b'YALARIYalari Geelong Grammar student Tiieal Kennedy supported by the Newsboys Foundation with Newsboys CEO Sandy Shaw and Yalari Chair Bruce Davidson at the Yalari 20th anniversary Melbourne celebrations in 2025Break out the candles and the cake. This year marks job done. Thats just as important as pounding the floors 20 years of Yalari, an organisation that was ahead of itsof Parliament House.time when established, the rewards of which can be seen ever more clearly two decades on. Alumni have moved onto the Board of Yalari itself, including Kyol Blakeney, who studied primary education Yalari was inspired by founder Waverley Stanleys schoolat Sydney University but now has a tutoring business, days, where he was the only Indigenous student atworks as a cultural consultant and runs a not-for-profit prestigious Toowoomba Grammar School, boarding andassisting Indigenous entrepreneurs in rural areas, on top studying with the wider community of boys to receive aof his Yalari board duties. powerful base of education on which to grow. Kyol is excited by the Yalari alumni network, ready and When he and his partner, Llew Mullins, compared hiswilling to pay it forwarda Yalari touchstonewhere schooling to her high school education, they realised theneeded. Its a network of black, educated, successful, superiority of his experience and it made them wonder:confident, powerful individuals, Kyol said. what if they were to establish an organisation to support a quality education for more Indigenous children? WhatJust as universities have their old boys and old girls could well-educated, confident, empowered Indigenousorganisations, we now have ours, with people who came students achieve in their communities, society and work? from the same place, have some shared experiences and can support one another.This was systems change thinking, before that term was in vogue. This is how Waverley saw it from the start. Hed be saying, we want to have 250 (Indigenous young people) educated And even better, 20 years on, more than 600 Yalari alumniin top schools, Llew recalled. Id be thinking: Can I are now out in the world, rising steadily in professionaljust worry about the first three students were actually fields, and/or being wonderful parents, workers and rolesupporting right now? Then hed say, lets aim for one models within their communities.thousand! A lot of these kids didnt have a father in their lives, LlewYalari believes that every Indigenous scholar it supports said. When I see them being a great dad, I think to myself:already has what it takes to succeed within, but they 10NEWSBOYS FOUNDATION ANNUAL REPORT 2025'