About us
We believe everyone should receive education in financial literacy to improve their life outcomes.
Our program has been developed with three specific target audiences.
Origin story
Local Impact (originally known as Inner West Community Foundation) was formed to support the inner west community of Melbourne with programs and initiatives to improve education, employment and environment outcomes, particularly for youth.
It quickly became obvious that the falling rates of financial literacy among students was an important issue and, looking deeper, we discovered that our significant migrant and refugee communities also faced these challenges.
Reviewing how we could make a difference to our community and beyond, it became obvious that the solution was to build a flexibile program we could deliver across age groups, ethnicity and life stages.
In 2018, Local Impact was thrilled to be the successful recipient of the Building Community Financial Capability Grant from the Ecstra Foundation via the Hobsons Bay Community Fund. The aim of the grant was to provide access to the resources Australians need to make confident money decisions for their financial future.
Local Impact initially worked with Victoria University (VU) to design and create a program that would meet the needs of our community and the Money Mentor program was born.
Our first priority was to fill gaps in the curriculum for high school students when it came to practical financial literacy. The program was also designed to prepare the students for young adulthood and targeted mid-year high-school students (years 8–10). The original program has evolved into our Job Ready program.
With this early success, our attention turned to other key groups in our community that need support to improve their financial literacy, and our Job Starter and Restarter programs were launched.
The program is now delivered to adults through community groups and local businesses, and has been carefully constructed to provide key life skills to assist learners to successfully understand and navigate their finances.
Local Impact (originally known as Inner West Community Foundation) was formed to support the inner west community of Melbourne with programs and initiatives to improve education, employment and environment outcomes, particularly for youth.
It quickly became obvious that the falling rates of financial literacy among students was an important issue and, looking deeper, we discovered that our significant migrant and refugee communities also faced these challenges.
Reviewing how we could make a difference to our community and beyond, it became obvious that the solution was to build a flexibile program we could deliver across age groups, ethnicity and life stages.
In 2018, Local Impact was thrilled to be the successful recipient of the Building Community Financial Capability Grant from the Ecstra Foundation via the Hobsons Bay Community Fund. The aim of the grant was to provide access to the resources Australians need to make confident money decisions for their financial future.
Local Impact initially worked with Victoria University (VU) to design and create a program that would meet the needs of our community and the Money Mentor program was born.
Our first priority was to fill gaps in the curriculum for high school students when it came to practical financial literacy. The program was also designed to prepare the students for young adulthood and targeted mid-year high-school students (years 8–10). The original program has evolved into our Job Ready program.
With this early success, our attention turned to other key groups in our community that need support to improve their financial literacy, and our Job Starter and Restarter programs were launched.
The program is now delivered to adults through community groups and local businesses, and has been carefully constructed to provide key life skills to assist learners to successfully understand and navigate their finances.
Our success
The Money Mentor program has been successfully delivered to at least:
- 1,500 middle secondary school students
- 8 high schools
Our testing indicates a 13% improvement to students’ financial literacy knowledge based on the results of quizzes completed at the beginning of the program compared to student results at the completion of the program.
The program has been successfully adapted for job starters and re-starters and integrated into workshops for first home buyers and community residents groups.
Businesses are encouraged to attend our workshops to explore the benefits of employee financial training and how the program can be adapted to their requirements.
Aruna Venkatachalam
Head of Impact Education
Aruna Venkatachalam has been a proud Westie for many years. She is a changemaker and design thinker with 15+ years experience in social impact, entrepreneurship and leadership.
Aruna has lived and worked across Australia including First Nations Australia, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, India and the Philippines (which brought out her love of karaoke!). In all these places, she led best-practice community initiatives and co-founded an environmental startup.
Local, strengths-based-approaches sit at the heart of Aruna’s work. She has co-designed world-leading entrepreneurial programs and facilitated, coached and supported hundreds of aspiring entrepreneurs across Australia and internationally, including youth, leaders and community organisations.
Aruna was an Australian recipient of 2024’s Asia Society Game Changer Award in Education and has received recognition from the Rotary Foundation for her impactful work. In 2025, she was nominated by the India-Australia Business and Community Alliance for Community Excellence. Aruna has also served on the Board of CQUniversity.
Aruna is a proud fur mum. She loves nothing better than a good hike in the You Yangs and Great Ocean Road, and a food odyssey with her partner to try out the many incredible eating spots in the West!
The Money Mentor Program is part of Local Impact
Local Impact is a not-for-profit, community association.
The key purpose of Local Impact is to grow community ideas through participation, support and connection in Melbourne’s Inner West.
The Money Mentor program is a child safe organisation and has taken deliberate steps to safeguard children from physical, sexual, emotional and psychological abuse and neglect. We put children’s safety and wellbeing first and have embedded a commitment to child safety in every aspect of our organisation. View our Child Safety Code of Practice.
