COWICHAN VALLEY – New Democrat MLA Doug Routley says a funding boost to community-based adult literacy program will help people gain skills in reading, writing, math and digital literacy.

“Improving quality of life starts with reducing obstacles to everyday tasks – literacy skills reduce challenges when finding a job, accessing higher education, budgeting and more”, said Doug Routley, MLA for Nanaimo-North Cowichan. “The free services provided by Literacy Now Cowichan benefit our entire region and through this funding, we can keep making life better for every day people.”

Literacy Now Cowichan received $30,689.09 to support their Pathways to Learning adult literacy program for the 2021-22 year.

The New Democrat government is investing $2.9 million in the Community Adult Literacy Program which includes a one-time investment for 2021-22. This support will fund 97 programs, delivered by 66 organizations in 128 communities throughout the province.

Community based Indigenous, adult and family literacy programs are provided free of charge and delivered by community organizations, Indigenous-led organizations, and public-post secondary institutions. Literacy programming typically includes one-on-one tutoring and small-group instruction which supports all levels of literacy. In 2020, many programs shifted to online service delivery in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Learn more: https://news.gov.bc.ca/releases/2021AEST0046-001302