Part I
Four Years of Research and Counting!
by Nancy Friday-Cockburn

The Meeting Place and St. Christopher House Adult Literacy Program, located in downtown Toronto, are two of many programs of St. Christopher House, a settlement agency serving the area since 1912. Many Meeting Place members joined the adult literacy program and were matched with tutors. Often the partnerships were short-lived because other survival and more pressing issues meant that literacy instruction had to go on the back burner for awhile.

Analysis of this led staff to examining issues of access and question if the way the Adult Literacy program operated was in fact a barrier to access. It was clear that a drop-in style program was needed to match the reality of transience and change learners were experiencing. In 1995 Literacy and Homelessness: Delivering Literacy In An Adult Drop-In by Karen Farmer, was produced. Karen held a forum in Toronto which drew interested workers and drop-in members from the literacy, drop-in, social housing, mental health and shelter communities.

An active core of literacy and drop-in deliverers guided and delivered aspects of a research project in 95-96. Of great import is the fact that Advisory members represented the Anglophone, Francophone and First Nation sectors of literacy delivery, indicating that access to literacy for people experiencing transience and extreme social isolation crossed all sectors. The training sessions brought together literacy workers from across literacy programs delivering aspects of training, something that has been discussed as feasible in Toronto, but until then not practiced. Canadian research indicated that little has been written, that this is very much an emerging issue, and that many Canadian programs are attempting to create access and support for people who are on the move. Trends emerged that underlie transience and impact on our understanding of barriers to access. Gimme Shelter, by Betsy Trumpener, was produced from this in 1997. The report is only available online at http://www.nald.ca/lithome.htm

The feasibility phase of this project was funded and extended from November 1996 to April 1997. Surveys were undertaken across Canada to reveal the picture of literacy delivery to this population and to gather the database material needed to make visible this sector. 35 programs were identified and raw data was sent to NALD for database entry and access electronically. An electronic Conference through Alphacom was set up.

A further proposal to the National Literacy Secretariat (NLS) received support from the Toronto Street Education Coalition as well as from a youth-at-risk literacy project in Halifax, a literacy program within a large Drop-in Centre in Vancouver and from NALD. This project proposes to nurture the emerging voice of literacy programs serving transient people nationally through the creation of a newsletter that will make connections with anti-poverty, justice and homeless-serving agencies nationally. The project will research, in more depth, trends identified during the feasibility phase.

The Literacy and Homelessness Electronic Conference is open and can be accessed through http://alphacom.gbrownc.on.ca. Also, visit our Website at http://www.stchrishouse.org/

Part II
The Toronto Street Education Coalition
by Denyse Stewart, St. Christopher House, in collaboration with members of the TSEC Adult Literacy Program

At the end of 1996, members of the Literacy & Homelesseness Project’s advisory committee formed the Toronto Street Education Coalition (TSEC). Our goals are to share information, improve our practice and advocate for educational access for people who are homeless.

Beat The Street (BTS)
Programs and services for homeless people are inconsistent and unstable, with much of the work occurring in isolation. Government led initiatives meet the demands and needs of policy makers and tax payers, often dictating rigid or inefficient solutions. BTS works primarily with street youth in downtown Toronto, providing opportunities for literacy learning. More information on Beat the Street is available on their homepage at http://www.nald.ca/BTS.htm

The First Nations Adult Education Program (FNAEP)
The FNAEP was created to respond to the requests to develop a culture-based literacy program that met the needs of Aboriginal adult learners in Toronto. The FNAEP team has piloted various types of programs, invited partnerships, identified training needs, and obtained extra funding to bring in traditional teachers, other educators and elders to participate in training and evaluation sessions. It now includes several small group classes at community organizations such as The Native Women’ s Resource Centre, The Native Canadian Centre, The Meeting Place, and many others.

Other programs active in the Toronto area which are part of TSEC are :

Graffiti Jeunesse
Un centre de formation pour jeunes et adultes axé sur l’apprentissage en français de la lecture, l’écriture et le calcul de base dans le but d’informer, d’évaluer, d’orienter et de former les apprenants.es intéressés.es à poursuivre leurs études ou à se préparer à l’emploi.

Parkdale Activity and Recreation Centre
This is a day program that provides community support for psychiatric consumer-survivors, many of whom are homeless.

Regent Park Learning Centre
This is a literacy program that is part of a multi-service agency, Dixon Hall Neighbourhood Centre. It offers classes in literacy, numeracy and LINC English as a Second Language (level 5-6) classes.

The Street Haven Learning Centre
This is a basic education program which serves adult women who are homeless or socially isolated. The program offers a safe and supportive environment for women to learn new skills.

The Toronto Public Library (TPL)
TPL has a Literacy Service which tries to bring some of the Library’s resources to those with limited education and reading skills. One of the ways of doing this is through Deposit collections, or donations of discarded books to agencies like the Meeting Place Drop-In, that work with homeless people. In addition, the Library welcomes everyone to use their resources on-site.