Yarra Trams Community Partnerships Program

The Yarra Trams Community Partnerships Program provides in-kind advertising every year to community organisations.

The community partnerships program theme has varied over the years to recognise charitable and non-for-profit organisations that focus on important issues that are meaningful to Melburnians. The theme for 2024 is “Uplift, Empower and Grow”, and we are partnering with organisations that work to uplift disadvantaged and vulnerable community members, empower underrepresented or marginalised people to find meaningful employment and grow climate resilience and environmental sustainability.

Expressions of interest for the Yarra Trams Community Partnerships Program are by invitation only.

Partners on the network

Take a look at some of our community partnership trams.

Hidden Disabilities

The Hidden Disabilities Sunflower exists to help those with disabilities that are not immediately obvious such as autistic spectrum condition, chronic pain, dementia, anxiety, visual impairment or being hard of hearing. Wearing the Sunflower icon discreetly indicates to people around the wearer including staff, volunteers and colleagues that they need additional support, help or a little more time.

The tram encourages organisations to join the program and make their services more inclusive for people with Hidden Disabilities by breaking down barriers and improving access and inclusivity. 

Bayley House have supporter adults with Intellectual Disabilities for over 70 years and is proud to be the sole distributor of the Sunflower across Australia and New Zealand.

WISE Employment

WISE Employment has joined the network as part of the Yarra Trams Community Partnerships Program for 2024.

WISE Employment is a not-for-profit employment agency who connect people with a disability with employment. Each year they work with over 15,000 jobseekers.

Their tram promotes their GradWISE program that places skilled graduates with inclusive employers.

DeadlyScience

In May we welcome another partner's campaign onto the network: DeadlyScience.

DeadlyScience is the leading non profit organisation dedicated to providing Indigenous Australian youth with access to science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and resources.

DeadlyScience wants to ensure all schools have access to our history of science by providing resources that connect schools to the First Scientists of Australia Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

The artwork on the tram calls for Melbournians to ‘Tap into 65,000+ years of Indigenous science knowledge’, and is an important step towards respectfully recognising Indigenous peoples as the first scientists of this country.

Switchboard Victoria

Switchboard Victoria shares messages of LGBTIQA+ belonging and connection with their colourful tram on Routes 109 and 48 as part of the Yarra Trams Community Partnerships Program.

Switchboard Victoria is a LGBTIQA+ peer-run organisation with over 30 years of service to the Victorian community. Switchboard have a range of different programs offering peer-to-peer support in areas including gender and sexuality, diverse relationships, suicide prevention, family violence support, anti-racism advocacy, and social inclusion for older LGBTIQA+ community.

Tradeswomen Australia

Women working successfully in non-traditional trades are celebrated on the Tradeswomen Australia Group’s ‘Women Succeed in Trades’ tram which has launched as part of the Yarra Trams Community Partnership Program for 2024

Tradeswomen Australia Group (TWAG) is a non-profit organisation working to support more girls, women and non-binary into trades. TWAG’s goal is that all women should feel safe, secure and comfortable at every workplace, and be able to participate in the career of their choice.

Appearing on the tram are images of KL who works as an electrician, Jennah who works as a refrigeration technician and Safa who works as a gardener.

Western Chances

Western Chances is the first partner to have their tram on the network as part of the 2024 Yarra Trams’ Community Partnerships Program.

Western Chances provides scholarships to young people in Melbourne’s West, providing students with support to surpass barriers and realise their potential.

The Western Chances tram features the faces of some of their talented scholarship recipients, promoting their campaign to "Open doors to education and opportunity".

Yarra Energy Foundation

The Yarra Energy Foundation (YEF) invited all Victorians to "harness the sun" with their brightly coloured tram. Their campaign invited all Victorians to be inspired, learn, and test their knowledge of community batteries and their role in the renewable energy transition. 

YEF is a not-for-profit providing services and advice to homes and businesses that want better energy. To save money and save the planet. This beautiful tram is the centerpiece of their campaign to promote and educate on the way we harness and store energy within our communities.

Community batteries can raise awareness about energy and electrification, providing communities with a shared asset in the perpetual fight against climate change, rising energy costs, and grid instability. The tram featured the artwork "Set the controls to harness the sun", illustrated by Hayden Dewar, which can also be found on the first inner-urban community battery, launched by YEF in Fitzroy North.

Conservation Volunteers Australia

Conservation Volunteers Australia tram, as part of the 2023 program, encourages everyone to bring nature back into our city through their Nature Blocks campaign.

