Inspired by Auckland City Mission’s Family 100 project (Hodgetts et al., 2013),1 the 100 Families WA project is a large-scale multi-year study that aims to deeply understand the experience of entrenched disadvantage (or hardship) in Perth, Western Australia.

The project intends to not only promote kadadjiny (knowledge), goolyara (inclusion), kadjininy (understanding), and koortkadak (empathy), but to translate research in ways that support effective policy change and positive transformation of everyday life.

Situated within the broader 100 Families WA project is the Ngalang Moort Wangkiny (Our People Yarning) project, which aims to amplify the Aboriginal voices from 100 Families participants in a culturally-secure way. The Aboriginal leadership of Ngalang Moort Wangkiny shows that we are not simply objects of study but active participants, leaders, and scholars working together to shed light on our strengths, resilience, and the challenges we face.

The overarching goal of the project is to develop an ongoing evidence base on poverty, entrenched disadvantage and social exclusion in Western Australia that will be used by the policy and practice community in Western Australia. The aim is to assist in continuously over time understanding better the lives of those in low-income poverty, entrenched disadvantage and social exclusion; the impact and effectiveness of the community sector and government initiatives and service delivery processes; and what those in entrenched disadvantage see as important for positive change.