An in-depth look into the Indigenous Literacy Foundation and how we're making a difference together.
What does the Indigenous Literacy Foundation do for communities in Australia?
The Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF) works in 280 remote communities across the nation, opening doors for so many young Indigenous Australians. The ILF has gifted over 350,000 books to over 280 remote communities.
A massive part of the ILF's heart and core is gifting books to communities where they usually wouldn't be able to access books. They work directly with 30 publishers who provide relevant books for these communities. They directly provide books to schools, libraries, playgrounds, women's centres, youth centres and other services that are in these communities.
Another program they run called the Book Buzz that is specifically designed to promote children under the age of 5 and their families to read. A lot of these books are translated into their first language to encourage them to read. The program includes a dedicated daily 'Story Time' session in the communities, which means when they start school, they already have the foundation of literacy skills which results in higher confidence levels. According to the ILF website, "research shows that children learn better in their own language. This also empowers the parents and carers to be the role models for their children and instils a love of reading in the community."
This next program that the Indigenous Literacy Foundation runs would have to be my favourite program that they run (not disregarding how important and how much we love the others). The ILF "publishes books written by people in remote communities, some reflecting traditional legends and stories." The foundation has 88 'project books' published as to date, these are written by children and others are written with the help of community elders. "The majority of our publications reflect up to 18 Indigenous languages". According to the ILF, some of these publications are funded by the ILF, others receive grants or sponsorship, or are published in partnerships with other organizations.
A subprogram that ILF runs is called "Creative Initiative", which "partners young Indigenous women at Tiwi College with Publishers and mentors to produce stories, cultivate build knowledge and motivate (grow self-esteem)." Here's a link to view some of the books that have been published by the Create Initiative.
https://www.indigenousliteracyfoundation.org.au/community-literacy-programs
These are some of the ways the Indigenous Literacy Foundation is helping communities across Australia, we at Ashby Partners really look forward to our future supporting such a fantastic organization that actually makes a difference. We encourage you to donate individually to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation via the link below:
https://www.indigenousliteracyfoundation.org.au/
To find out more about how you can help the foundation, please see link below.
