THE COLMAN FOUNDATION
The Colman Foundation was established in 2005 with an initial grant from Pam and Julius Colman and has grown since with donations received and investments made.
The specific focus of the Colman Foundation is to promote positive education outcomes for children and families in disadvantaged communities. It supports service integration through a local, collaborative partnership between state government, local government, early childhood and adult learning providers, and health and community service partners. The Colman Foundation enables a single point of entry to a fully integrated model of high quality early learning, education and community support for children, young people and their families.
The Colman Foundation has developed a model – “Our Place” – that embodies pride in place, excellence in practice and ownership in outcomes.
MEET THE TEAM
Julius is a lawyer, businessman and philanthropist who holds the degrees of Bachelor of Laws and Master of Laws, from Melbourne University, and a Bachelor of Arts and a Fellow of the Australian Property Institute.
Julius and his wife founded the Colman Foundation, which entered into a unique partnership with the State Government of Victoria around a state school in one of the most disadvantaged areas of Melbourne.
The model of education and community engagement created there, known as the Doveton model, now known as “Our Place”, has received world-wide recognition and attention and is being rolled out to other schools in Victoria.
In 2015 Julius was awarded an Order of Australia (AM) for his work with underprivileged children.
June is a member of the Goodstart Early Learning board and is also member of the WA Early Childhood Development and Learning Collaboration Advisory Board hosted by Telethon Kids.
June has extensive experience in both policy and service development, research and practice in the early childhood, family support and children’s services fields, which has given her a broad and deep understanding of issues relevant to the needs of parents and their children.
June has managed many state and national projects designed to refocus early years services to provide more integrated support for families with young children with a particular interest in vulnerable children.
She brings over 25 years of extensive administrative experience and over 10 years as a senior executive assistant. Supporting Ministers and senior government level management, contributing both to the administrative day-to-day business operations and long-term business development planning.
Having held positions in the Department of Health and Human Services in the Victorian State and Federal Governments, as well as in early childhood and secondary education.
Deb has been able to tailor her senior level administrative skills to facilitate executive support within Ministerial and Government Committees processes.
Holding qualifications in behavioral science and training, she has worked in research, management and consulting roles for more than 15 years and has undertaken contract work for local governments, school entities, and philanthropists.
Recent roles have included supporting the development and implementation of evaluation frameworks and data collection systems; carrying out feasibility, costing models and business plans for new projects and service establishments; and reviewing and examining service operations and project initiatives across the early childhood and education sector.
Marie has developed partnerships with key stakeholders to deliver accredited and pre-accredited training. A key initiative is Global Kitchen a social enterprise with a focus on catering and providing employment and training to the local culturally diverse community.
Marie has been a volunteer with YRIPP (Youth Referral and Independent Persons Program) which provides highly trained volunteers to support young people in police custody during the interview process.