Coalition commits $48 million to NFP education program

The Coalition has committed $48 million to a Smith Family educational program that supports disadvantaged children and young people across Australia

“The Smith Family welcomes the Coalition’s funding commitment of $48 million for our Learning for Life program,” said Dr Lisa O’Brien, CEO of The Smith Family.

“This funding would enable The Smith Family to offer our educational support program to an additional 24,000 disadvantaged children living in communities across Australia and improve their educational outcomes.”

The program is currently providing 34,000 highly-disadvantaged children with targeted educational assistance throughout their school years.

Research shows that students from disadvantaged backgrounds are much more likely to have poorer educational outcomes than those from more advantaged backgrounds.

In 2015, more than four-in-five (84 per cent) former Learning for Life students were engaged in employment, education or training, a year after leaving the program.

“Educational attainment is an important predictor of a person’s future employment, income, health and welfare prospects,” O’Brien said.

“Our research shows that our highly targeted Learning for Life program is having a very positive impact on disadvantaged children’s educational outcomes. It is delivering outcomes beneficial to the long-term economic and social wellbeing of young people and Australia as a whole.

“The funding commitment announced would enable The Smith Family to reach thousands more young Australians with our unique solution to the problem of intergenerational disadvantage and help us deliver lasting change and positive outcomes, not only for children in need, but also for our nation.”