indigenous women in the Northern Territory. In 2018, we also began offering programs in northern Queensland. Our model is based on the best available evidence and we are seeing some outstanding outcomes. To meet the needs of our young women, we offer a range of extracurricular activities, including sport and physical activities, art, music, and dance. Community activities and camps are also offered to provide engagement incentives and opportunities for personal growth and development. Full-time, on-site mentors are the key to the success of the Stars program. Our experienced mentors help the girls develop skills that aim to foster resilience and wellbeing, leading to increased social connection, community participation, and self-confidence.