IMPACT Newsletter September 2020
Myer Community Fund partnership:
Two years of success
Australian Childhood Foundation and Myer Community Fund have concluded a successful two-year partnership. The funds raised through the partnership have enabled us to achieve our shared goal of adapting our Bringing up Great Kids (BUGK) Program into a specific family violence parenting program to support vulnerable women and children.
As we know children do not escape violence unaffected and through the BUGK – Parenting after Family Violence program we have been able to help mothers re-connect with their children, providing them with the hope of positive social and emotional development into the future.
The program also provides mothers with a supportive group of peers that enables them to continue to be connected, reducing the likelihood of isolation and the stigma that is often associated with experiences of family violence.
Since the partnership began in 2018 Myer have raised funds through different initiatives and provided many opportunities to increase awareness of our work in the community.
Lucy Hobson, Community Relations Advisor, Myer Community Fund was proud Myer was able to contribute to making a difference.
“It is wonderful to see the impact that Myer Community Fund contribution has made on the Bringing Up Great Kids program, and subsequently the vulnerable women and children who have and will continue to benefit from the program. And humbling to have played a part in that.
Importantly, thank you for all that you do, and everyone in the broader team at Australian Childhood Foundation. What a role you play in the lives of so many families and children that face great adversity.”
The significant funding has allowed the Foundation to redevelop our BUGK program so that it incorporates important family violence related themes, redevelop the program modules so that they attend to the different cultural, age and educational backgrounds of the women involved in the program. It has allowed us to train our staff on the program who have then gone on to train a community network of over 278 parenting group facilitators who are delivering the training to the community. This program will now continue well beyond the partnership and leave a lasting impact on the community. The program is also being examined by Southern Cross University to study its short and long-term impact.
Australian Childhood Foundation CEO Joe Tucci said of the partnership, “As we know children do not escape violence unaffected and through our partnership, we have been able to help mothers re-connect with their children, providing them with the hope of positive social and emotional development into the future.”
More information on the Bringing Up Great Kids program can be found here.
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