Telstra Foundation Funds Aussie Kids
20 January 2003 at 12:01 pm
A study to help understand childhood obesity is among the projects that will share in $3.6 million granted by the Telstra Foundation in its aim to improve the lives of Aussie kids.
The Chairman of the Telstra Foundation, Herb Elliott, says this year’s Telstra Community Development Fund has been fully allocated to 100 Not for Profit charity groups for projects addressing issues faced by children and teens in Australia.
Elliott says that in its first year the Foundation has been able to provide much needed funds to assist a diverse range of projects that address issues in education, support services for children and families, health, arts, disability, valuing cultural diversity and community building.
He says the Board of the Foundation is very focused on projects that will help Australian communities deal with problems of modern society and contemporary issues. These include projects that intervene early in a young person’s life to help avoid the pathways to disadvantage, developmental problems, low educational and social achievement and juvenile crime.
He says projects that will benefit as a result of the grants include research by a consortium coordinated by the National Heart Foundation into children’s activity and eating habits after school, with a focus on obesity factors, the development of an Internet-based dictionary of Auslan for deaf children, their parents and teachers, and an archival project to provide the youth of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Lands with access to resources that affirm their cultural identity.
Of the 100 successful projects that have received grants from the Telstra Community Development Fund the primary areas of attention were education and training (16 projects), support services for children and families (15), support services for youth (14), disability (13), research (10), valuing cultural diversity (8), health (7), arts and culture (6), media and communication (6), community building (3) and environment (2); the beneficiaries will include those at risk or vulnerable (39 projects), people with disabilities or chronically ill (17), indigenous Australians (14), culturally and linguistically diverse (5), gifted (2) and low income (2).
Mr Elliott says that in addition to the $3.6 million funding, the Telstra Foundation has committed a further $1.1 million from the Telstra Community Development Fund over the next two years to be shared between 30 of the first year’s projects.
Elliott says the Foundation Board is constantly reminded of the dedication of the hundreds of thousands of volunteers and grass roots community organisations that are working at the coalface of need in Australia.
The Telstra Foundation’s Community Development Fund is now accepting grant applications for the first of two funding rounds in 2003 which will close on 11 April, 2003 for a decision by July.
For more information check the web site at www.telstrafoundation.com.
