The theme for this year's Indigenous Football Week®, 22 to 28 September, is transformation – which is what JMF has been about since the first IFW in 2016, as an Aboriginal-designed and led youth program targeting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island kids in rural and remote communities.
To help mark the occasion, JMF has released Deloitte Access Economics research that highlights the transformational impact of the program for young people, improving school attendance and wellbeing.
A key finding is that 72% of students are excited to attend school when JMF sessions are offered, leading to students attending 1-2 days extra each week where previously they had been absent.
John Moriarty, JMF Co-Founder and the first Aboriginal footballer to be selected to play for Australia, said, "Just like football changed the trajectory of my life, we designed JMF to positively influence the education, health and wellbeing of Indigenous children and now we have independent proof that it's working and making a lasting impact."
"JMF has the capacity to transform lives by creating ripples of change that start with 'a child, a football, a dream', and flow outwards to impact families, communities and the nation, creating opportunity and unlocking potential."
From a pilot program in Borroloola with 120 children almost a decade ago, JMF now reaches more than 5,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children annually in 15 public schools in 17 remote and regional communities in NT, Qld and NSW.
Deloitte Access Economics Partner, Lachlan Smirl, said, "JMF has been highly effective in engaging young people in some of the most complex communities in Australia where disengagement is typically high."
"It's elevating student pathways for academic success, creating employment and training opportunities for local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander coaches, and it's helping to create more long-term stability in communities."
Former A-Leagues player and JMF Ambassador, Allira Toby (Kanolu/Gangulu), said, "Being a holistic program, JMF is positively impacting 10 of the Closing the Gap targets, at a time when national progress towards these targets is going backwards. We are making vital impacts in areas like education, health, employment, digital inclusion, mental health and youth justice."
"An impact the Deloitte Access Economics research highlights, that I'm very proud of, is how JMF inspires girls and women to engage with football, especially those in remote communities who typically have low engagement with sport.
"JMF creates safe spaces for girls and women to participate in football and we are proactive about gender equality. The results speak for themselves as 60 per cent of our participants are girls and 43 per cent of our coaches are women.
"In the disadvantaged communities we deliver in, the social impacts for this can be far reaching, for instance, positively impacting family violence prevention as JMF creates a culture of respect."
IFW and JMF are delivered by Moriarty Foundation, an Indigenous children's charity that is creating a future where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children thrive.
