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Literacy Nanaimo… (cont'd) Carolyn says Literacy Nanaimo was fortunate to obtain the building from its owners, Home Hardware, when they moved to a new location out of the central core and could no longer keep the downtown store open, though they did not want to leave it empty. “They are local people and have always been very supportive of us,” she says. She is thrilled with the new facilities, especially the “huge” new bookstore space . The bookstore ,which has always been a big fundraiser for Literacy Nanaimo, is a busy and successful full time operation staffed entirely by volunteers and one part time manager. The group also runs a computer recycling program, which restores and re-sells donated computers and parts. It also has been highly successful. “It’s just like the used bookstore,” says Carolyn, “when we started this program about six years ago, we were worried about not having enough books to keep it going. Now we never have to worry about having enough. People donate all year round. It’s the same with the computers. It’s amazing.” Literacy Nanaimo has seized on another fundraising opportunity as the local presenter of the “Stephen Leacock Whirlwind Campaign to Cheer Up Canada” at Malaspina University College Theatre on May 12. (To find out more about the Whirlwind Campaign, see our story on page nine). With the success of both these past and present ventures, Carolyn has this tip for other non-profits: “You have to be more entrepreneurial today.”
News from B.C. The ABE Transitions Project is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Advanced Education Training and Technology. The Project’s goal is to work towards a coordinated public ABE system for British Columbia with a more integrated, learner-centred approach to ABE programming. The ABE Transitions Project builds on the work done by a joint committee on ABE which in 1995 made several recommendations. One of these was to establish a common adult graduation credential for ABE students — this objective was implemented starting last September in colleges and school districts, and will be completely phased in by September 2000. The name of the new joint diploma is the British Columbia Adult Graduation Program (known informally as the “adult Dogwood”). There are three other objectives :
The ABEPQF lists 15 components of a quality ABE program with indicators to describe each of those components. The ABEPQF was piloted in the fall of 1999 as a program review tool in the Camosun (Greater Victoria) and the East Kootenay regions, and involved the college and school districts in each region. As well, meetings of college and school district instructors and administrators were held in each of these two regions. The pilot regions found that the Framework provided a guide for developing program evaluation tools and for setting program goals and priorities. The regions validated the document as a framework rather than as a specific evaluation tool. The ABE Accountability Framework will be used to guide government data collection in specific ABE surveys. Joint Regional Planning and innovative grants to support that process are being implemented in the 15 college regions this spring. For more information on the ABE
Transitions Project, contact:
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