From the 70 expressions of interest we received, nine full applications were shortlisted, along with four submissions from our Spark partners for consideration by our Foundation team and Board. Ultimately, three applications were selected, including one from a Spark partner. These projects represent diverse opportunities to deepen understanding, build new knowledge, and contribute to compassionate, person-centred pathways that support mental health and wellbeing.

We are excited to build on our existing partnerships and forge new ones over the next two years. Most importantly, we look forward to the positive impact these initiatives will have on the mental health and wellbeing of communities across South Australia.

To learn more about the insights gathered from the EOI,  click here.

Meet our new Discovery partners and explore the incredible work they will be doing alongside their communities.

Mariposa Trails will expand on their Spark work through Discovery by focusing on three core components: Safe Space, Practice, and Growth. 

• Safe Space: Their project aims to create a culturally safe, community-led space that supports living well and recovery by finding meaning through creating comfort, compassion and connection and by serving others.

• Practice: ​​This space will support peer companions, and train volunteers, staff and community members to respond to people in crisis in a culturally safe way; equipping them with skills to support others while fostering cultural understanding and connection. 

• Growth: Through Discovery, Mariposa Trails’ community will be supported to explore strategies that help them grow as individuals and collectively as a community by tapping into the many skills people already have and involving them in creating programs, practices, and interactions to support the social health of their community. 

Building on community activation and cultural approaches tested in Spark, Mariposa Trails is committed to creating a strengths-based community movement that offers insights for other groups and advocates for change within mainstream services.

The African Women’s Federation of South Australia (AWFOSA) is a non-profit organisation representing African women and their families in South Australia. For three years they have been successfully working with their community in the maternal health care space. Through Discovery and in partnership with Flinders University Public Health researchers the AWFOSA will expand this focus to include women of the wider Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) community.  

Through community conversations and research, they will explore all aspects of maternal care, birth trauma and its impact on CALD women in South Australia guided by a passionate Reference Group of CALD women, community leaders, and birth trauma and wellbeing advocates.

AWFOSA's commitment to person-centred, lived experience and culturally informed perspectives will drive the work, with the goal of shifting systems and practices to better meet community needs. The project is poised to create meaningful impact within the community and generate valuable insights and evidence, informing broader CALD Maternal Care and systemic change.

The Minor Works Project seeks to leverage the connections made through Neighbourhood Node’s existing social connection hubs to create meaningful opportunities for community members to bring their ideas to life. By opening up business infrastructure for community use, their aim in Discovery is to unearth and utilise local skills, knowledge, and time, turning neighbours into micro-entrepreneurs, change agents, and community organisers.

 This initiative not only looks to strengthen community bonds but also to enrich lives by fostering shared learning, growth, economic participation, and civic engagement. With a strong understanding of social determinants, the project focuses on building community, purpose, and possibility.

 Drawing on their long-established community network and social enterprise, the Minor Works Project takes a "learning by doing" approach, committed to testing and trialling at small scales to uncover key principles, a replicable model, and system-wide insights. By offering a fresh perspective on community-led initiatives, this project aims to promote wellbeing through innovative, purpose-driven community engagement and development.