Funding helps out workplace literacy
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Updated: August 24, 2009 12:23 PM
An Ottawa-funded cash injection into Literacy Victoria could make it easier for people with literacy difficulties to find and keep work.
A $308,000 package to run a two-year pilot project with Literacy Victoria aims to develop training programs to make the job market more accessible to people with low literacy.
The money will go toward meetings and discussions with large-scale employers, such as Thrifty Foods, the Fairmont Empress Hotel and Victoria Shipyards, to adopt training programs for adult learners that are specific to securing a job and maintaining it.
"It's really going to make it possible for people to get a job, who have never been able to have a job or who have been fired," said Ruth Derrick, Literacy Victoria's executive director.
The $308,000 is a slice of the federal government's $36-million commitment to adult literacy and learning skills program.
Sue Gupta, a tutor with Literacy Victoria, says she sees the role improved literacy plays in people's lives: her student shows signs of improved self-esteem, an important quality for work-seekers. But Gupta wants to see more money to fund one-on-one tutoring.
"It's a start," said Shawn Robins, chair of Literacy Victoria. "It's a good investment in terms of testing out these ideas.
"We want to prove this kind of program can work," he said. "Employment is such a big part of people's lives ... and we want to develop a strategy for the long term."
ecardone@vicnews.com
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