The Aboriginal Literacy Foundation is back on deck for 2015, and we are extremely excited to begin what we are sure will be a positive and impactful year in the area of Indigenous literacy and education.

2014 was a very busy year for us, with tens of thousands of books being distributed to children across Australia. We also provided one-on-one tutoring and literacy camps for the most disadvantaged children, and were delighted to open the Bacchus Marsh and Darley Homework Club in partnership with Djerriwarrh Health Services, Darley Neighbourhood House and the Shire of Moorabool. (For more information about our work in 2014, please see our most recent newsletter here).

We would also like to thank the Department of Parliamentary Services (DPS) for their recent donation of over $800 from the Giving Tree Program held at Parliament House in Canberra over the Christmas period.

To start this year off, we will be providing 300 sets of our Healthy Living Series books to the Cathy Freeman Foundation for their 2015 Starting Block Awards. The Starting Block program aims to increase literacy levels and strong work ethic among students, and at the end of each term the Cathy Freeman Foundation presents awards to the students who have achieved positive outcomes. We will also be sorting and distributing the 7500 books that were donated to us over the past month and organising our new book warehouse in Melbourne. If you are interested in volunteering to assist with our Books for Learning program and helping us send out books, please email David via [email protected].

Furthermore, the new year brings with it a promising and exciting new partnership with a major Victorian university to provide even more programs and support to Indigenous youth across the state. More details of this partnership will be announced later in the year.

Finally, the Aboriginal Literacy Foundation would like to wish all our supporters a happy and healthy new year!