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Aboriginal people fare worse than other Australians in every measure of health, including in a ten-year gap in life expectancy, infant mortality, cardiovascular disease, dental disease, mental health, chronic disease and maternal health. Despite sustained government effort, progress to improve Aboriginal health has been very slow. The collective impact tool may offer a solution. This paper provides examples of the application of collective impact, to address the significant gap in Aboriginal health and as a tool to enable community control. Three case studies in Aboriginal health demonstrate the stages and phases of collective impact to facilitate positive change.

Even though we're only a few kilometres away from Sydney University, our students had never been there and it was all very foreign to them. (Teacher, Inner Sydney, 2010) Universities in Australia have recently increased their efforts to widen participation (Gale et al., 2011). This has been a priority for us at the University of Sydney -as elsewhere. We are conscious that we have further to go than some universities whose histories have been more inclusive than ours. We therefore seek to develop the habit of taking a scholarly approach to social inclusion, incorporating into our strategy, processes of discovery, reflection and sharing our findings and experiences.University social inclusion strategies are generally founded on good evidencethere are in fact quite a few things that we know:These students, they … need all the encouragement and belief -faith even -that they can accomplish what they want. (Teacher, Western Sydney, 2012) We know that certain groups of people in Australia are less likely than others to go to university -these people are also among the most financially disadvantaged and disenfranchised members of the community (James, 2008):

The University of Adelaide Press publishes peer reviewed-scholarly books. It aims to maximise access to the best research by publishing works through the internet as free downloads and for sale as high-quality printed volumes.

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