The Board of Directors of NILA have not had sufficient resources to meet effectively. The Board needs to go through a strategic planning process to affirm their commitment and direction. New members need to be sought to fill skill gap areas on the Board and to instil a new excitement and sense of purpose. This implementation activity is important to ensuring a continued strong foundation supporting NILA’s mandate. As NILA begins to take its place as a national group with an important message, the EC will benefit from the notice.
NILA has developed organizational processes internally and is ready to begin advocating for external policies and systems to be more defined and structured. Once again the presentation of a national voice and a new re-vitalized leadership will allow NILA and the Executive Director to move forward. The impact of better systems will allow the importance of literacy to take its place as the foundational step prior to employment readiness. If things do not change, literacy will be left to community groups and continue to be stigmatized and seen as charity. The EC will also benefit from systemic changes in literacy programs that encourage participation and remove the shame of not being able to read.
There are current funding opportunities available and NILA has a strong history of financial survival. As NILA grows, so will their financial health and organizational well-being. Organizations that are well functioning and have clear purpose are typically self sufficient over time. The partnership model and the intake literacy assessments are both ways that NILA can generate funds while having impact on a longer term strategy. The EC benefits are linked to NILA developing successful tools and distributing them to the front line worker.
Environment awareness and system integration are the last two levels on the spiral, and it may be too early to see indicators here; but I would like to see a future where NILA is sharing methods of literacy development for Aboriginal people with every country across the world. The EC stands to benefit greatly from the expertise of NILA, as practitioners begin to develop successful methods of supporting the client and learning how to help First Nations communities begin to assess, plan, and develop their own literacy programs.