Cowra, NSW
Cowra Justice Reinvestment is a community-led justice reinvestment initiative delivered by the Cowra Information and Neighbourhood Centre Inc in Cowra, NSW, selected in February 2024 as one of nine organisations funded under the Commonwealth's First Nations justice reinvestment program.
Impact on the record
Every figure carries the source it came from and a label for what kind of figure it is, so an evaluated outcome is never confused with a projection, a background number, or a figure from a related program. Most sites here were funded in the 2024 and 2025 Commonwealth rounds, and the first evaluations under the national framework begin from late 2026. An empty panel is an honest early-stage record, not a failure.
62 young people in focus groups; 14 young people in interviews; 4 parents and 32 service providers
Community research participation (focus groups and interviews)
“Sixty-two young people participated in focus groups, 14 young people in individual face-to-face interviews, and four parents and 32 service providers in focus groups or interviews.”
View the source →$79 million for up to 30 community-led initiatives, within a $109 million First Nations justice package
Commonwealth justice reinvestment investment (program-wide, not site-specific)
“$79 million to supporting up to 30 community-led justice reinvestment initiatives”
View the source →The ledger in plain view
Funding on record (lead organisation)
$3,540,000
Cost of detaining one child for a year
$1,300,000
ROGS 2026 national average
Equivalent child-years of detention
3
This is funding recorded against the lead organisation, not the site-specific federal allocation, which governments publish only as national envelopes. The comparison sets what a community receives against the price of a single cell, so the question moves from whether to fund the community to why we still fund the cell.
What runs here
Cowra Justice Reinvestment
Service provided by Just Reinvest NSW
The lead organisation also supports
Community Leading JR - Moree
Aboriginal community-led justice reinvestment program in Moree, NSW. Part of Just Reinvest NSW statewide initiative focused on reducing over-imprisonment through community-developed solutions.
Designing a Justice Reinvestment Mechanism for New South Wales
This initiative calls for governments and Aboriginal communities to collaborate in designing a policy mechanism for justice reinvestment in New South Wales, focusing on community-led approaches to reduce contact with the criminal justice system.
Just Reinvest New South Wales (JRNSW)
An organization working to 'reinvest' public money spent on expanding prisons into programs run by and for Indigenous Communities that can reduce incarceration, specifically within New South Wales.
Just Reinvest NSW - Moree
Community backbone support
Just Reinvest NSW - Mount Druitt
Community backbone support
Justice Reinvestment
A strategy pursued by Indigenous Communities in Australia to redirect public money from the criminal justice system (prisons, police) to Indigenous-controlled services and infrastructure, aiming to reduce incarceration rates and exercise Indigenous self-determination.
The people
Dr Jill Guthrie
Lead researcher, 'Exploring the Potential of Justice Reinvestment in Cowra' (ANU)
Source →The arc
2024
Cowra Information and Neighbourhood Centre Incorporated (Cowra, NSW) selected by an independent panel as one of nine organisations to deliver justice reinvestment initiatives, announced 1 February 2024 by the Albanese Government as part of a $79 million / $109 million First Nations justice package.
Source →2024
Funding selection reported by Mirage News as a landmark investment boosting First Nations justice programs, naming Cowra Information and Neighbourhood Centre among the selected organisations.
Source →In the record
Ministers' media centre (PM&C) · 2024-02-01
Mirage News · 2024-02
ANU National Centre for Epidemiology and Population Health
The network
About this page
This is a public record built from sources in the open, not yet a profile the community holds. Just Reinvest NSW is the editor of record once it claims this page. When a site claims it, the community decides what the world sees, names its own people, and publishes its own figures. We can stage a page. The community publishes it.