One month ago, the Literacy Alliance of the Shuswap Society (LASS) was singled out by the premier with a Council of the Federation Literacy Award for outstanding achievement, innovative practice and excellence in literacy – now, without warning, it is without funding and may have to shut down.
When Shuswap MLA George Abbott presented the award to LASS co-ordinator Jennifer Findlay Jan. 21, he credited the society for its “life-changing work” in the community.
He told those in attendance at the ceremony that helping people improve their literacy has a lasting legacy.
“Not only does it give them more opportunity, it also allows them to pass the gift along to their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren,” he said.
With those encouraging words still ringing in their ears, society board members were shocked to receive, without warning or consultation, a cancellation letter from Decoda Literacy Solutions, the agency that receives funding from the Ministry of Education and distributes it to literacy groups across the province.
In a Feb. 12 letter to board member Leslie Kiehlbauch, Decoda expressed deep regret that the organization is no longer able to provide funding to LASS.
“The funding for the co-ordination of community literacy task groups was $2.5 million province-wide for the first three years, but last year, the Ministry of Education only provided $1 million,”said the letter, noting Decoda added $1 million from its reserves to address the shortfall. “Unfortunately, this year the ministry is again only providing $1 million and Decoda cannot make up the difference this time.”
Decoda has dropped funding to 55 community groups including LASS, and continued to fund others based on “an objective criteria.”
That criteria includes communities where business and industry have offered to step up with some funding and where Decoda believes the literacy programs are sustainable over the long term.
“Your area’s doing an amazing job and Jennifer Findlay is doing tremendous work,” said Decoda CEO Brenda Le Clair, noting that choosing who to fund based on merit would be impossible because everyone is doing good work.
“I have been trying very hard to get funding restored, but no matter how you look at it, you can’t carve $2.5 million in need up with $1 million.”
But a Ministry of Education spokesperson takes issues with Decoda’s stand and the funding numbers.
“Decoda is actually receiving $2.3 million this year when you include additional funding from the Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Skills Development ($665,642) and Advanced Education, Innovation and Technology ($130,000),” noted a Feb. 19 email. “Overall, this year alone, government is providing more than $37 million for literacy-related programs throughout B.C. Of this, the Ministry of Education is providing $27 million.”
Le Clair meanwhile, said Decoda’s goal is to find partnerships, but needs sound government funding in order to attract businesses.
But Findlay says the $30,000 in funding from Decoda was for her position, something most community groups are loath to fund.
“They key to the community literacy model is to have a paid co-ordinator in place that can basically make all the programs happen and address the literacy needs in the community, and up until this point there has always been dedicated funding for that co-ordination,” she says.
“Eventually we need to be self-sustaining, but it’s very difficult to ask for funding for wages. That’s why the community literacy model has been working so well.”
Still reeling from the news, Findlay says that the loss of funding will likely signal a death knell for the organization that has become a recognized and well-respected literacy organization in the North Okanagan-Shuswap and something she and board members have put their hearts and a lot of hard work into operating.
Making a plea for continued funding, Findlay says that without it, the following literacy initiatives are on the block:
• One to One Children’s Literacy Programming in 15 elementary schools affecting 270 children and more than 200 volunteers each year.
• Coyote Café After School Literacy Program affecting 48 aboriginal students each year.
• Unplug & Play Family Literacy Week involving 4,000 students and their families every year.
• Free distribution of more than 4,000 books annually to family organizations to help support family literacy.
• Computer Tutoring for Seniors Program affecting more than 100 seniors and 40 volunteers each year.
• Other popular and effective literacy programs include Adult Literacy Books Clubs, Adult Literacy Advocacy, Books for Babies, Financial Literacy Share/Save/Spend Program, Spread the Word Community Book Exchange, Soup & Stories Program, “Pawsitive” Reading Program.
Abbott did not reply to the Observer’s requests for comments by press time.