Jarrod Wheatley OAM

Social entrepreneur

2019 NSW Young Australian of the Year

By founding two innovative, not-for-profit organisations, Street Art Murals Australia (SAMA) and Professional Individualised Care (PIC), Jarrod Wheatley is working tirelessly to improve opportunities for those on the margins of our community.

Five years in the making, PIC is a new model of out-of-home care. Before, children who were too traumatised or high-needs for a foster home would generally be placed in a group home. Here they would be cared for by shift workers and were at risk of becoming institutionalised.

Instead PIC places one child in the home of a Professional Therapeutic Carer, who can provide therapeutic intervention and real relationships. PIC has been officially accredited by the Office of the Children's Guardian.

Through SAMA Jarrod used street art as vehicle for social inclusion and urban beatification, breaking the negative cycle of criminalisation and alienation by commissioning murals and workshops. Street artists have now painted more than 360 murals all over the country, for clients such as Pfizer and Lend Lease.