The Coopers Brewery Foundation is donating $50,000 a year for three years to the Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation (ALNF).
The organisation works to improve language, literacy and numeracy standards in Australia’s most marginalised communities and the funding will be used to support 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.
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 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.