Playgroup NSW have been awarded a grant from The Ian Potter Foundation of $1 million over 5 years for the Playgroup Amplify: Explore, Engage, Support and Grow project.
In 2020, the Foundation provided a grant of $200,000 to Playgroup Australia to support families to return post-COVID. As a result of further lockdowns, widespread flooding, and venue access issues across the country, playgroup numbers have not returned nationally to what they were pre-COVID.
This capacity-building grant will support Playgroup Consortia members across Australia – Playgroup NSW, Playgroup SA, Playgroup Victoria, Playgroup Tasmania, Playgroup NT and Playgroup Australia. It seeks to support the Playgroup ecosystem to innovate to meet a changing social and economic climate, developed in response to the unprecedented setbacks to the Playgroup ecosystem created in the wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Playgroup Amplify will deliver two major research projects, in partnership with Griffith University/Telethon Kids Institute, and the University of Western Australia/Telethon Kids Institute respectively, to identify the needs of Playgroups, families and volunteers across Australia with regards to the quality and availability of resources and venues. This represents a phenomenal research collaboration across 5 states or territories, with rigorous quantitative and qualitative analysis of large data-sets expected to be undertaken.
Based on the findings of this research, new options for resources and venues will be designed in close consultation with the community, and iteratively rolled out across the network to provide the best opportunity for Playgroups to remain sustainable, grow, and thrive.
As part of Playgroup Amplify, The Ian Potter Foundation is also enabling us to build the capacity of the Playgroup Ecosystem in Data and Evaluation, in order to strengthen the evidence-base for Playgroups and further enhance opportunities for recognition, partnerships and funding.
