TARGET ZER0
TARGET ZER0 is aimed at ending the criminalisation of 10-25 year olds and over-representation in the justice system of First Nations young people, multicultural young people and young people in residential care in Brimbank, Melton and Wyndham.
TARGET ZER0 is building strong and sustainable foundations for lasting change by developing a shared understanding of the root causes of youth criminalisation and over-representation. We are deeply committed to partnering with and sharing power alongside affected communities — designing, testing, and innovating new approaches to build resilience and elevate young people, their families, and the surrounding community across TARGET ZER0’s three local government areas.
As a collective, we are creating a shared vision for change — one that reflects our understanding of the challenges and opportunities, and how we can collaborate with communities and each other to address them.
Who is working together?
TARGET ZER0 is a strong coalition of services, schools, the community and community organisations working collectively on the factors that drive youth criminalisation and justice over-representation:
- 1000 Generations
- Westjustice
- Centre for Multicultural Youth
- Australian African Foundation for Retention and Opportunity (AAFRO)
- Aspiring Young Africans Foundation (ASPYA Foundation)
- Anglicare Victoria
- Blue Light Victoria
- Charis
- City of Brimbank
- City of Melton
- Cohealth
- CommUnity +
- Foundation House
- Fruit2Work
- headspace National
- Jesuit Social Services
- Junubi
- Kids First (Whitelion)
- Les Twentyman Foundation
- Melbourne City Mission
- Orygen Youth Mental Health
- Our Courts
- OzChild
- Micare
- Nga Matai Purua Inc
- The Huddle
- Think Village
- Victoria University
- Victoria Legal Aid
- Western Regional Aboriginal Justice Advisory Committee
- Wyndham Central College
- Wyndham City Council
- Wyndham Community Education Centre
- YSAS
- Youth and Family Support Networks
- Youth Junction
- Violence Reduction Unit
The Challenge
First Nations young people, multicultural young people, and young people living in residential care aged 10-25 years are:
- Over-represented in Victoria’s justice system.
- Much more likely to be exposed to risks of justice engagement and experience greater levels of poverty, social and economic exclusion, racism, educational disadvantage and exclusion, family violence and housing insecurity.
- More likely to live in over-policed communities, contributing to their disproportionate criminalisation.
- Significantly over-represented in police contacts in Victoria and are disproportionately drawn into the court systems.
- Despite increasing youth crime prevention focus efforts, this over-representation is stubbornly persisting and is getting worse.
The Approach
Over a 10-year period, we want to influence the systems that hold the criminalisation and over-representation of young people in place by:
- Using collective impact approaches to create a whole of place agenda in Brimbank, Melton and Wyndham to achieve systems change, to drive collaboration, and co-design responses according to shared goals.
- Working on the root causes to prevent criminalisation and over-representation.
- Co-designing new activities and interventions and re-imagining and refocusing existing activities.
- Partnering with and sharing power with the community to ensure those most impacted/affected by youth criminalisation and over-representation have their voices, experiences and knowledge reflected.
The Aim
TARGET ZER0’s aim is to eliminate the multiple, intersecting structural inequities and systemic practices contributing to over-representation. We will achieve this through collective impact and embedding strengths-based engagement and community partnerships.
Get Involved
Want to learn more about TARGET ZER0? Or even better, how to join us? We’d love to hear from you.
Reach out via email or phone — we would love to work with people,
businesses and organisations who share the same concerns and care about Melbourne’s west as much as we do.
Email: info@targetzer0.org.au
Mobile: 0400 119 934
Understanding the Why – Never Too Late
Never Too Late is a powerful documentary that follows the stories of Maw and Adeng, offering an opportunity to reflect on the experiences of young people and families impacted by the justice system.
It explores the root causes of youth criminalisation and over representation, encouraging us to look beyond individual circumstances and consider the systems, relationships and community supports that shape outcomes.
Whether you are new to TARGET ZER0 or have been involved from the beginning, this documentary provides an important foundation for understanding why prevention, community leadership, and systems change are at the heart of our work.
Watch the video below, or find out more about Never Too Late the documentary.