Innovation Case Study: Youth Without Limits

Greater Dandenong City Council

All Abilities Inclusive Youth Event

Greater Dandenong Youth and Family Services, in partnership with Dandenong High School and local youth disability service Burke & Beyond, implemented Youth Without Limits – a project designed to build young people’s awareness and inclusive support of people with a disability. Young people also developed event planning skills and co-delivered the Youth Without Limits event for over 80 local young people.

2026 MAVlab Innovation Awards Finalist:
The Connector Award for inclusion and community cohesion, supported by Ylab.

Project goals:

The project had four primary goals:

1. To increase knowledge and awareness of disabilities among mainstream students.
2. To build students’ compassion and understanding for those living with a disability.
3. To increase young people's skills in event planning and delivering an inclusive youth event.
4. To build a sense of community connectedness among young people both with and without a disability.

Youth Without Limits’ goals were achieved through the delivery of a program with mainstream students at Dandenong High School and young people from Burke & Beyond (goals 1, 2 and 3).

The program culminated in an all-abilities inclusive youth event featuring performances from over 20 young people - most of whom were young people with a disability - alongside inclusive activities such as dance workshops, photobooth, mural space, and interactive arts and sports activities (goal 4).

Project team:

A core project team of 5, including staff from Greater Dandenong Council, Burke & Beyond and Dandenong High School.

Additional support was provided by young people from Burke and Beyond who delivered workshops from a lived-experience perspective, and 25 students from Dandenong High School who co-designed the event and supported its delivery.

A further 8 staff from Greater Dandenong Council supported the event.

• Greater Dandenong Youth and Family Services
• Greater Dandenong Community Inclusion
• Burke & Beyond
• Dandenong High School.

Project duration:

The project commenced in May 2025 and concluded in October 2025:

• May – July 2025: Planning, project development, partnership meetings
• August – September 2025: School-based sessions including lived-experience workshops and event co-design
• October 2025: Project graduation and delivery of the Youth Without Limits: All Abilities Inclusive Youth Event.

Challenge and context:

The aim of Youth Without Limits was to strengthen awareness, understanding and inclusion of people living with a disability among students in mainstream school settings and community. The project engaged 25 students undertaking the Victorian Pathways Certificate (VPC) from Dandenong High School. The VPC cohort includes young people with various abilities who are often disengaged from traditional education pathways and, in this instance, also included a significant number of recent arrivals with minimal understanding of spoken or written English, requiring a tailored and inclusive approach to engagement, communication and learning.

The project was delivered in the City of Greater Dandenong, widely recognised as Australia’s most culturally diverse municipality, with residents from 157 birthplaces. Dandenong High School reflects this diversity, bringing together students from a wide range of cultural backgrounds. This context presents both significant strengths and unique challenges, particularly in how disability is understood and experienced across different cultural perspectives.

Within this context, and in schools more broadly, opportunities for young people to meaningfully engage with people with disability are limited. This can lead to uncertainty, misconceptions, and a lack of confidence in how to interact respectfully and inclusively.

The project responded to a gap identified by teachers and disability organisations for opportunities for young people to not only have a better understanding of different abilities, but to contribute to inclusion in practical ways. While awareness-based learning is common, structured opportunities to apply learning in real-world contexts are limited, creating a disconnect between understanding and behaviour.

Addressing these concerns required an approach that challenged perceptions and developed practical skills in an accessible and engaging way.

Solution and innovation:

Youth Without Limits was designed to move beyond traditional awareness-based approaches by combining learning with real-world experience. With support from Burke & Beyond, Youth and Family Services staff delivered the program during Term 3 at Dandenong High School, culminating in the Youth Without Limits event in Term 4. The primary innovation of this project was in its deliberate two-phase design: first, a capacity building phase to build confidence and understanding; and second, an opportunity for practical application to bring students’ learning beyond the classroom.

Phase One: A series of sessions to support 25 VPC students to increase their understanding of disability and develop the skills to be supportive and inclusive peers. Sessions were designed to be accessible and engaging for a culturally diverse cohort, incorporating interactive activities, visual and simplified content, and practical learning. This included a Q&A workshop with three guest speakers (young people from Burke & Beyond) with lived experience of disability, whose participation provided authentic insight and challenged assumptions.

Phase Two: A co-design process where students worked alongside facilitators to plan and deliver the Youth Without Limits event, while developing basic event management skills. The event itself engaged over 80 young people of all abilities from Springvale Park Special Development School and local disability organisations - Burke & Beyond, Wallara and The Bridge - alongside Dandenong High School students. It featured performances from over 20 young people - most of whom were young people with a disability - alongside inclusive activities such as dance workshops, photobooth, mural space, and interactive arts and sports activities. Students from Dandenong High took on active roles including MCing, stage crew, catering, and activity facilitation, applying their learning in a real-world setting.

