Five Parkes' women are on a mission to make sure the children in their community get the best start in life possible.
Parkes Shire Council deputy mayor Barbara Newton is one of the five women who have started 'Project Sprouts', working with not-for-profit organisation Royal Far West to make sure their region's children get the developmental help they need.
Ms Newton said she first was made aware of the importance of early intervention in childhood development, when Royal Far West chief executive officer Lindsay Cane presented the results of their 'Invisible Children Report' at a Country Mayors Association meeting.
The 2017 report found that children living in remote areas were twice as likely to be developmentally vulnerable.
"I was really affected by the report and I thought I want the children in my town to get the best education they can," Cr Newton said.
"So Lindsay came out to Parkes, we had a conversation with the mayor and we organised a town meeting with Royal Far West.
"The meeting was well supported by parents, educators and health workers.
"After that, I was talking to another woman saying 'what can we do?' Then we spoke to another couple of women...we ended up with five of us and went from there."
Like Cr Newton, the other women all bring relevant skills to the table, with the group made up of a physiotherapist, former school-principal, early childhood centre director and a parent of a child with additional needs.
Free Royal Far West assessments offered
Two years after the group was formed, Project Sprouts has sourced enough funding to employ a coordinator and they celebrated the launch of the program last week.
"Royal Far West is in the area at the moment doing free assessments and they'll work with our coordinator with any referrals that come out of that," Cr Newton said.
"She will work with the families to get them the help they need, whatever is suggested by the Royal Far West."
There were 109 children registered for assessment throughout the Parkes Shire.
Cr Newton said the assessment program was focused on preschool aged children, making sure they were ready for school.
"The Invisible Children Report tells us if our children aren't ready to learn when they start school, they're never ready to learn," she said.
"They keep going backwards and don't get what they need out of the education system."
Cr Newton said they hoped Royal Far West would return every 12 to 18-months to carry out assessments, which include occupational therapy, speech and language, hearing and dental screenings.
Royal Far West's Head of Philanthropy and Community, Anna Bowden said they knew the more engaged rural and regional communities were with early intervention, the better the outcomes would be.
"In rural and remote Australia there's a real challenge around allied health services," Ms Bowden said.
"But, the women who started Project Sprouts were determined that this wasn't going to be the case in their shire.
"These 109 children who have been screened are going to be in good hands, they will be connected with the right kind of help they need before they start school."
