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Sponsorship

Michelin commitment to the community

Michelin Australia’s commitment to the community is in partnership with the Smith Family through their Learning for Life program.

Michelin employees are also regular donors to the Red Cross Blood Bank, with our staff voluntarily giving blood at regular intervals throughout the year.

Below is some information about the Learning for Life program run by the Smith Family.

The Smith Family - who they are
The Smith Family is a national, independent organisation committed to unlocking opportunities for disadvantaged families to participate more fully in society. They have been responding to the needs of Australians since 1922.

They believe that all Australians should have equal access to opportunities and we seek to use practical, effective programs to help families break the cycle of poverty.

The Smith Family is increasingly focused on providing preventative-based programs as a way of addressing the root causes of poverty rather than just treating the symptoms. This approach is increasingly being applied across all of their community programs and, in particular, their educational scholarship program Learning for Life.

The need in the community
A student’s financially disadvantaged circumstance can be closely related to below average school performance, not because of their intellectual capacity, but because of their limited opportunities to fully participate at school. The experience of many disadvantaged children is that they feel discriminated against and therefore alienated at school. This can convert to low self-esteem, resulting in poor participation in the education process.

Today there are more than 740,000 school-aged children living in disadvantage in Australia.

The Learning for Life program
Learning for Life was first developed in 1988 as a pilot project, in response to the concept of ‘generational disadvantage’. This suggests that children who are bought up in financially disadvantaged circumstances are at risk themselves of remaining financially disadvantaged throughout their lives.

Learning for Life scholarships are offered to students whose families meet the eligibility criteria of low income and a commitment to their children’s education.

Students on the program receive educational support and financial assistance to increase their ability to actively participate in all of the educational opportunities at school.

Aims of Learning for Life
The Smith Family recognises that for a number of reasons, disadvantage is often handed down from one generation to the next. Education is one of the most effective ways of breaking this cycle. The Smith Family is committed to providing greater educational opportunities to young Australians in financial need. For every child we can help now, future generations will benefit.

The program’s aims are:

to ensure that students from financially disadvantaged families are able to take part in all mainstream school activities
to provide parents with information to help them secure a better education for their children
to encourage students to stay at school, to provide them with information regarding vocational training options and where appropriate to provide a path to tertiary education
to provide any further information and support to parents and students which may help them develop their confidence and self-esteem
to provide a range of support activities for students to assist them in their learning
to gather research information about problems which students from disadvantaged backgrounds experience in the school system

Communities benefit from Learning for Life
Localised communities have much to gain from Learning for Life. Some of the community benefits of the program:

Learning for Life adds value to the local community and its objectives are consistent with those of community renewal programs
Learning for Life does not duplicate existing services
The self-esteem of disadvantaged youth is enriched
The ‘cycle of disadvantage‘ may be broken for future generations

Useful Learning for Life statistics:

There are currently more than 22,000 students on the Learning for Life program Australia wide
Nationally the program is growing from supporting 7,000 students in 1999 to a target of 70,000 in 2005
Learning for Life operates in 47 locations throughout regional, rural and metropolitan Australia
In Victoria there are more than 5,200 students on the Learning for Life program
A total of 24,000 students have been supported since the program began in 1988