On June 9 the Sydney Women’s Fund launched Indigo Express, a philanthropic subfund to support young girls with poor literacy skills. Funds raised will go to highly experienced not-for-profit organisations who assist disadvantaged girls to read.
Dr Catriona Wallace was well aware that many women in the NSW prison system had learning disabilities and poor literacy skills but it was only when her own daughter Indigo was diagnosed with dyslexia that she understood just how devastating and life-changing the inability to read can be.
After putting Indigo through a two-year intensive reading program and seeing the results, Dr Wallace decided to set up a fund to give disadvantaged women, particularly Indigenous girls, the same opportunities to read as she had been able to offer her daughter.
“When Indigo started school at five, I saw instantly how not being able to read caused her untold distress. She was subjected to taunting and bullying and her self-confidence disintegrated before my eyes,” Dr Wallace said.
“She was fortunate – we could help her so that now she can read and has regained her outgoing personality. But there are so many disadvantaged girls who don’t have access to support and resources and, as a result of this and other social problems, become further marginalised, and even end up in jail.
“We set up Indigo Express as a sub-fund of the Sydney Women’s Fund, part of the Sydney Community Foundation, because it is spearheading the movement toward a participatory form of giving, where donations are combined with activism to bring about social change.”
Australian research shows that children skilled in literacy are not only more likely to stay in school and earn higher wages, but they also have higher levels of confidence and better outcomes in terms of lifelong learning and health.
Poor reading and writing skills are associated with lower self-esteem, poorer educational and social outcomes, higher rates of unemployment, welfare dependence and teenage pregnancy.
The 2009 NAPLAN results showed that for Year 3 NSW students in reading, 12.5 percent, or over 10,000 students, were either at or below the minimum standard for reading. By Year 9 almost 18,000 students, or over 20 percent of students, were at or below the minimum level.
“These statistics are confronting, but not anywhere near as challenging as literacy competency rates for Indigenous Australians,” Dr Wallace said.
“More than one third of Indigenous students in Year 3 are currently at, or below, the minimum standards in literacy and numeracy.
“What is so tragic is that once students reach high school, it is almost too late to recover these skills. That is why there is such a need to reach these girls at a young age, well before they turn 18.
“The acquisition of literacy cannot be solely the responsibility of schools and families, but the wider community, including businesses, must participate and provide assistance to children in greatest need.”
It was Indigo who approached her mother, seeking a way to assist other children like herself.
“I would like to help children like me who can’t read. I don’t want them to go through what I did. It is much better being able to read. I want them to be happy,” she told Dr Wallace.
As a result of her experience and her keenness to support other girls, Indigo will take an active role in Indigo Express for fundraising and for peer support.
Dr Wallace, with Indigo, launched their philanthropic fund today, inviting women and men from the corporate sector to get involved by making donations.
According to Kristi Mansfield, Fund Director Sydney Women’s Fund, women are more involved in structured giving than ever before, and are actively participating in philanthropy with their children.
“Recognising the growing desire for participatory giving, the Sydney Women’s Fund is offering for the first time the opportunity for people to establish sub-funds so they can coordinate their grantmaking and fundraising efforts all under the strong governance structure of the Sydney Community Foundation,” she said.
To make a donation to the Indigo Express Fund, please click here for a donation form.