Essendon Football Club and The Long Walk are proud to announce a new partnership with national education provider SEDA Group, launching the National Indigenous Education and Leadership Program today.
The Program focuses on providing Indigenous youth with access to scholarships which provide full-time senior secondary education connected to the sport and recreation industries.
The partnership creates the opportunity for organisations to sponsor scholarships for the next generation of young Indigenous Australians to complete their senior secondary education and close the gap.
In 2004 Michael Long completed The Long Walk from Melbourne to Canberra to get the lives of Indigenous people back on the national agenda. In 2017 the Prime Minister’s Closing the Gap Report exposed the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians as significant with few improvements made in 14 years.
Michael Long said the program aimed to provide full-time scholarships to 400 young Indigenous students by 2022.
“The Long Walk is committed to the health and wellbeing of Indigenous Australians. We believe all Australians are entitled to an education,” Long said
“All the work we do is focused on achieving equality between Indigenous and non Indigenous Australians.”
“400 students by 2022 is an ambitious target. We’ll need a lot of support but we’re committed to providing young Indigenous people in our communities with the right to education in partnership with SEDA Group and our national sport of AFL.”
Through corporate sponsorship and support, the initiative also aims to raise awareness of the importance of corporate Australia to invest in leadership for the next generation of Indigenous youth.
Essendon CEO Xavier Campbell said the program provides Indigenous youth with an education model that suits their learning needs, gets them out of the classroom and prepares them for the workforce or further study.
“The Essendon Football Club is committed to supporting the Long Walk and SEDA Group to provide opportunities to Indigenous youth across Australia. We continue to be proud of the Club’s enduring relationship with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community via a number of programs and initiatives.”
“The Club’s vision for reconciliation is to commit to professional development, cultural competency and social inclusion by building on our existing relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.”
To express interest in supporting the National Indigenous Education and Leadership Program please contact Leanne Brooke from The Long Walk or Nick Hannett from SEDA Group.
SEDA Group is a national education provider with recognised independent senior secondary programs for students in Years 10, 11 and 12. Through sport, recreation and leisure industry partners, SEDA Group delivers a hands-on curriculum providing industry experience and pathways to university.
- For more information about SEDA Group, please visit: seda.edu.au
- For more information about SEDA College NSW, please visit: sedacollege.nsw.edu.au
- For more information about SEDA College Victoria, please visit: seda.vic.edu.au
- For more information about SEDA Northern Territory, please visit: seda.nt.edu.au
- For more information about SEDA Western Australia, please visit: seda.wa.edu.au
