"One of the key factors in winning the award is that we started from nothing and gradually built the council," says Leah Penney, chairperson. "The judge said this went a long way for us."
The White Hills Council was founded in 1993, the same year the first Flight for Freedom Awards were presented.
"It's a huge achievement for just three years," says Ms. Penney. "The award shows what volunteers can do when they put their minds to it.
Gander's Clane Moss was among five other Canadians to receive individual awards. Mr. Moss was presented with the Individual Achievement Award, sponsored by The Financial Post
Mr. Moss, who never read a book until he was 22, received the award for his dedication to literacy. After finishing the Laubach Literacy Program, he became a trained tutor and then took English Second Language training. He has done numerous workshops and round tables in Newfoundland and around the country to help others learn.
Clane, who is humble when discussing his achievements, credited his success to the support of his literacy workers and his employer, the Town of Gander.
In all, 13 awards were presented during this year's ceremony.
"Canada Post Corporation and its partners are proud to bring Canada the Flight for Freedom Awards each year,' says Helen Mrakovics, Manager, Public Relations. "This is the foremost literacy award program in the country, and keeps the importance of literacy alive in the minds of Canadians from coast to coast. This awareness is more and more important, especially when you consider that more than 40 per cent of Canadian adults are considered functionally illiterate even as we come to the close of the 20th Century."
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concurrent institutes, Mildred Minty,
Education and Training Specialist with the Regional Economic Development
Board, discussed The Challenges of Education and Training in Economic
zones: Creative/ Innovative Approaches and,Solutions to Communal
Problems. Dr. William Fagan, professor with Memorial University and
Chairperson of the Literacy Development Council, spoke about a new
program he has developed entitled A Basic Culture-Critical (ABCC)
Literacy Program: A New Approach to Developing Critical Readers and
Writers. Dr. Dennis Domack of the University of Wisconsin spoke on
Creating Vision for Your Community: More on the Art of Community
Development.
The conference also featured 12 concurrent sessions as well two business sessions. Most of these sessions were based on feedback from the association's members and from its five focus streams. These streams include literacy community education and community development, business, professional development,and post secondary and continuing education.
The NLAAE also held its election of officers. Elected to the board were: Roberta Yetman, president; Bruce Gilbert, vice-president; Dr. William Fagan, secretary; and Jim Davis, treasurer. Four members were elected to a two-year term and four others were elected to a one-year term.
During the conference, the association adopted a new mandate which focuses on awareness.
"This is to let the public know that adult education is much more than just post secondary education or community development," says Ms. Yetman. "A lot of people have the misconception that adult education is formalized, but it's not. They have the misconception that it's basic education, but it's not necessarily just that. Our focus for the last few years has been mostly on community development so a lot of people have the misunderstanding that adult education and our association revolve only on community development, and that's not the case."
Awards
Four awards were given out during the conference. The Shirley Hickey A literacy Achievement Award was presented to Ed Oldford for his work in the central-eastern region. Mark Nui from Davis Inlet was presented with the Jack Courage Community Education Achievement Award for his work in the community's drug and alcohol abuse program.
Human Resources Development Canada was also honoured for its work with the Innovative Programme Award. Representative Bob O'Neil accepted the award for HRDC's Improving Our Odds program. The Communities for Survival Project was also acknowledged for its work in community development. Tom Hutchings accepted the Don Snowden Community Development Achievement Award.
Although the conference was very informative, Ms. Yetman expressed disappointment with the low turnout. "I was quite disappointed because our pre-registration indicated there was going to be a lot more people than what actually showed up," she says. "Several people said they couldn't come because of the college's restructuring meetings which took place on Thursday and Friday. There were indications from others who said that funding and budgets were not there. This was indicated by quite a number of people."
Ms. Yetman says this could be a problem for future conferences and that the matter will be addressed by the board. Next year's conference will be held in St. John's.
