Headlines/Oct. 14, 1992

UCFV receives funds for literacy projects

UCFV has received funding for three literacy projects from the National Literacy Secretariat and the provincial Ministry of Advanced Education, Technology and Training.

UCFV instructors Barbara Bate and Wendy Watson will be able to continue their work as community literacy . outreach workers, thanks to a $36,000 grant. Bate concentrates on working. with community partners on literacy projects in the eastern part of the UCFV region, while Watson focuses on the western part.

Some of the projects that Bate and the Fraser Valley East Literacy Association helped to implement last year were the Read to Me program at Central Elementary school and a family storytime for toddlers at the Chilliwack library. She envisions similar projects coming together this year. Read to Me will be continuing for a second year, under the coordination of UCFV instructor Vicki Grieve.

In the Abbotsford/Matsqui/Mission region, Watson, Project Literacy Abbotsford Matsqui, and partner agencies have been focusing on workplace literacy initiatives. These include the upgrading centre for shift-workers at MSA Hospital, and the lunch-hour series on workplace literacy issues put on last year for businesspeople and educators, which

was co-sponsored by the Abbotsford/Matsqui Chamber of Commerce.

A business literacy advocacy group that grew out of the lunch-hour series will now work on developing a literacy needs-assessment, focusing on the retail community in the Abbotsford area.

The second grant, totalling $18,260, will help to fund Women Together, an educational program for spouses and partners of prison inmates.

Spouses of prisoners often move to the Fraser Valley to be near their partners. Many feel dislocated, removed from the support of their family, friends, and home community. Some lack the basic skills necessary to deal with the various government agencies, and they may also lack the education needed to secure employment. Women Together will offer academic upgrading and life skills training on a part-time basis to this group.

“‘We’re hoping that the women will continue to meet and offer support to one another after the formal program ends,” says UCFV instructor Trudy Archie, one of the coordinators, along with Wendy Watson, of Women : Together. The program is being taught by Sherry Edmunds-Flett and Bea Rhodes.

The program is presented in partnership with the John Howard

Computer training at CFB

For the third straight year, UCFV will be providing computer training to Canadian Forces Base Chilliwack personnel. Over $30,000 worth of training has been agreed to this year. Beginning, intermediate and advanced courses in WordPerfect, dBase IV, Lotus 1-2-3 and Harvard Graphics will be offered.

‘““We’ve been providing them with ad hoc training for a few years, and last year we looked in to making it a more permanent relationship,” says Patrick O’Brien, coordinator of the Micro Computers in the Workplace program for Continuing Education. “UCFYV was awarded a standing purchase order, so that they can order seats

directly from us.”

Computing instructors go to the base with laptop computers to provide training. “They have a high turnover of personnel, so there’s an ongoing demand for

education,” notes O’Brien.

Society.

The third project is a literacy survey for the Agassiz-Harrison area. This needs assessment will be administered by Agassiz-Harrison Community Services, in cooperation with UCFV instructor Nada Traison. It will identify and prioritize literacy training needs and ways of meetings those needs. Employers, agencies, and the general population will be surveyed. This project has received $11,606 in funding.

UCFV is also involved in a fourth project. Barbara Bate will be working with representatives of Capilano College on developing models for family literacy programs for the North Shore and Chilliwack.

“Family literacy involves bringing parents and children, usually preschoolers, to one place to learn, both together as a family and separately, on their own,” says Bate. “The aim is to encourage families to put a high priority on learning.”

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