HIPPY Sites
The first HIPPY project in Australia began in 1998 in the City of Yarra, Victoria to be delivered by the Brotherhood of St Laurence. Twenty families were enrolled, with three home tutors employed to work with families in their homes. This site is now known as HIPPY Fitzroy.
The Brotherhood of St Laurence has since developed partnerships with agencies working in various locations across Australia to deliver HIPPY to additional communities outside of metropolitan Melbourne.
Until 2009 there were 9 sites in operation in Australia, with six sites in Victoria, two sites in Tasmania and one in La Perouse in NSW. However, due to significant national funding provided by the Commonwealth Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations to the Brotherhood of St Laurence, there will be 50 programs in operation across the country by 2011.
The Brotherhood of St Laurence holds the licence to operate HIPPY in Australia and partners with agencies within specified locations to deliver the program to families in those communities.
In 2010 in addition to 22 established sites, we have 13 new sites coming on board funded by the Commonwealth Government. A pilot site in Campbelltown NSW will be funded through the Education Heritage Trust, bringing us to 36 HIPPY sites in total.
Please click here to download the Australian HIPPY site timeline
Across Australia HIPPY works with:
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families
- culturally and linguistically diverse families
- families with Anglo-Celtic and European backgrounds.
These groups cover diverse economic, cultural, educational and social demographics.
Our storybooks* are translated into Somali, Vietnamese and Arabic, with other languages to be in the near future. They are also available on CD in audio format in English.
Pictured: HIPPY Coordinators and Tutors from all sites at the training forum held in February 2008.