PermaQueer is honored to partner with VicHealth, Australian Progress & Centre for Multicultural Youth to deliver a Victorian State wide traineeship for multicultural young people working in community FoodHubs. This 3 year, 4 million dollar investment focused on the development of localised food production, improving business acumen & cultivating diverse young champions in our food system.

Our focus was on change-making education specific for the Victorian food system. We developed the curriculum alongside Australian Progress to empower the young participants with tools & support to advocate for change in their local communities across 7 different Victorian FoodHubs.

The program included storytelling projects to understand the history of each specific region & the origin of their food hubs. Historical breakdowns of the global food system & Victoria’s context within that & the history of food policy in Australia/Vic. 

In our final year, our young participants banded together to create an ongoing collective beyond the program & launched the Youth Food Collective. We organised a Youth Food Summit for the young people to connect across different youth movements & as a result of their community engagement across Victoria, we developed the Youth Living Food Charter as a roadmap for change in Victoria.

This investment was a critical intervention in regenerative food systems development in Victoria. It is a bold, brave & much needed change & we are so honored to take part in delivering this program. Our Youth Food Collective lives on & we look forward to seeing where these young champions go!