Lord Mayor's Charitable Foundation

Back to School

Banksia Gardens Community Services (BGCS), with funding from Lord Mayor’s Charitable Foundation, is implementing an innovative program to re-engage students aged 9 - 12 years back into education.

Project REAL (Re-Engagement in Education and Learning) adopts a holistic approach to support students in the Broadmeadows area who may have experienced trauma, abuse or neglect.

The program engages several local organisations including the Gateway School (under the auspice of Roxburgh College), Outer Urban Projects, Dianella Health, the Department of Education and Training and eleven local primary schools to re-engage, support and encourage students to return to school.

“Broadmeadows is a community that has a rich and diverse population and people who have incredible skills and lots of strengths, but at the same time it is a community that faces significant disadvantage,” says Jamie De Loma-Osorio Ricon, Deputy CEO at Banksia Gardens Community Services.

“We want to ensure that young people living and growing up in this area have the same opportunities that anyone can access.”

The Foundation’s support of this Project REAL follows that of other initiatives including providing computer coding employment pathways for refugee and migrant youth; a VCE support program and coffee cart social enterprise.

“Nobody can learn without self-esteem or without building relationships. We want to do more with these young people because they are highly capable, they are passionate and quite often, they just need a bit of help,” says De Loma-Osorio Ricon.