National Adult Literacy Database

The research suggests not only that parents’ participation plays a key role in shaping child development, but that disadvantaged parents face more barriers in engaging in these practices. Complementary research shows that parents’ socioeconomic circumstances and educational attainment levels have a direct effect on children’s outcomes.

Volunteer work can be a great way to increase your professional skills, try out a new career or simply take a break from the pressures of your current job and enjoy a different type of activity.

The Board of Directors and staff of the former Ontario Literacy Coalition have announced they have officially become Essential Skills Ontario. "This new name and brand allows us to expand the reach of the organization and better achieve our mission of inspiring and leading the development of literacy and essential skills solutions through excellence in collaboration, research and innovation," said Lesley Brown, Executive Director.

Stacy Parker, executive vice-president of Randstad Canada, says job seekers should resist the temptation to take the summer off from job searching. "The summer season can be a prime hiring time for some employers. Many projects gear up in the fall, and employers want new people in place."

Landing a co-op job while still in school can provide you with excellent experience and be a valuable stepping stone towards your future career.

As summer begins, parents are left looking for new ways to keep their children entertained. With this in mind, Caryn Antonini, founder of the Early Lingo DVD series for children and a young mother, offers five summer activity tips for parents that not only keep children entertained but also engaged and learning.

"This boost in the engineering and construction sector renders an undeniable need for experienced and talented professionals to power up the industry," says Mike Winterfield, president of Randstad Professionals. "But as the sector surges, skilled workers will become harder to find."

Following two months of large gains, employment was unchanged in May, and the unemployment rate remained at 7.3 per cent.

Both sides pledge to work together to promote mutually beneficial job training, energy production and economic development. Yukon College and the University of Alaska will continue their partnership in developing a shared underground and surface mine training program that meets industry standards in both Canada and the U.S.

For a small, northern literacy organization, the NWT Literacy Council has an unexpectedly wide reach. The resources it produces to help literacy workers do their jobs are in demand across Canada and internationally. Many of the resources are among the documents most downloaded from the online library of the National Adult Literacy Database (NALD).

Thirty-seven per cent of executives indicated their organization has activities such as a company picnic or potluck, and 35 per cent relax their dress code during the summer months.

Social and Enterprise Development Innovations (SEDI) has announced the 15 community organizations that have been awarded a total of $999,267 from the TD Financial Literacy Grant Fund to support financial literacy projects.

The Canadian Urban Libraries Council (CULC), a coalition of Canada's large public libraries, along with many U.S. public libraries such as the New York Public Library, are putting forth their demands for changes to the way e-book content is purchased and delivered, in order to improve access for customers.

Each month NALD releases Library user statistics in a feature known as the Top 20 downloads. The report examines the number of NALD Library documents, in both English and French, which are viewed and downloaded by visitors to the websites NALD and BDAA.

Canada's Building Trade Unions and the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) have announced a joint agreement to advance long-term competitiveness of the oil sands industry, with particular focus on developing a stronger skilled trades workforce.