The Words Grow Minds campaign has received $5.2 million in funding from the South Australian Office for Early Childhood Development.
The funding announcement is a welcome investment in children and families reading in South Australia, ensuring that more households – including in remote, rural and Aboriginal communities – will recieve resources and support to help parents and caregivers feel confident about supporting their child’s learning and development.
The multi-million dollar investment was announced by the Hon. Blair Boyer MP at Salisbury Primary School last week.
It comes off the back of the The Royal Commission into Early Childhood Education and Care, led by the Hon Julia Gillard AC, which recommended the expansion of the Words Grow Minds initiative, as families play a critical role in shaping their child’s brain.
Words Grow Minds is an Australian-first early childhood development campaign by Raising Literacy Australia which aims to increase public and parental awareness of the importance of early childhood development and the life-changing impact positive interactions with babies and young children have in the first three years of life.
Since the campaign’s inception in 2023, thousands of families have received books and resources, with 21,000 packs distributed each year.
According to Raising Literacy Australia, the funding will allow the program to “enter its next phase, extending its impact across South Australia.”
This major investment comes just a month after the Victorian Government announced a $1.1 million investment in the Book Fund for the Premier’s Reading Challenge – showing how States and Territories across Australia are meeting the challenge of declining reading and literacy rates.
Find out more about the Words Grow Minds campaign in our case study article and interview.