An organisation working to improve language, literacy and numeracy standards in Australia’s most marginalised communities is the latest recipient of funding from the Coopers Brewery Foundation.
The Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation (ALNF), based in Sydney, is receiving $50,000 in funding each year for three years under the Coopers Brewery Foundation’s Sustainable Giving Program.
The money is being used to support the ALNF’s Early Language & Literacy Project (EL&L) in the Central Goldfields, one of the most disadvantaged areas of Victoria.
Coopers Brewery Foundation Chair, Ms Melanie Cooper, said ALNF had been chosen from 63 applications shortlisted to 10 in the youth education sector.
“The Governors believe the work by the ALNF will have a significant effect on the long-term educational outcomes for the children it supports, which in turn will have a major positive impact on their future,” she said.
ALNF will be formally presented with a cheque at a Friends of the Foundation event to be held in Adelaide later this year.
The Co-Founder and Executive Director of the ALNF, Kim Kelly, said the organisation was delighted to be partnering with Coopers Brewery.
“Together, we are helping to give every child the opportunity to write their own bright future,” she said.
Ms Kelly said the funding would allow the organisation to train and mentor more than 30 educators, parents and community members in the EL&L program. Through the program about 650 at-risk children are taught the skills required to engage in school and gain full access to future educational and employment opportunities.
The project will run until November 2022, during which time executive and non-executive trainers from ALNF will visit the Central Goldfields to train and mentor participants in the EL&L course.
These visits will take place four to six times during the year to align with the Victorian school year and the needs of the community.
“The Central Goldfields has been identified as an area with entrenched disadvantage, including health and developmental issues, trans-generational illiteracy and educational disengagement,” Ms Kelly said.
“This program aims to empower adults to work with children to create sustainable, transformative and systemic change that is driven by the local community.”
The Coopers Brewery Foundation now supports three organisations under its Sustainable Giving Program, one each in the areas of Health/Aged Care/Medical Research, Youth Education and Family/Community support.
Each organisation receives $50,000 a year in funding for three years.
The next organisation to receive funding will come from the Health/Aged Care/Medical Research sector.
The Foundation’s income is derived from non-operational fundraising efforts of the brewery including tours, special events, recycling, donations from corporate partners, shareholders, Coopers employees and members of the public, along with income from the Foundation’s corpus.