Empowering girls, empowering societies: the Harding Miller Education Foundation’s mission to break cycles of poverty

The Harding Miller Education Foundation is on a mission to empower public high school girls, providing them with four-year, $20,000 academic support scholarships with mentorship to break entrenched cycles of disadvantage.

Over the past decade, the Foundation has awarded more than 1480 scholarships to girls with high academic potential, helping them overcome geographic, cultural, financial, and other socio-economic challenges. Almost half (42 per cent) of the 2023 Harding Miller Education Foundation’s graduating scholars were the first to finish high school in their families.

“Some of them come from incredibly challenging backgrounds and overcome all odds,” Harding Miller Education Foundation Community & Corporate Engagement Lead, Hugh Cowan says.

“They’ve got that real grit and determination because of the lives they’ve been leading before being awarded their scholarship and so when they receive it, they grab it with both hands and really run with it. With the resources, mentorship and coaching they get through our program, they just have extraordinary success.”

Student Taylor S had a strong passion for engineering and biology even though people were dissuading her by saying STEM subjects were difficult. She was enduring severe family estrangement issues when she received a Harding Miller Education Foundation Scholarship in 2020.

“Developing the skills and confidence necessary to pursue a career in STEM would have been a great deal more challenging from our low socioeconomic status background,” she recently told the Foundation.

“As such, the work of this Foundation was incredible, supporting me not only in the pursuit of my passion in STEM, but in my aspiration to never face the effects of financial strain again.”

She is now studying a Bachelor of Engineering (Biomedical) and a Bachelor of Science (Medical Science) at the University of Sydney.

Cowan says many of the Foundation’s scholars come from non-English speaking backgrounds, are Indigenous, and/or live in regional areas. They often face entrenched societal gender bias. For example, many girls from challenging family lives are expected to leave school early and become homemakers, carers, or low-paid income-earners.

“That’s the reality for some of these girls,” he says.

There’s a comprehensive application process to pinpoint girls with high academic potential which includes assessing their NAPLAN and year seven school reports, mid-year eight semester report, and a letter from their school principal in support of their application. Applications also include a personal statement about their career aspirations.

Successful scholarship recipients (just 230 were accepted in 2024 from 930 applications) then commence the scholarship program in year nine, with academic tutoring and a volunteer coach/mentor as part of the comprehensive package.

“There’s often limited experience and career inspiration from their family and language barriers can also be an issue, so the coaching role is hugely impactful.”

The Foundation was established by business leader Kim Harding and career public school devotee Irene Miller. They even have a separate funding corpus to cover all costs of the Foundation, ensuring that all donations are directed to the resources and tools for its scholars.

“We’re not waving goodbye when they leave the school gate. We’re extending our enrichment program for the alumnae and assisting them with the transition to tertiary education, relevant skills development, career opportunities and internships. That’s a significant part of who we are as an entity – there’s a real genuine care.”

To support the Harding Miller Education Foundation go to: https://www.hardingmillereducationfoundation.org.au.

A family with a structured giving sub-account in the Equity Trustees Charitable Foundation, a public ancillary fund has been creating impact through Harding Miller Education Foundation for over 6 years.