Jetstar today announced the Indigenous Literacy Foundation (ILF) as the latest recipient of a $30,000 Flying Start grant. The grant will help the organisation provide over 280 Indigenous communities across the country with books and literacy resources as well as assist in raising community awareness and support of its work.
Celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2020 the ILF aims to help achieve equity of opportunity for all Aboriginal children living in remote Australia by gifting new books, publishing books written by Indigenous children and elders and working with communities to support their existing literacy programs.
The foundation says the grant, comprising $15,000 in Jetstar flights and $15,000 cash, will assist in providing an additional 1,500 books and literacy resources to Australian communities that need them most.
ILF Executive Director, Karen Williams, is confident that the grant will help the foundation to supply culturally relevant and engaging books and literacy materials to many Australian Aboriginal children.
“We are enormously excited to be awarded the Flying Start grant and to be embarking on a new partnership with Jetstar which allows us to gift more books to remote communities across Australia in 2020.”
“Accessing remote communities is no easy feat, so we are thrilled to begin working with Jetstar to send our program managers around the country to oversee our Book Supply program.”
Jetstar’s Head of Group Operations and Flying Start judge, Kate Cotter, said the judging panel was thrilled to support the ILF and proud that the grant will have a significant community impact.
“We are pleased that our Jetstar Flying Start grant will be able to support the Indigenous Literacy Foundation in its work with children and families in some of Australia’s most remote communities,” said Cotter.
“The Jetstar flight component will assist the foundation’s program managers to aid literacy development by accessing more of the country in 2020 and the cash component will see more than a thousand books purchased and provided to Indigenous children.”
Since its inception, the ILF has supplied 350,000 books to more than 280 Australian Aboriginal communities and has an ambition to expand its impact next year.
The Jetstar Flying Start Program invites community groups and organisations across Australia to apply for a $30,000 grant to fund a project that will enrich the lives of people in their local community. ILF is the 22nd recipient of a Jetstar Flying Start grant.
