CELEBRATE Diversity grant

In 2025, we awarded almost $15,000 in grants to early childhood teachers and educators, each receiving up to $1,000 to purchase resources or fund a small project that promotes diversity in the classroom. 

Here you will find stories from select grant recipients.

Margie Moore – Wangaratta West Kindergarten

Margie Moore – Wangaratta West Kindergarten

Through this project, we recognised that our relationships with families strengthen when they see their identities reflected and valued in the program.  We purchased books about diversity including race, identity, culture, skin colour, disability, different...

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Melissa Battaglia – BPA Children’s Services

Melissa Battaglia – BPA Children’s Services

I have been able to spend all the grant on purchasing Arabic/English Bilingual books.  I'm really excited about getting them contacted and put into the children's borrowing library.  I know that these books will enable our refugee families to be able to participate in...

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Jonathan Levitzke – Home Road Kindergarten

Jonathan Levitzke – Home Road Kindergarten

With  the approval of the educational leaders of the center. We spent money on a range of soft plush dolls, with different looks, identities,  outfits, and skin tones to  support inclusive representation within our diverse early childcare kindergarten.    I hope to...

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Karen Pinder – Ardeer Kindergarten

Karen Pinder – Ardeer Kindergarten

The grant money was spent on purchasing dual language books for our kindergarten borrowing library.  The children have been borrowing these books and families have been reading them to the children at home.  Many families have expressed how much they loved reading a...

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Holly Swetman – Shine Bright Tongala

Holly Swetman – Shine Bright Tongala

The grant money has been well utilised, our mural in our eatable garden area is nearly completed, this has been done with the children’s input and ideas, We have got some amazing resources in our foyer to help celebrate our different cultures such as flags from around...

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