Activity / outputSource confirmed2024
over 100 young people
Young people whose stories informed the Mounty Yarns report
“made, containing the stories of over 100 young people and their solutions to make Mounty”
View the source →← The justice reinvestment network
Mount Druitt Justice Reinvestment
Mount Druitt, NSW
Just Reinvest NSWGrowing recordPublic record
Mount Druitt Justice Reinvestment is a community-led Just Reinvest NSW site on Darug Country in Western Sydney that runs youth-led programs (including Mounty Yarns, OzTag and a Learner Driver Mentors Program) to reduce contact between Aboriginal young people and the criminal justice system.
Impact on the record
What the public record shows
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.
Activity / outputSource confirmed2024
$3.3 million
Government grants secured by MAYCS
“MAYCS secured $3.3 million in government grants”
View the source →Activity / outputSource confirmed2024
$2.3 million over three years
Funding to continue justice reinvestment work
“$2.3 million to continue their justice reinvestment work over the next three years”
View the source →Related programSource confirmed2024
almost $1 million
Funding for Youth on Track (YOT) early intervention program
“almost $1 million for their Youth on Track (YOT) early intervention program”
View the source →Activity / outputSource confirmed2024
from five to 12 full-time staff
Local Aboriginal staff team growth
“Last year saw the MAYACS team grow from five to 12 full-time local Aboriginal staff members”
View the source →Activity / outputAwaiting confirmation2024
50+ young people and 120+ community/service/government attendees
Attendance at the youth-led forum on out-of-home care
“More than 50 young people and over 120 people from community, services and government came together”
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.
- $3,540,000prf-jr-portfolio-review-2025
- Amount not recordedprf-partner-network
What runs here
Programs and approaches
Mount Druitt Justice Reinvestment
Service provided by Just Reinvest NSW
- Mounty Yarns (youth-led advocacy and storytelling; film and report)
- OzTag program
- Learner Driver Mentors Program
- Youth support from police custody
- Bail project
- Community fines action plan
- Youth on Track (YOT) early intervention program
- Music program
- Boxing
- Make-up course
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.
Cowra Justice Reinvestment
Service provided by Just Reinvest NSW
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
The people
Who leads the work
Geoff Scott
CEO, Just Reinvest NSW
Source →Daniel Daylight
JR NSW Mt Druitt coordinator
Source →Terleaha Williams
JR Youth Ambassador; Project Lead on Mounty Yarns
Source →Isaiah Sines
JR Youth Ambassador; Youth Engagement Worker, JR Mt Druitt
Source →Craig Doole-McKellar
JR Youth Ambassador; music program coordinator
Source →Julie Williams
Community Engagement Lead, MAYCS
Source →Kobie Dee
Gomeroi rapper; JR Youth Ambassador
Source →
The arc
How this site came to be
2011
Just Reinvest NSW began as a justice reinvestment initiative, auspiced by Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT) Ltd, with a coalition of more than 20 organisations.
Source →2024
The NSW Government expanded its Justice Reinvestment strategy to Mt Druitt in early 2024, supporting Just Reinvest NSW's collaboration with the Aboriginal community to set up a new justice reinvestment site; four communities received funding over three years from June 2024 to June 2027 under the Justice Reinvestment Grants Program.
Source →2024
Mounty Aboriginal Youth & Community Services (MAYCS) transitioned out of JR NSW Mt Druitt and registered as an independent, community-controlled entity with an independent board; the team grew from five to 12 full-time local Aboriginal staff.
Source →
In the record
News and reports
- Rise of Young Leaders in Mt Druitt
Dusseldorp Forum · 2024-04-30
- $7.5m Justice Reinvestment Aboriginal Grants Program now open
NSW Department of Communities and Justice · 2024
- MOUNTY YARNS: Lived Experiences of Aboriginal young people in Mt Druitt (report PDF)
Just Reinvest NSW · 2023
- Community-led advocacy for justice reinvestment
Justice Reinvestment Network Australia
The network
Connected sites
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.