Shared Concerns, Common Goals

How Community Agencies Can Work Together for Literacy

Low literacy is linked to many social, health, community and economic problems. Some communities have recognized the relationship between literacy and the other concerns addressed by various agencies. They are creating councils, committees and projects, bringing together all the organizations concerned with social issues, to develop joint approaches to improving literacy levels in their communities.

Illiteracy is A Social and Economic Problem

Coordinating committees are effective ways for organizations to share information and expertise, avoid duplicating services and achieve a better understanding of a social problem. If there is no literacy committee in your community, you may want to approach a literacy organization to get help in establishing one. Or you may want to bring the issue of illiteracy to the table in committees of which your organization is already a member. As a social and economic problem, illiteracy is linked to many of the issues that concern your agency and others in your community.

The human side of illiteracy is often cited in public service messages and in information from community and government agencies. We hear about the personal cost of low literacy, as it limits people's lives and their ability to earn a living or teach their children. Our awareness of the effects of low literacy is now being expanded, however, to include the economic cost to our communities, provinces and the nation as a whole. Illiteracy affects our ability to compete internationally with the highly skilled population of Japan, for example, where illiteracy is almost unknown. If Canada cannot compete, we may lose jobs and our standard of living may fall.

Coordinated Action

The New Brunswick Committee on Literacy was established to help improve the reading and writing skills of the 44 per cent of the province's population who have inadequate literacy skills. It brings together representatives of the federal and provincial governments, business, labour, Read Canada, education and the voluntary and community sectors, to encourage understanding and action on the problem of illiteracy in the province.

The Committee has developed information kits, produced an orientation film on literacy and held Community Round Tables to discuss literacy.

The round table discussions, held on International Literacy Day, September 8, put forward a number of suggestions for action on illiteracy. They suggested that unions and management of companies in the area should work to find joint solutions to workers' low literacy, They supported the idea of workplace initiatives and Employee Assistance Programs. They advocated the development of readable materials by all participants and agreed that all their goals should have a realistic, long- term horizon.

In Calgary, the Adult Literacy Awareness Project was established with funding from the National Literacy Secretariat of the federal Department of Multiculturalism and Citizenship. Its steering committee includes representatives from the United Way, Alberta Family and Social Services, Alberta Vocational College, the Calgary Board of Education, the Canadian Mental Health Association, the Centre for Income Security and Employment and the YMCA Canada. The project set up the Calgary Literacy Line, to help low literate adults access literacy programs. It is also informing community agencies, businesses and unions about the problem of and solutions to illiteracy and has increased information-sharing among literacy and social agencies.

Literacy and Other Issues

Community agencies are increasingly concerned with complex challenges such as family violence, child poverty, youth at risk and support for single parents, which require responses from a number of organizations. Some have developed formal integrating mechanisms to coordinate the agencies' policies. Inter- agency committees and forums may undertake a number of functions including the development of programs, policies and service protocols. Literacy training may be a key component in a mix of programs designed to address agencies' common concerns. As a community agency involved in such inter-agency work, you can encourage your colleagues to consider the place of literacy in the development of your policy response. A literacy agency can provide useful advice on the contribution your committee or forum can make.

The Social Planning Council of Ottawa- Carleton has included illiteracy as one of the issues addressed by its Health Issues Forum. The Forum coordinates the efforts of organizations concerned with issues related to health, including illiteracy, homelessness, poverty, violence, pollution and AIDS. Their membership includes:

• representatives from the anglophone and francophone populations;
• groups representing women, aboriginal peoples, ethnic and visible minorities, people with disabilities and those receiving social assistance;
• health service agencies and governments, and
• community groups.

The Forum's members believe that solutions to the problems it wants to address require collaboration, cooperation and dialogue amongst decision-makers in all of these organizations. They encourage members of the public to join in discussions of the region's health needs; they advocate for healthy social policy; and, they function as a resource and reference group for the voluntary sector.

There are many coordinating committees in Canadian communities that bring governments, businesses, unions and social and voluntary agencies together to address common concerns. When illiteracy is seen as one of a complex of problems faced by people in a community, it is more easily linked to the activities of committees and groups concerned with crime, health, poverty and independent living, for example. If illiteracy is left out of the solution equations for other issues, opportunities for innovative approaches are lost.