An access checklist and discussion tool for community literacy programs that want to work with homeless adults

Y ____ N ____	Our literacy program is aware of programs and services for people who are homeless or marginally housed in our neighborhood, our catchment area, and in our city.
Y ____ N ____	We make personal visits, phone calls, or send our program flyer to agencies that serve people who are homeless in our catchment area, such as shelters, adult drop-ins, Community Occupational Therapists, soup kitchens, Out of the Cold programs, and food banks.
Y ____ N ____	If current learners lose their housing, we would be able to connect or refer them to agencies and workers who could assist them.
Y ____ N ____	We are able to provide bus tickets, snacks, or meals for learners.
Y ____ N ____	Our program has reviewed our rules and unwritten expectations to ensure that we don't exclude certain kinds of learners or potential learners. For example, these practices may be barriers to participation for people who are transient: X the requirement that learners "live" or work in our catchment area or that learners who move should move on to another literacy program X the requirement that learners phone to cancel tutoring sessions X the expectation that learners should commit to regular tutoring for two hours a week X the belief that learners who attend sporadically are "unmotivated", "uncommitted," and "unreliable" X the belief that scarce literacy resources should be devoted to programming for learners who are "motivated" and "committed"
Y ____ N ____	Our program has developed ways to address the barriers mentioned above. If learners are required to phone to cancel sessions, we have a system for relaying messages for learners without a phone. We give out quarters for phone calls, or phone cards so that learners can call in. We help learners to hook up with cheap or free community voice mail services. We accept collect local calls from phone booths.
Y ____ N ____	We don't believe that learners who attend sporadically are unmotivated, and this belief is conveyed through tutor training and learner/tutor support. We believe that learners' schedules and lives are as important as those of volunteer tutors. We ensure that staff are available to tutor learners whose lives are unpredictable or cannot be reliably matched with a volunteer
Y ____ N ____	People from the community can drop in without an appointment to get literacy help
Y ____ N ____	Learners can attend a drop-in group without making a regular commitment
Y ____ N ____	Our program has the ability to meet immediate functional literacy needs on an as-needed, drop-in basis. For example, we could help someone complete a resume or fax their welfare worker.
Y ____ N ____	Our staff, tutors, and learners are welcoming to ALL people from the community. We talk about and try to change our unspoken rules and attitudes about acceptable dress, learning styles, levels of participation, language, and behaviour, which would make some people feel unwelcome in our program.
Y ____ N ____	We have and enforce an anti-discrimination policy.
Y ____ N ____	If our program has rules about language or behaviour, these rules are clearly explained to all program participants. Staff are comfortable in confronting or "calling" people on inappropriate behaviour.