This model is innovative in its deliberate integration of lived experience, accessible education, and practical application, creating a meaningful way for participants to understand and foster inclusion.

These relationships will continue to support more inclusive and connected service delivery well beyond the life of the project.

Project impacts and short-term outcomes:

Key project outcomes included:

• Increased knowledge and awareness of disability among Dandenong High students.
• Improved confidence and capability to interact inclusively with people with disability.
• Development of practical skills in teamwork, communication, and inclusive event delivery.
• Creation of meaningful connections between young people with and without disability.
• Paid opportunities for youth guest speakers with lived experience to contribute to both community understanding and event planning,
• Delivery of the Youth Without Limits event, engaging over 80 young people.

A key impact of the project was increased awareness and understanding of disability amongst the VPC cohort. Pre and post program evaluation data showed measurable improvements in students’ understanding of different types of disability (increasing from a rating of 6.1/10 to 9/10), confidence in interacting with people with disability (7.2/10 to 9.1/10), and ability to identify ways to make their school more inclusive (7/10 to 8.7/10). One student reflected that “not all disabilities can be seen just by looking at someone.”

Students also developed practical skills through their active involvement in the event, supporting delivery across roles including MCing, stage crew, food service and activity facilitation. Teaching staff reflected that students “stepped up on the day,” showing clear growth in confidence and capability - particularly significant given language barriers, disengagement from learning, and limited prior community engagement.

Young people with a disability were actively engaged as both participants and performers, with opportunities to showcase their skills and connect with peers. The Burke & Beyond band - Beyond Rhythm - was a clear crowd favourite.

The Youth Without Limits event created a welcoming and inclusive environment, with one student sharing, “I was amazed by the happy atmosphere…and how happy everyone was dancing.” Similarly, teachers described the event as “a tremendous experience” for everyone.

Ultimately, the project moved inclusion from theory into practice, creating meaningful experiences for all involved.

Capability and long-term impacts:

The Disability Inclusion Project strengthened the capacity of Youth and Family Services, and Council more broadly, to design and deliver inclusive, experiential, and youth-led programs, particularly when working with culturally diverse and vulnerable cohorts.

A key outcome was the development of a structured program model that integrates capacity building with real-world application. This approach has broadened ways of working, providing a practical framework that can and will be adapted across future programs to move beyond awareness and support young people to actively practice inclusion. This model can be adapted for use beyond the specific context of disability inclusion, to support young people to increase their awareness of a variety of issues and develop their confidence to practically address them.

The project also strengthened staff capability in engaging culturally diverse and EAL cohorts, including young people participating in VPC pathways and recently arrived communities. Staff built skills in adapting communication, simplifying content, and delivering interactive, accessible sessions, improving their ability to respond to varying levels of language, confidence, and engagement.

The program reinforced the value of embedding lived experience within delivery, which is already an existing pillar of Youth and Family Services’ approach to program delivery. This program will strengthen approaches to authentic engagement and ensure future programs better reflect the needs and perspectives of diverse young people.

Strengthened partnerships across a variety of stakeholders, including local disability organisations, specialist schools, and internal teams, will have an enduring benefit for Council, improving coordination and creating a foundation for ongoing collaboration. These relationships will continue to support more inclusive and connected service delivery well beyond the life of the project.

Overall, the project has strengthened capability, partnerships, and ways of working for both Youth and Family Services and Council more broadly, supporting more inclusive and responsive youth programs into the future.

Scalability and transferability:

Some councils deliver youth programs that aim to raise awareness of disability; however, few adopt structured approaches that combine education, lived experience, and practical application within a single, youth-led model. Youth Without Limits demonstrates how this integrated approach can be applied to support deeper engagement and meaningful behavioural change among young people.

The project’s two-phase structure - capacity building followed by real-world application - provides a flexible and transferable framework that can be adapted across different council settings, schools, and youth cohorts. This model can be applied not only to disability inclusion, but also to other priority areas such as cultural inclusion, mental health, and community participation.

A key strength of the project is its emphasis on experiential learning and lived-experience engagement. The inclusion of guest speakers, interactive sessions, and hands-on event delivery offers a practical approach that can be readily adopted by other councils seeking to move beyond traditional awareness-based programs.

The project also demonstrates how partnerships with local disability organisations, specialist schools, and community groups can be leveraged to increase reach, authenticity, and impact. These partnership approaches are highly transferable and can support councils to build stronger, more connected local service networks.

Importantly, the project generated valuable insights into working with culturally diverse and EAL cohorts, including the need for adaptable delivery methods, clear communication, and practical learning approaches. These learnings can inform best practice across the sector.

This project contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goal 10.2 - Empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status - by promoting the inclusion of all young people, regardless of ability, through accessible, community-based approaches.