"Even with the phone calls, we have a turnover of about two students or tutors a week, so I have to keep matching and rematching people. I don't know what I'd do without Ann. I'm sure her contact with the students and tutors helps to prevent matches from ending. She catches situations that aren't working out or gives ideas to a tutor who is discouraged. And she encourages the students and tutors to come by the office. Everyday there are students and tutors dropping by. I'd like it even better if it was more alive, if there could be people here all the time."

"What I'd really like is to have a real learning centre so that the students and tutors could work in one place. We're already looking for a bigger space but rents in the city are so high. It's going to happen though, I'm convinced of it."

One of the areas of literacy Pat is most known for is her knowledge of the resources available in literacy. Her resource library is the envy of many coordinators but Pat is quick to point out that she had to start from scratch with her library.

"I remember trying to get a handle on the resources. Six years ago there weren't a lot of books to choose from. The books we had in here we eventually threw out or gave away. They were mostly discards from the high school. I remember wondering why anyone would assume that if the books weren't suitable for high school students, why they would be suitable for literacy students."

"There are a lot more resources available now but you still have to be careful as to what you buy. A lot of publishers are capitalizing on the recognized need for literacy materials. They're in it for a profit; what they're producing isn't necessarily good quality. And the prices of books has doubled (or more than doubled) in the past 6 years. That's discouraging when our grants certainly aren't increasing as substantially."

With her experience and interest in resources and quality training for literacy coordinators, Pat has been in constant demand for her expertise. She gives training workshops and seminars on a regular basis and is the first person people call when they have a question about resources. To further her interest in literacy, Pat is planning to do her Ph.D. in literacy at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education in Toronto in the fall.

When I asked Pat if it will be hard to leave, she said, "Yes and no because I'm ready for a change. It's going to be good to step back for a couple of years to look more objectively at what we're doing in literacy and if we're doing things right. I want to do my research on student involvement in literacy programs. I want to look at why students should be involved (on boards and in the planning of programs) and whether anything will change as they become more involved and have more of a voice. It's going to be an interesting couple of years!"

"There are an estimated 700 mentally handicapped adults in Edmonton who could benefit from literacy education," MAUREEN SANDERS told me as we sat in her office on 106th Street and 99th Avenue. "Here in the Challenges Program, we are only working with 20."

The Challenges Literacy Project is a special 2 year literacy project initiated by Pat Campbell and the Prospects Adult Literacy Program with support from Grant McEwan Community College. Challenges is jointly funded by the national and provincial governments under the National Literacy Partnership Strategy. Maureen is the coordinator of Challenges.

"This is a demonstration project which will hopefully show people working in literacy that it is possible to teach basic literacy skills to developmentally disabled or mentally handicapped adults," Maureen explained. "Many of the programs which use volunteer tutors are apprehensive about trying to work with students who have special needs because they don't know how to approach teaching the students and are afraid they won't be able to find suitable tutors. I am writing a manual about the project with the hope that through our experiences and our support, other people working in literacy will come to recognize the importance of including this student group in their programs and will feel more comfortable in giving it a try."