Proposal to the Vancouver Foundation

In the end, the group was offered half the amount of money requested from the BC ALCSP, over a two-year period. Our particular grant came from the federal partner, the National Literacy Secretariat (NLS). The other half required to do the research had to come from another source. In March 2002 the research group applied to the Vancouver Foundation (VF) to make up for the other half we did not receive from the NLS. Evelyn did most of this work with Jackie Crossland, a local fundraiser, and support from Linda Mitchell of Literacy BC, the organization that became our sponsor for the VF grant. At this time, the research group also started exploring the process of applying for Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) funding. In October 2002, even though we only had one quarter of the money we needed to do the project because the second year of the NLS funding was not guaranteed, the research group had the first official research team meeting. The VF money, if it did come through, was to be spread over three years, each year needing a progress report written and approved for continued funding.

The research group decided to proceed, reasonably confident that the VF grant would be approved but unsure as to the total amount we would receive. Weaving pots of money together and coming up with strategies to accomplish what we set out to do was the source of numerous discussions at that first meeting. The following quotation reflects the many variables we had to consider when making decisions about how to proceed:

What we have right now is thirty thousand dollars from the NLS, and it is to cover us from Sept 2002 to June 2003. . . .They know we may stop in Sept 03. Hopefully we'll get money [$32,000] from the Vancouver Foundation, won't know till Dec. [2003] Our entire plan is to finish up our autobiography work, journal our daily practice (classroom work) and do interviews with our students. Do some analysis, and start with practitioners around the province, that's next fall. Each group of money we're weaving together could take us to this spring. ... If we only get NLS money - we can have this meeting, write our autobiographical pieces, and analysis of our autobiographical pieces - that's all they'd get. If we get more money, we will go back and build on the project (Research Team Meeting minutes, October 21, 2002).