Learning to read, write and understand important issues saves lives and creates future opportunities, says Nanditta Colbear, executive director of the Literacy Alliance of West Nipissing.
“It goes far beyond learning. It provides hope,” Colbear said, explaining why her group worked hard to reopen in April just weeks into the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown.
“We did not miss a beat” other than closing for a few weeks to gather information and create protocols, she said, noting staff were also quick to engage learners for coaching over the telephone and video conferencing. “Literacy means that much to our learners … it is their lifeline to positive outcomes.”
Colbear is featured in a new video sponsored by the Mid North Network of the Northern Literacy Alliance to help raise awareness about the free services agencies offer. There’s a naming contest for the production that offers a $250 gift card prize with submissions accepted via email until Sept. 21.
While they hope the video motivates someone online to improve their literacy skills, Colbear said they also want it to reach community leaders and potential funding sources to put more resources behind the cause.
The Literacy Alliance of West Nipissing provides one-on-one learning with about 100 learners served annually.
“There is no classroom service. Each person learns in their own way,” Colbear said, adding, “I cannot express enough the importance of this method of fostering independence, lifelong learning, and improved mental health. Literacy provides hope.”
In the video, Colbear puts modern literacy into perspective:
“Adult literacy today is about filtering information in a meaningful way, it's about critical thinking and problem-solving,” she says in the production about 2.5 minutes long. “Adult literacy trains individuals to expand their abilities to incorporate thinking and problem-solving … they learn to combine the traditional concepts of reading/writing with the fast-paced environment of the online world.
“Literacy is literally the soul of growth in the 21st century,” she states. “Literacy has gone completely beyond being literate, the benefits are far-reaching for everyone – at the very, very basic level it's about facilitating education” that continues every day, she said.
Along with the International Literacy Day being celebrated Tuesday, Colbear said the release of the video was also timed to coincide with provincial mental health initiatives because the two issues are often intertwined.
A three-week campaign was launched Sept. 1 called ‘Reach Out for Mental Health’ by a coalition of literacy groups. They highlight how their learners, who already deal with the pressures of life lacking literacy and basic skills, are under more stress due to the pandemic while access to mental health supports are reduced.
Colbear said literacy challenges were already impacting Canada’s social and economic health before the lives and employment of many people were damaged or put on hold.
“As a nation, we are falling behind and are not as globally competitive as we should be,” she said, referring to a growing need to help people struggling to keep up with ever-changing complexities and technological leaps.
Being “illiterate” is not attached to the concept of literacy in Colbear’s opinion: “I have met university graduates – with master’s degrees – who I would consider to be ‘literacy derelicts’ … people who stopped processing data and abandoned the thinking process.”
