Strong Beginnings across Yarrabilba and Logan Village

Strong Beginnings is working to make sure children and families in Yarrabilba and Logan Village are happy, healthy and thriving now and for generations to come.

Community snapshot

The work of Strong Beginnings is all about returning power to community members to help make decisions about what will work for their community. We work with local community members, funders, government leaders, services and businesses to align effort, resources, relationships and data to create change with community.

Population

~25,476

Yarrabilba (rapidly growing) & Logan Village

Location

Two communities connected by the rail trail just seven minutes apart

Strengths

Welcoming natural spaces A rich history Strong community spirit

The Collective Plan

The Yarrabilba and Logan Village community, together with service providers, government, academics and funders, co-created the Strong Beginnings Collective Plan. It provides a shared direction for collective action to help every child in Yarrabilba and Logan Village grow up happy, healthy and thriving now and for generations to come.

Click, tap or hover over the interactive elements below to discover how community voices helped shape Strong Beginnings Community Collective Plan.

Origin Story

Strong Beginnings is a collective impact initiative that spans two neighbouring communities – Logan Village and Yarrabilba. Side by side and connected by the local rail trail, Yarrabilba is one of the newest developments in Logan, while Logan Village is one of Queensland’s oldest settlements. Yarrabilba and Logan Village are well-connected communities – blending modern growth with country charm, rich history and welcoming natural spaces where community members come together.

Ways of Working

Led by two backbone leads and supported by a Community Leadership Collective, our journey has been deliberate and inclusive. Our Strong Beginnings Community Leadership Collective draws the right mix of people with the right mix of attributes to govern the work and ensure the community’s vision is achieved and held strong for future generations.

Working Groups

Working Groups bring together community members, families, organisations, services, businesses and other partners to take action on priorities identified in the Strong Beginnings Community Collective Plan. Each group focuses on a specific outcome and is formed when the timing, community energy and right mix of people come together. Through shared decision-making, Working Groups progress practical actions, share knowledge and resources, and identify both immediate opportunities and longer-term systems change. Groups are established as needed and operate for a defined period.

Food Working Group

The Food Working Group brings together local families, community members and partners to progress a shared priority: ensuring families have access to quality, healthy food. Building on the strengths and work already happening across Yarrabilba and Logan Village, the group identifies practical actions, strengthens local coordination and explores the broader conditions that influence access to healthy food. Together, members are working towards stronger, more connected and sustainable local food responses for children and families.

Brain Building Working Group

The Brain Building Working Group brings together families, community members, early years partners, services and schools to support Brain Building across Yarrabilba and Logan Village. Using Logan’s co-designed Brain Building approach, the group connects what is already happening, builds shared understanding and explores how Brain Building can be embedded into everyday practice, places and experiences. The aim is to increase access to consistent, evidence-informed messages and opportunities that support healthy brain development and strong relationships.

Nicole is a community-driven leader within the Strong Beginnings focus community of the Logan Together movement, supporting the growing communities of Yarrabilba and Logan Village. With a background…

Nicole Marsh

Backbone Lead - Strong Beginnings

Fiona is the Backbone Lead for Strong Beginnings in Yarrabilba and Logan Village, part of the Logan Together movement, where she brings people together to create positive, lasting…

Fiona Roebig

Backbone Lead - Strong Beginnings

Early Signs of Success

Strong Beginnings has collected voices from hundreds of community members across the community, combined these insights with extensive quantitative data, and brought everything together at a large-scale event called Our Voices, Our Choices. At this event, the community came together to co-create the beginnings of our first Community Collective Plan.

The hopes, dreams and aspirations of Yarrabilba and Logan Village were closely aligned. The interests expressed by children matched strongly with those of adults, showing a shared vision across generations and both communities. This insight has given the Strong Beginnings team confidence that a single collective impact initiative can genuinely work for both places.

The work did not stop there. The emerging plan was tested immediately with more than 500 community members, ensuring that it reflected community experience and captured practical ideas for action.

The result is a fully endorsed Community Collective Plan, complete with a roadmap and an indicator matrix to measure progress over time. The plan is visible, accessible and proudly owned by the community.

What the community told us matters most

Six priority areas have been chosen from the Strong Beginnings Community Collective Plan to drive this next stage of work, with the first groups launched in 2026. The priority areas identified by community are:

Access to quality, healthy food.
Physically and mentally healthy children.
Accessible and connected local health and wellbeing services.
Culture visible in community.
Children engaged in learning in ways that work for them.
Children secure in their sense of self.

Our Community

Community Voices

What's next?

There are already clear signs of success. Strong Beginnings has completed an Early Childhood Development systems map, established data profiles, and embedded elements of Logan’s First 2000 Days, including high-quality play and brain building. We are walking alongside partners, including Yarrabilba developer Stockland and building connections with government at the highest levels. We also walk alongside Jinndi Mibunn to ensure culture and connection to Country remain central.

Strong Beginnings is showing what is possible when community voice, data and partnership come together with discipline and imagination. We are ready to move from planning into action and deliver lasting impact for children and families in plans, partnerships and improved outcomes in Logan Village, Yarrabilba and beyond.

Resource Hub

Downloads

Yarrabilba and Logan Village Focus Community: Outcome and Data Card

A snapshot of Yarrabilba and Logan Village, showing how community voice is driving locally led plans, partnerships, and improved outcomes for children in rapidly growing communities.

Strong Beginnings Voices Booklet

This booklet gives a summary of these responses and shares the quotes of what our community identified as important, where to start and the opportunities to work together for the children in our community.

Yarrabilba System Map

The early child development system through the eyes of the parent/carer and child in Yarrabilba, November 2023.

How to Get Involved Locally

Learn more about Strong Beginnings (Yarrabilba and Logan Village)

Discover the community, its priorities and the collective work happening across Yarrabilba and Logan Village.

Connect with the Strong Beginnings Team

Connect with the Strong Beginnings Backbone Leads to learn more about the work happening across the community, share local ideas and explore opportunities to get involved.