Innovation Case Study: #Proud2Be Project
Greater Dandenong City Council
Empowering multicultural LGBTIQA+ young people, confronting stigma and discrimination
#Proud2Be is a co-designed campaign supporting LGBTQIA+ youth in Greater Dandenong — Australia’s most multicultural community — where cultural and religious barriers can limit acceptance. From August 2023 to February 2024, the project engaged schools, ran 12 capacity-building sessions, and empowered young people to create advocacy materials to deliver a campaign that reached over 75,000 people and boosted visibility, confidence, and community awareness.
2025 MAVlab Innovation Awards Finalist:
The Connector Award for Community Connection and Cohesion, supported by NBN Local.
Project statistics:
- 4 council staff
- Project duration: May 2023 to May 2024 (12 months)
- Project launch: 15 May 2024 at Council’s annual IDAHOBIT Flag Raising ceremony.
Project goals:
- Empower multicultural LGBTQIA+ young people by building their advocacy skills
- And increase community awareness of the unique challenges faced by culturally diverse LGBTQIA+ youth.
Challenge and context:
The #Proud2Be project was developed to address the unique challenges faced by LGBTQIA+ young people from multicultural backgrounds. Greater Dandenong is home to Australia’s most multicultural community, with 37% of its youth born overseas, representing 103 different birthplaces. This diversity, combined with the experiences of LGBTQIA+ youth, highlights a critical need for targeted support.
Research shows that culturally diverse LGBTQIA+ young people often face compounded vulnerabilities, including:
- Social isolation due to cultural stigma or lack of acceptance.
- Limited access to culturally safe services that affirm both identity and heritage.
- Higher risks of mental health challenges, discrimination, and marginalisation.
By recognising the intersection of culture, identity, and youth, #Proud2Be aims to foster inclusion, resilience, and pride among multicultural LGBTQIA+ young people in Greater Dandenong.
Consultations with students in the Inclusive Youth Ambassadors program (July 2023) highlighted that mainstream supports often overlook these intersectional experiences. Key challenges include language barriers, underrepresentation, navigating multiple cultural identities, and managing complex family, cultural, or religious expectations.
Recruitment was sensitive, as many young people are not publicly ‘out’. With guidance from Youth Ambassadors, invitations were carefully framed to ensure safety and inclusivity. Community feedback also revealed sensitivities around representation, such as featuring culturally diverse individuals like a young woman wearing a hijab, highlighting the nuanced realities of faith-based backgrounds.
Casting actors who were both culturally diverse and LGBTQIA+ was challenging, delaying production. Participants supported the revised timeline, prioritising respectful and authentic storytelling that would resonate without causing offence.
#Proud2Be aims to amplify voices often unheard, fostering understanding and inclusion through culturally sensitive engagement.
While the approach builds on standard council awareness campaigns, its depth of co-creation and sustained commitment over time represents a significant innovation.
Innovation and solution:
The #Proud2Be Project was proudly supported and funded by the City of Greater Dandenong and the Victorian Government through the Healthy Equal Youth program, and was filmed and produced by Momentum Studios Australia.
The project was informed by a previous needs analysis, benchmarking report, and consultations with local students through the Inclusive Youth Ambassadors program. This work highlighted the need for an initiative addressing the unique experiences of culturally diverse LGBTQIA+ young people.
The project was delivered in two phases:
- Phase One: A structured program with a core group of participants who were upskilled to create educational materials for the broader community.
- Phase Two: A promotional campaign to widely share the resulting video and posters across the City of Greater Dandenong.
What sets #Proud2Be apart from mainstream LGBTQIA+ education campaigns and previous Council initiatives is its innovative co-designed storytelling approach, authentically reflecting the complexity and nuances of multicultural young people’s experiences. Over 12 weeks, participants engaged in deep discussions, producing a narrative described by one participant as a “thought-provoking and substantial discourse on what it means to be a young queer person in a culturally diverse environment.”
The project created a safe and supportive space for young people to connect with peers, express concerns, and share lived experiences. It empowered participants to advocate for others who identify as both culturally diverse and LGBTQIA+. They emphasised the importance of delivering powerful messages without targeting specific religions or families, ensuring the campaign was respectful and inclusive.
These values were evident throughout the project—from brainstorming and scripting to costume and set design—ensuring every element reflected the thoughtful and inclusive vision of the young people involved.
Impact and outcomes:
Key outcomes of the #Proud2Be project include:
- Consulting with over 100 students via the Inclusive Youth Ambassadors program to inform project design.
- Empowering and upskilling young people in the co-design group.
- Developing a video and posters distributed to schools, community organisations, peak bodies, and professional youth networks, who have incorporated the materials into their activities and workshops.
- Launching the campaign at the City of Greater Dandenong’s IDAHOBIT Flag Raising Event on 17 May 2024, fostering participation and inclusion.
- Reaching over 75,000 community members via social media, Council’s website, and print news.
The project has increased awareness of and access to rainbow-specific support services through its film, posters, and webpage, contributing to improved mental health outcomes. Participants reported building a sense of community and feeling that “I am not alone.”
Participant-reported impacts:
- Increased awareness of the challenges faced by culturally diverse LGBTQIA+ young people (from 73% pre-program to 88% post-program).
- Improved skills in developing awareness-raising campaigns (from 66% pre-program to 80% post-program).
- Enhanced skills in filmmaking, social media, and graphic design.
The film and accompanying posters are designed to educate teachers, parents, youth workers, and the broader community, supporting culturally diverse LGBTQIA+ young people in Greater Dandenong and beyond. All participants (100%) believe the campaign materials will have a positive impact on the community. This impact will continue to grow as the film and posters are shared in various contexts, including LGBTQIA+ 101 workshops delivered in schools across the region, with #Proud2Be content embedded in these programs.
Scalability:
Many councils across Victoria provide services and support for LGBTQIA+ young people, but few specifically address the unique needs of those from culturally diverse backgrounds. The film and posters created through the #Proud2Be project have been widely shared across the youth sector, including with other council youth services, and will continue to be promoted to ensure ongoing use and impact.
Our service also delivers regular LGBTQIA+ 101 workshops in local schools, reaching large groups of young people (150+ per session) each year. These workshops embed the #Proud2Be video and poster resources, ensuring that the project continues to influence new generations of young people.
The #Proud2Be model could be adopted by other councils to create resources tailored to the specific needs of their communities. While the approach builds on standard council awareness campaigns, its depth of co-creation and sustained commitment over time represents a significant innovation.
This project contributes directly to UN Sustainable Development Goal 10.2: by 2030, empower and promote the social, economic, and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion, or other status.