Walking with Children’s Ground

Our connection to Children’s Ground was formed in mid-2020. At that time, the Black Lives Matter movement that began in the United States and spread across the globe prompted us to do some urgently needed thinking, reflecting and talking about the injustices and racism that exist in Australia, and our role in both the problem and solution.

Since we opened Market Lane, we have been committed to working to address the inequalities that exist in the international coffee supply chain, largely as a result of colonialism. In 2020, we realised that though we live and conduct our business on the traditional lands of the Wurundjeri peoples of the Kulin Nation, we were not doing nearly enough to educate ourselves and help address the systemic inequality in our country.

We identified several concrete actions we could take to walk in firm solidarity with First Nations people in a movement towards real, meaningful and long-overdue change. A fundamental part of this plan was to partner with a First Nations-led organisation whose mission we could support through ongoing self-education, volunteer work, and fundraising and donation. Our research led us to Children’s Ground, a First-Nations-founded organisation that does crucial work to create systemic change, using an approach that is designed, delivered and evaluated by First Nations individuals and communities.

Our connection with Children’s Ground began simply, with a cash donation, but in the years since, it has evolved into a deeply meaningful and important relationship. This is thanks to the Children’s Ground’s team, who have been profoundly generous in supporting us on our journey; giving us their time, and sharing their wisdom, perspective and cultural and historical knowledge with our team, as well as their own personal, and often painful, truths. We emphatically believe in Children’s Ground’s vision and praxis, and we’ve gained and learned an immense amount from knowing and listening to them, and walking with them as an organisation.

There are several ways that we walk with Children’s Ground. We’ll summarise these here to hopefully inform and inspire individuals and businesses wanting to develop a meaningful connection and partnership with Children’s Ground and/or other likeminded First Nations organisations, but perhaps unsure where to start.

Listening and learning 

Children’s Ground have run several Truth Telling Workshops with our management and head office teams. In these powerful, transformative workshops, we were invited to have hard conversations about the true history of this country in a safe and honest space. These sessions were confronting and moving; they helped us gain a deeper understanding of our history and develop a broader context around the impact of colonialism on First Nations people.

The Children’s Ground team has also run a training session with our full team, giving us insight into the essential work they do and providing context for why there is such a desperate need for systemic change in this country. To help further connect our team with the mission of Children’s Ground, we’ve held several screenings and discussions of the film In My Blood It Runs. This beautiful documentary – directed by Maya Newell in collaboration with Children’s Ground – follows ten-year-old Arrernte boy, Dujuan, as he grows up in Alice Springs.

Children’s Ground also run a series of talks and webinars throughout the year, with which we always try to engage. These conversations are consistently insightful, honest and eye-opening. If you want to learn more about these, there are some wonderful videos and resources available on the Children’s Ground website.

Raising money (and awareness) 

We aim to raise money throughout the year for Children’s Ground so we can continuously platform and support the amazing work they do.

Every year during NAIDOC Week, we run a campaign in our shops and online, donating $1 from every bag of coffee sold to Children’s Ground. During Reconciliation Week each year, we make a donation and we ‘Wear It Yellow’ to raise awareness of, and show support for, Children’s Ground and their vision.

We offer a special by-donation gift wrapping service in our shops and online throughout the year. All proceeds from this service are donated to Children’s Ground. As are the booking fees from events that we periodically run for our customers and industry peers.

Giving our time 

At Market Lane, we offer all our team members the opportunity to do one paid day of volunteer work each year. Off the back of this, Market Lane has developed a standing monthly volunteer day at the Children’s Ground office in Melbourne/Naarm, so our staff members can get to know the team at Children’s Ground and tangibly contribute to their vision. This has proven to be a powerful way for our team to connect more directly with the work that Children’s Ground does.
 

When we first reached out to Children’s Ground in 2020, we knew we wanted to connect and support however we could, but we didn’t anticipate what an important relationship it would become. It’s been really meaningful to see our team members, both long-standing and new to Market Lane, build their own connection and be enriched and educated by the learning opportunities made available to us by the brilliant Children’s Ground team.

The work to face and reckon with the painful past of this country and to address its deeply entrenched inequality is tough and ongoing. This is the work that Children’s Ground are doing every day. We’re in deep admiration of their approach and their achievements, and we’re proud to walk with them in this vital endeavour.