Project Overview

Winnipeg Volunteer Reading Aides’ Parent Literacy Outreach and Support Project offered parents or caregivers with low-level literacy skills an opportunity to meet on a weekly basis with other parents, and a chance to work individually with a tutor to improve literacy skills and gain confidence in their own ability to learn. Classwork consisted of working on the basic literacy and numeracy skills required for effective parenting while also focusing on social skills development (respecting the rights and property of others, taking turns, not interrupting, appropriate behavior in public, etc.). All activities were developed with these goals in mind.

Most of our participants were Aboriginal or Métis. The majority lived in the core area; but others came from distant parts of the city. We believe this willingness to travel in order to attend is due to our program’s acceptance of very low-level learners. We had 13 participants enrolled, and participation was on a continual intake basis.

Projects Objectives

We identified four primary objectives:

to reach out to level 1 or low-level 2 parents and caregivers, especially core area Aboriginal single parents

to conduct in-depth assessments to determine such things as past educational history, areas of strength and weakness, and existence of learning disabilities