Volunteers make up the community board, act as buddies for youth participants in the OK program, and work on special events. They are not involved in tutoring. Funding for the different programs comes through federal, provincial, and municipal governments, with some private and public donations.

The Learning Exchange has a holistic approach to education, believing that each individual who enters the centre should have the opportunity to explore and work towards fulfilling, their own learning goals. There are no standardized entrance requirements or curriculum. Students work anywhere from basic literacy up to grade 9 proficiency without being labelled by their past academic experience. Approximately ten percent of the current participants are English as a Second Language students.

The Learning Exchange staff of twenty-two has eighteen women and four men. The participants vary widely, from a majority of men to a majority of women at any one time. The strongly learner-centred, humanistic approach taken by the program means that each participant is treated as an individual with particular strengths, needs, and life experiences. The centre emphasizes the social nature of learning, ensuring that participants feel welcomed, accepted, and supported. There is a strong sense of mutual support in the small groups that clearly crosses differences in age, sex, and experience.

Involvement in the CCLOW research project

Marion Wells, the executive director of the Learning Exchange, first heard about the CCLOW research project when she attended a meeting in Toronto. After reading the report from the first phase, she approached an animator and program counsellor with the idea of exploring the program's participation. Donna Lynn McNulty and Mary Snow attended the first national workshop and the Learning Exchange later decided to participate in the research with Mary Snow and Marion Wells acting as the two contact women.

Following some intensive discussion and reflection, both Mary and Marion became interested in exploring the concept of woman-positive within the context of their program philosophy and practice. Given that they already identified many activities and incidents that they felt were strongly positive for women in the program, they felt they wanted to understand in what ways women, as "women," might be distinguished from women, as "learners."