Members of Powell River Literacy Council are looking for new ways to promote literacy in the community after the provincial government cut its funding.
It is one of 55 literacy groups across the province that has lost funding for its literacy outreach coordinator.
“It’s going to be a big loss for us,” said Margaret Leitner, executive administrator of Powell River Employment Program Society which oversees grant money for community literacy programs. “Without that role we won’t be able to move forward in the way we’ve been able.”
Since 2004 the council has received funding for community literacy programs and since 2010 it has received money for a literacy outreach coordinator. Emma Levez Larocque has held the position since 2010.
The coordinator works to raise awareness about how literacy affects people both in terms of the wider community and individual lives.
“When we started in 2004 we couldn’t do much because we were all participating off the side of our desks,” said Leitner. “Having a coordinator helps everyone stay informed.”
She said she was “completely taken aback” after reading the letter from Brenda LeClair, chief executive officer of Decoda Literacy Solutions, a not-for-profit organization designed to fund provincial literacy networks.
Decoda receives ministry of education funds and then distributes them to 102 task groups in 400 communities.
LeClair said that the minimum funding needed to maintain literacy coordinators in all the task groups is $2.5 million, which is the level of funding that Decoda had received from the provincial government previously. Last year, it faced a $1.5 million shortfall after being given only $1 million to work with. Decoda added in the necessary funds from its reserves to address the shortfall. This year it doesn’t have the reserves to do the same.
“We tried to split $1 million into 102 task groups for 400 communities, but it wasn’t even minimum wage to employ a coordinator,” said LeClair. “No matter how we turned it, it was really an impossible task.”
Because there wasn’t enough money to spread evenly throughout the task groups, Decoda settled on a criteria of funding groups where a potential for ongoing funding though partnerships with corporate or government foundations exists.
Without literacy coordination in communities, LeClair said it will be even more difficult to go to business and industry and ask for help.
“The only group that can invest in coordination is government,” she said.
After Leitner received the news, she enquired with Decoda about the funding cut.
“We’re in a better position than the other 54 communities in BC because we did wind up getting a little funding back and had some reserves that we’re able to use to carry forward and maybe figure another way to proceed,” said Leitner.
She expects the findings in a report on community literacy needs due this month will help identify directions to proceed. A letter will be sent to the ministry of education enquiring about the equitable distribution of funds across the province.
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