Conservation Volunteers Australia is the nation’s leading practical environmental group, which works to empower every Australian to take simple yet powerful actions for nature.

Nature Blocks is a national campaign designed to encourage every Australian to assist in rejuvenating and restoring Australia’s unique biodiversity by connecting with nature. It involves participants building a native garden of any size in their backyard, on their balcony, in their office, or in their local environment to provide a source of food and shelter for native species.

Asylum Seeker Resource Centre

Yarra Trams are partnering with the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre (ASRC) as part of the 2023 Yarra Trams Community Partnerships Program. ASRC's tram is now on the network, supporting their campaign to improve employment opportunities for refugees and people seeking asylum.

ASRC’s Welcome Refugees into the Workforce campaign seeks to highlight the incredible range of skills and experience that refugees and people seeking asylum can bring to the local economy, and sheds light on barriers including difficulties for employers hiring people on protection visas, qualifications not being recognised, language challenges and a lack of local contacts.

OzHarvest

In the iconic yellow colour, the OzHarvest Tram was on the network as part of the 2023 Yarra Trams’ Community Partnerships Program.

OzHarvest is Australia’s leading food rescue organisation, they save surplus food from ending up in landfill and deliver it to charities that help feed people in need. The tram promoted their campaign to fight food waste, and encouraged people to use their “Use it up tape”.

Victoria has the highest level of food waste in Australia, and behavioural change is key to achieving food waste reduction goals. The combination of the Yarra Tram Community Partnerships Program and OzHarvest’s Use It Up tape are a major step forward in the fight against food waste in Australia.

SisterWorks

In January, the SisterWorks tram was wrapped as part of the 2023 Yarra Trams’ Community Partnerships Program.

SisterWorks provides training and coaching, on-the-job experience, and professional support to ensure that vulnerable women from migrant, refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds have the best advantages to become gainfully employed.

SisterWorks’ tram wrap promotes their “Hire Her” campaign, highlighting its mission to enable migrant, refugee and asylum-seeking to have the opportunity to be confident, independent and learn new social and vocational skills to improve their economic outlook.

Yarra Riverkeepers

Yarra Riverkeeper Association were the first partner to have their tram on the network as part of the 2023 Yarra Trams’ Community Partnerships Program.

Yarra Riverkeeper Association work to protect the Yarra River and promote its importance to Melbourne’s natural environment. Their tram encourages Melburnians to “Be a Riverkeeper” and volunteer their time to promote a healthy river system.

Good Cycles

In September, Good Cycles joined the network as the final tram wrap of our 2022 program recipients. As a not-for-profit social enterprise, Good Cycles empowers young people facing barriers to work by offering them employment pathways.

Their message of ‘ride with us to a better future’ was selected as a statement that celebrates sustainable transport options, such as riding a bicycle or tram, whilst also speaking to the organisation’s objective to positively impact the lives of young people and the community.

Good Cycles provides young people with training and coaching, on-the-job experience, and professional support. It is Good Cycles' mission to improve livelihoods, whilst contributing to more sustainable cities.

Ability Works

In late August 2022, Ability Works unveiled a new tram wrap showing four faces of Victorians who have been impacted by issues of exclusion in mainstream employment but have found meaningful employment with Ability Works.

Ability Works is a commercially competitive not for profit social enterprise that provides employment to those experiencing significant barriers to employment elsewhere. 

Bush Heritage

Bush Heritage Australia's 'Native Neighbours' campaign and tram, featured vibrant illustrations depicting some of the native wildlife that can be found in our own gardens.

Their campaign highlighted the many native species have adapted to life in our cities, and Bush Heritage developed wonderful garden guides to help Melburnians create habitats in their own backyard or balcony that can help our native neighbours to thrive.

Enable Australia

In late April we welcomed our third 2022 community partner to the network, Enable Australia. Enable's tram advertising campaign calls on Melburnians to “give their tech a new home” by donating unused laptops, phones and tablets for refurbishment or on selling.

Enable is on a mission to tackle disadvantage and the digital divide by connecting community, environment, and local economies. Since 2014, Enable has supported over 1,000 participants with employability skills, created 25 employment pathway outcomes for disadvantaged community, diverted 267 tonnes of decommissioned technology from landfill for reuse and recycling and distributed over 600 affordable computer devices through 65 fellow community-based organisations. We are delighted to have Enable’s vibrant advertising on the network until the end of August.

