The City of Stonnington is working with young people, schools, and their families to create healthier, vape-free environments.
Stonnington received at Vic Health grant to deliver Fresh Take, a youth-led vaping prevention initiative targeting young people in South-East Melbourne. Delivered between July 2024 and December 2025, the project adopted a place-based, collective impact approach, bringing together local government, community health partners, schools and young people to address shared determinants of health.
Vaping and young people
Vapes, or e-cigarettes, have colourful packaging and flavours to appeal to young people. However, vapes harm young brains and cause lung damage, cancer and heart disease. They can also contain nicotine, with young people more susceptible to addiction.
Australian vaping laws have changed to protect all Australians, particularly young people. For more information, visit the Department of Health and Aged Care website.
About the project
The Fresh Take Project involved over 130 secondary school students who participated in two workshops where they learnt how to build a health promotion campaign and influence real change.
The project aimed to:
- raise awareness – help young people understand the harms of vaping and build their confidence to say no
- empower young people – support youth-led and community-driven efforts to address vaping
- create safer spaces – reduce the presence and visibility of vaping and vape products where young people spend time.
Content will be aligned with health promotion goals around vaping. Creative agency Your Creative will help the students to design and implement their content.
Who was involved?
Creative agency Your Creative worked with students to design and deliver campaign content.
Stonnington partnered with four other south-east councils to deliver this project: Bayside City Council, City of Kingston, City of Port Phillip and Glen Eira City Council.
The project was also supported by Caulfield Community Health Service, Better Health Network, South-East Public Health Unit, VicHealth, QUIT Victoria and Headspace.
You can read the Implementation Guide(PDF, 28MB) to find out more or visit Fresh Take online.
Background research
The initiative is informed by findings from the Influencing GenVape report, which highlights the prevalence of vaping among young people.