• Fifteen projects share in more than $200,000 in annual Better Beginnings Community Grants
• Grants to be delivered across regional and metropolitan WA communities in 2026
• Early reading proven vital for brain development, wellbeing and future success
The State Library of Western Australia is pleased to announce 15 successful recipients to share in $208,000 through this year’s Better Beginnings Community Grants.
Since 2021, more than $1 million has been invested in public libraries, local governments and community organisations through the State Library of Western Australia’s Better Beginnings Community Grants, supporting families across WA to give children the best possible start in life.
The annual grants program supports recipients to deliver early reading and literacy activities tailored to their communities.
Six Better Beginnings Innovation Grants totalling $134,500 enable sustainable projects that include revitalising the severely endangered Aboriginal language Ngadju in the Norseman area and fostering language development and parent-child engagement within Mandarin-speaking and Chinese Australian communities through dance and bilingual storytelling.
Nine Better Beginnings Micro Grants totalling $73,500 will help kickstart smaller scale projects including support for the language and learning needs of children aged 3 to 5 undergoing cancer treatment at the Perth Children’s Hospital and equipping families in the City of Melville with practical skills to foster digital literacy and safety from an early age.
Better Beginnings Innovation Grants
Ngadju Language Family Packs – Goldfields Aboriginal Language Centre Aboriginal Corporation (GALCAC) $30,000
Dancing Words: Building Early Literacy through Chinese Cultural Arts – Chinese Dance Australia Inc. $30,000
Growing Together Series Program – Shire of Coorow $24,000
Nature Play in the Park – Town of Claremont $17,260
Nature Play in the Park – City of Bayswater $17,260
Together Time – City of Gosnells $16,000
Better Beginnings Micro Grants
Songs, Stories and Dances on Country – City of Bayswater $10,000
Toddlers’ Italian Story and Play Program Expansion South of the River for Early Literacy and Parent-Child Engagement – Dante Alighieri Society of Western Australia $10,000
Play the Page – Tuart Forest Toy Library Incorporated $9,956
Bookworms – Early Literacy in Nature – Western Australia Gould League $9,715
Building shared literacy from hospital to school to community – Hero Hunter Foundation Limited $8,390
Bilingual Beginnings: Family Storytime – Henley Brook Primary School Parents & Citizens’ Association Incorporated $5,300
Cockburn Aboriginal Ear Health and Early Literacy Program – Cockburn GP Super Clinic Ltd $5,098
Little Yarns, Big Learning – Shire of Derby West Kimberley $5,000
Byte-Size Beginnings: Tiny Tech, Shared Stories, and Smart Starts – City of Melville $10,000
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