The Literacy Junction Centre and Okanagan College are just some of the local organizations working together to support adult literacy.
Together, through the Adult Literacy Service Providers Network, these groups meet regularly to learn about each other’s services for referral purposes, identify and develop actions to address gaps, and discuss how they can partner better to serve adults in the community with literacy needs.
This may range from navigating information systems at the library, accessing ESL and employment services, upgrading courses for graduation, and providing one-to-one support for seniors learning computer technology.
“While each of the organizations involved in this service provision witness gaps and may experience frustration due to the limits of their capacity of funding, they each have many success stories to report,” said Wendy Aasen, executive director of Junction Literacy Centre.
Some of those other organizations include Community Futures, Okanagan Regional Library, Vernon and District Immigrant Society, Nexus BC, Kindale Developmental Association, and the Vernon School District.
Recently the network put together an action plan to define specific needs and implement actions to address them. This will become part of the district/community literacy plan as administered through the Junction Literacy Centre and funded by the province through Decoda Literacy Solutions, a provincial literacy support organization.
An online library with resources useful to community and service providers is available at www.decoda.ca.
