It has been named Anganya, which means ‘friend’ in the Yorta Yorta language.
The program is a collaboration between Ganbina, instigator of Shepparton’s highly successful Jobs4U2 program, and Tomorrow Today, Benalla’s independent community foundation.
The relationship between the two organisations began from a shared vision to ensure that children and young people were empowered to achieve their potential in school, work and life.
Tomorrow Today executive officer Jodie Fleming said in recent years its collaborative work preparing Benalla’s young people for success in further education and meaningful employment had intensified.
“But we recognised that we needed to specifically address the unique challenges faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students,” she said.
“We were very fortunate that an organisation like Ganbina was on our doorstep and had such a strong alignment with the work we do in Benalla.”
Ganbina national manager expansion Tracy Bevan said the purpose of the Anganya program was to increase the participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kids within the Benalla region that were attending full-time, mainstream schools.
“We want them to stay engaged in education and support them in their transition to further training and education or employment post school,” Ms Bevan said.
The new program will be facilitated by Tomorrow Today and largely funded by Ganbina, and will focus on four key elements:
- Scholarships for education — sharing the cost with families for things like school shoes, school fees and laptops.
- Employment and training — supporting students to get a part-time job, creating a resume, building their employability skills, money management and pathways to further education.
- Driving — support for obtaining a driver’s licence, which helps to reduce the barriers to employment.
- Accelerated learning — one-to-one and small group tutoring for English and maths, as well as cultural yarning, which supports cultural connection.
Experienced teacher Heidi Perry joined Tomorrow Today as Anganya’s education officer in August.
“I’ve been teaching for 24 years, both in the primary and secondary sector,” she said.
“I’m really passionate about making sure that every child has opportunities to thrive and to succeed in the way they can.
“I’ve always felt, particularly over the years that I’ve been teaching in Benalla, that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in schools are the ones that need more support.”
There are between 70 and 80 students in Benalla who identify as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, although there are likely more students who have not formally identified.
Ms Bevan said she hoped to see at least 70 per cent of those students participating by the end of the pilot program.
“It’s a bit of that ripple effect, one person shares with another that they’re doing this program and then their parents might go, ‘I think that would be really beneficial for my child to join too’,” she said.
“At the heart of the program lies connection, with each other, with culture and with the local community.
“Part of Heidi’s role is to build relationships within the Benalla community to foster that connection.”
Ms Perry said she would like to have a place set up in the schools throughout Benalla, so that students could visit her if they needed support.
“I’m already seeing some strong buy-in from schools, which is fantastic,” she said.
“I’m really pleased to report that the accelerated learning component is already under way, and we have a number of families participating.”
Ms Bevan said, in regards to both school and community, it was about becoming the face of where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students could go, a safety net.
“So then if Heidi doesn’t know the answer, or it’s not part of the make-up of the program being delivered, she can refer them to other services that are available and then give them that information so they have some tools to be able to navigate,” Ms Bevan said.
“When our community sees that there are some positive changes occurring, and it might be that we’ve locally sourced some fantastic 16-year-olds that can have part-time work and there’s been a positive impact on that business.
“I’m hoping that there’ll be a real snowball effect in terms of the parents in our community will see that, and they might say to their own child, how about you get involved in Anganya at Tomorrow Today?
“Or there might be other business people that might talk and think, well, I need to be ready for these traineeships or for work experience.
“I think it only can be as big as you dream it to be. And dreaming is something you have to do because it becomes reality eventually.”
For more information about the program, contact Heidi Perry at Tomorrow Today on 5762 1211 or via heidiperry@tomorrowtoday.com.au
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