Canberra Mothercraft Society Inc

In remaining true to its mission to improve the wellbeing of women and young children and their families, in 202324 Canberra Mothercraft Society directed generous financial assistance to organisations working in these areas where there is significant need. In particular, CMS increased its support for the Rhodanthe Lipsett Indigenous Midwifery Charitable Fund by funding five midwifery scholarships. For the past three years, CMS has supported the fund with an annual $5000 donation. This year, on learning that the fund had a large shortfall in the number of scholarships it was able to offer, we provided a second donation of $20,000 for an additional four first nations midwifery students, enabling the fund to reach its target of 10 category A scholarships in 2024. Our attention was also drawn to pockets of disadvantage in several Canberra suburbs in Kippax, West Belconnen, where, according to the Australian Early Development Census, the highest percentage of developmentally vulnerable children in the ACT reside. It was sobering to learn that, according to the 2021 census, the ACT has the secondworst scores of developmental vulnerability in the country after the Northern Territory. We were therefore pleased to be able to support a communitybased early literacy intervention pilot program targeting these suburbs. The CMS funding has enabled 23 vulnerable, atrisk children up to the age of three to participate in the ACT s first Dolly Parton Imagination Library, a program aimed at enhancing the school readiness of children by increasing their exposure to reading in their homes. Enrolled children receive a highquality, ageappropriate book in the mail every month, at no cost, for a minimum of two years. As 90 per cent of a child s brain development occurs in the first five years of life, this initiative is a vital pathway to building neural connections in young children through languagerich and responsive interactions with parents and carers.