The Readings Foundation is supporting Reading Out of Poverty’s pilot project in Geelong through a grant of $15,000.

Reading Out of Poverty is a volunteer based organisation that is working with the community to improve the early-literacy skills of disadvantaged children aged 6 months to 8 years in Victoria.

The ability to read has a direct impact on educational success, employment and dependency and is key to overcoming poverty. With the financial support of The Readings Foundation, we will provide an early literacy intervention program to disadvantaged children and parents in the Geelong region. We specifically target families and children from homes of poor literacy backgrounds. We believe in early intervention before a child starts school to ensure every opportunity for educational success in future years.

With the support of local volunteers and community groups we will provide a range of critical pre-literacy support services and activities to the community. These include:

Andrew Kay from Reading Out of Poverty and Mark Rubbo, Readings managing director.

• Reading aloud story times, to highlight the importance of reading each day.
• Targeted one on one reading and tutoring with children.
• Gift of backpacks of books for children (for many kids from low-income homes it’s the first book they have owned).

We have started introducing the program to key stakeholders in the region with a overwhelming level of support. In recent weeks, the local community is reeling from job losses in the manufacturing sector. Many people in the region are asking ‘what will the future will look like?’

One local parent commented, “I’m so glad for the pre-school kids in Geelong that they will have access to this new program. We need to ensure all our kids start school with basic reading skills’.”

To find out about Reading Out of Poverty please click