Fitted for Work

Our second 2022 not-for-profit community partner was Fitted For Work, who help women experiencing disadvantage to find work and achieve economic security and financial independence.

In Victoria, four out of five job losses during the Covid-19 pandemic were women, so Fitted For Work’s message has never been more important. Over the pandemic, Fitted for Work has helped thousands of women facing loss of employment, including Marcia and Wendy whose faces are featured on the tram.

Fitted For Work offers a range of services to people who identify as women or who do not wish to be limited by definition. While they are best known for their personal outfitting service which helps jobseekers dress for success, they provide support across many different aspects of job search and preparedness.

YMCA ReBuild

In December 2021, we launched our first 2022 not-for-profit community partner, YMCA ReBuild.

Over the past decade, YMCA ReBuild has employed more than 300 ex-offenders and has trained more than 100 young people in custody with a trade, providing them with a pathway to reintegrate with the community.

YMCA ReBuild’s community partnership campaign ran until April and invited Melburnians to hear the voices of young people who’ve experienced prison as well as those that support them through their weekly podcast, Time to ReBuild. The podcast breaks down stereotypes, challenges perceptions of ‘once a criminal always a criminal’ and creates conversations around youth justice and rehabilitation.

Fairtrade Australia New Zealand

In late October we welcomed another 2021 community partner to the network, Fairtrade Australia and New Zealand.

Fairtrade’s tram advertising campaign encouraged Melburnians to ‘choose fair’ by purchasing Fairtrade products, which empower millions of farmers and workers around the world by tackling poverty and poor working conditions, as well as conserving the environment.

When launching the tram, Yarra Trams’ Chief Executive Julien Dehornoy celebrated its inclusion on the network saying: “Over the past four years Yarra Trams has been proud to support organisations doing important community-focused work. We do this because by promoting a worthy organisation such as Fairtrade we can support their deep and meaningful impact on producers, farmers, and tradespeople across the world. I'm so pleased to see Fairtrade’s brilliant blue tram out on the network!”

Environment Victoria

We are delighted to notice that more and more Melburnians are becoming increasingly aware that our entire tram network is offset by solar power, making it one of the most environmentally friendly ways to travel around our city. 

In April 2021, our community partner Environment Victoria, decided to spread the positive message of renewable energy even further, with the launch of their “clean energy solar tram”. The eye-catching design let everyone know loud and clear that the tram was powered by clean energy, but also prompted Melburnians to think about what else in their lives could and should be too.

Melbourne’s Solar Trams, a Department of Transport and Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) initiative, has so far offset 200,000 tonnes of carbon emissions with renewable energy generation since the program began in November 2018. 

We hope that this knowledge that trams are powered by solar energy will encourage more people to change their travel behaviour and switch to cleaner methods of public transport.

Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria

In May 2021 we bid a fond farewell to one of the most vibrant and attractive trams to have graced the network, designed by the second of our six 2021 sustainable community partner champions, the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria (RBGV). 

The exquisite hand drawn designs were a huge hit with Melburnians, right from the initial launch in early February, through to the end of May. 

As part of its 175th anniversary celebrations, RBGV partnered with Yarra Trams to promote sustainability messages to the Melbourne community and encourage everyone to ‘give nature a moment’ and ‘act for nature’.

The smallest step can make a positive change to the planet, even just by connecting with nature and the environment, to better understand its beauty and fragility and it’s need to be looked after with respect.

Wildlife Victoria

We are taking a look back today at one of our favourite trams wraps for 2021. Wildlife Victoria was Yarra Trams’ first community partnership for 2021 and kicked off our theme of “A more sustainable Melbourne”. Wildlife Victoria provides advocacy and a State-wide Emergency Response Service for people to contact when they encounter a native animal that needs help. 

The beautiful tram wrap featured images of some of Australia’s best-loved native wildlife, such as our kangaroos, to serve as a reminder to motorists to watch out for native animals who also tend to share our roads, particularly in more regional Victoria.

The tram wrap was part of Wildlife Victoria’s 2021 summer campaign, and ran for several months between December 2020 and mid-April this year on Routes 48 and 109 and received overwhelmingly positive and engaged feedback from the Melbourne community.

Wildlife Victoria and Yarra Trams continue to ask road users to stay vigilant, particularly at dusk and dawn when our native wildlife is at its most active – we can all share the roads harmoniously if we stay on the lookout!

​For any enquiries, please email [email protected].