We are delighted to announce the 10 not-for-profit organisations and programs that will be receiving $131,439 in funding from The Readings Foundation this year. The Foundation is passionate about supporting literacy, community integration, and the arts in Victoria. Funds are contributed from a percentage of all Readings Bookshop profits, as well as generous donations from Readings customers. The following organisations are all doing amazing work in their communities to support the most disadvantaged and vulnerable people within society. Readings is beyond proud to be supporting them in 2024.

• Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation
  $10,000 for Upskilling educators in Maryborough
  
  Many young children in Maryborough face numerous educational challenges. The ALNF will work alongside locals at the Goldfields Family Centre to create effective and culturally safe learning opportunities that set children up for successful and positive educational experiences. The program incorporates best-practice speech pathology and education principles to optimise early language and literacy outcomes of vulnerable children up to eight years old. This child-centred approach empowers local adults to be their own community’s change-makers.

• Banksia Gardens Community Services
  $20,000 for Aiming High VCE Support Program
  
  This program provides enriching learning experiences for aspirational students from diverse cultural backgrounds in the Broadmeadows and Craigieburn areas. Banksia Gardens supports students to complete their secondary education and explore tertiary study and employment options, setting them on a pathway to achieve their academic and career goals. Aiming High currently engages with approximately 40 students, including many students who have lost between one and four years of education due to their refugee status. Learning Mentors work with individual students or in small groups focusing on subjects where culturally diverse students need assistance, as well as workshops, guest speakers and excursions to inspire and expand student horizons.

• Blak & Bright Literary Festival
  $9,200 for the festival programs ‘Writers on Country’ and ‘Yarnbombers’
  
  Blak & Bright is a pre-eminent, internationally renowned First Nations festival that showcases, celebrates, and supports First Nations writers, writing, and storytelling of all kinds. The ‘Writers on Country’ program will work with Running Water Community Press, based in Alice Springs, to film five First Nations poets and storytellers on Country delivering and talking about their work. The video will then be played at the festival with the managing director of Running Water responding live in a Q&A. ‘Yarnbombers’ is a festival event where emerging writers are invited to deliver a three-minute spoken-word piece before the main sessions.

• CAN Community Support
  $20,000 for the Family Learning Program
  
  The Family Learning Program at CAN Community Support provides an opportunity for local families in the Carlton area from newly arrived migrant and refugee backgrounds to access tutoring. It provides opportunities for children to develop in the areas of English language, literacy, and numeracy, and to be able to access one-on-one support for assigned homework and home reading. The program is open to any level of student from primary school right through to university, as well as opportunities for parents to access support relevant to their child’s education or their own English language skills or study.

• Carringbush Adult Education
  $7,719 for a Vietnamese/English Bilingual book project
  
  Carringbush Adult Education will support their Vietnamese Playgroup to create and publish their own book in Vietnamese and English. Vietnamese mothers and their children face a multitude of barriers to full participation in education and community life, and Carringbush will provide a safe book-making space that supports them with engaging family literacy activities in both English and Vietnamese. The ability to create and take home their own book has outcomes of increased literacy both outside and within the family home.

• Hotham Mission
  $5,000 for the Renshaw Education Support Scheme
  The public housing estates of North Melbourne, Kensington and Flemington are home to many low-income families who may have trouble meeting their daily living costs, including basic resources necessary for their children’s education. The Renshaw Education Assistance Scheme works directly with these families, schools, and other welfare organisations in Melbourne’s inner north to keep children from Prep to VCE in the education system, with access to educational materials, and ensuring that their other material needs are being met.

• Kensington Neighbourhood House
  $5,000 for the Homework Club
  
  Kensington Study Support Club is a community-led, place-based learning program run from the Kensington housing estate. It is for all school-aged children from Prep to VCE, responding to the clearly expressed and documented needs of African-Australian families in the Kensington community. Experienced tutors provide two hours of literacy, numeracy, and homework assistance twice a week for up to 60 children.

• Next Steps Australia
  $20,000 for creating ‘Readings Libraries’ in Family Violence refuges
  By providing ‘Readings Libraries’, Next Steps will assist children being supported in Domestic/Family Violence refuges to discover the joy of reading. The ‘Readings Libraries’ will offer age-appropriate new books, allowing mothers and children to enjoy a quiet, safe space to relax and recover, spend time together, and share new, enjoyable experiences.

• River Nile Learning Centre
  $14,520 for the English language program for refugee and asylum seeker women
  
  River Nile Learning Centre (RNLC) provides hope and educational opportunity to refugee and asylum seeker women to acquire language, life and work skills to thrive. The current weekday hours of the English language program mean many applicants miss out. This funding will allow River Nile to offer an extra four tuition hours from a professional teacher per week, providing more flexibility and opportunity for learning for more women.

• Western Chances
  $20,000 for the Scholarships Program
  
  Western Chances provides holistic support for young people in the western suburbs through scholarships, opportunities, and ongoing support. This grant will support approximately 17 young people with a scholarship in 2024 to pay for a wide range of expensive items including textbooks, public transport, and technology. The goal is to reduce the risk of talented young people dropping out of school due to lack of resources and financial/emotional stress.

Angela Crocombe is The Readings Foundation and The Readings Prize coordinator, and a senior buyer.