Blog Post

LLSC’s 2021 Year in Review

Melanie Connell • Jan 12, 2022

As we enter the new year, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on some of the things Literacy Link South Central (LLSC) accomplished in 2021.


Projects


Pathways into a Child Care and Early Years Career

The London/Middlesex area is in need of more professional Registered Early Childhood Educators (RECEs) and leaders in this field. In an effort to help solve this problem, LLSC is proud to be supporting the Pathways into a Child Care and Early Years Career program. This free program helps job seekers prepare for a career in child care, and its sister program Organizational Leadership in Early Childhood Education supports existing RECEs as they prepare for leadership roles. Both programs are available in English and French.

This project is ongoing. Learn more about it here.


Community Tech Connect

The Community Tech Connect program aims to build the confidence of digitally disengaged members of the community so they can participate in an online environment through fully accessible digital literacy training. We are pleased to be working with 7 partners across the 5 counties we serve. This project started in 2019 and was extended in 2021. Learn more about it here.

This program is funded by the Government of Canada’s Digital Literacy Exchange Program.


Ontario Works Digital Literacy Program

LLSC was fortunate to work with Ontario Works (OW) and Fanshawe College to offer OW clients digital literacy training to support both life stabilization and employment. Several cohorts successfully completed the training, and participants received a free laptop upon program completion. We hope to be able to start this program back up again this year when COVID-19 restrictions are lifted.

 

Job Creation Partnerships


LLSC sponsored two Job Creation Partnerships this year!

The Ontario Job Creation Partnership (JCP) program provides funding to employers that support projects that are distinct from the organization’s normal day-to-day operations while creating opportunities for eligible job seekers to gain meaningful work experience.


Pandemic Planning Manual

The purpose of this project was to create a well-researched, valuable, and easy-to-use Pandemic Planning Manual for community-based non-profits. The team was comprised of 6 participants, and it ran from November 2020 – April 2021.

Read more about this project and access the manual here.


Digitization Project

The purpose of this project is to digitize and make traditional paper-based and electronic adult literacy materials available and accessible for practitioners and tutors across the province of Ontario to use in virtual teaching. The team is comprised of 10 participants who started in February 2021 and will finish this month (January 2022). A special thank you goes out to Carolina Cohoon from CNIB Deafblind Community Services, who was an invaluable asset as the project’s Consultant for Accessibility and Universal Design for Learning (UDL).

Read more about this project and access the resources here (there will be more added soon).

Thank you so much to Jeremy Marks for leading both of these projects, and to all of the wonderful participants. 


Celebrations


LLSC had two major milestones to celebrate this year!


Summer’s Council of the Federation Literacy Award

If you follow LLSC on social media, you will have seen that our staffer Summer Burton was the winner of the 17th annual Council of the Federation Literacy Award for Ontario! This award recognizes one individual from each of Canada’s provinces and territories for exceptional achievement, innovative practice, and excellence in literacy. Congratulations to Summer on this outstanding accomplishment!


Tamara Celebrates her 25th Anniversary with LLSC

Congratulations to LLSC’s fearless leader Tamara Kaattari on 25 amazing years of service as the Executive Director. Tamara is extremely dedicated to the field of Adult Literacy and has accomplished so much in her 25 years. We are so grateful to work with her and learn from her.

 

Thanks for reading!


We can’t wait to see what 2022 has in store.

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Skills for Success: Writing

By Summer Burton • 13 Jul, 2023
The Skills for Success are the nine skills the Canadian government has identified everyone needs to be successful in work, learning and life. Today we're continuing our look at the Skills for Success by talking about Writing . According to the Canadian government, writing is how we share information using written words, symbols, and images. For example, we use this skill to fill out forms and applications, and write emails, reports and social media posts. Learn more about writing and the other Skills for Success here , and think about the writing you do on an average day, from grocery lists to reminders to homework. If you'd like to build your reading, writing, creativity, problem solving, and other Skills for Success, Ontario's adult literacy programs offer free, individualized training that can help. Contact us to find a program in your area!

Skills for Success: Reading

By Summer Burton • 30 Jun, 2023
The Skills for Success are the nine skills the Canadian government has identified everyone needs to be successful in work, learning and life. Today we're continuing our look at the Skills for Success by talking about Reading . According to the Canadian government, reading skills are important so we can find, understand, and use information presented through words, symbols, and images. For example, we use this skill to locate information on forms and drawings, and to read items such as emails, reports, news articles, blog posts and instructions. Strong reading skills allow you to do your job and to work safely, and efficiently. Reading is also important in day-to-day activities, like understanding the instructions on medication bottles and interpreting weather advisories. Learn more about reading and the other Skills for Success here , and think about the different kinds of reading you do every day, including reading this blog! Did you know that adult literacy programs offer free, individualized training that can help you build all of your Skills for Success, including reading? Contact us to find a program in your area!

The LLSC team is growing!

By Summer Burton • 15 Jun, 2023
The team at Literacy Link South Central (LLSC) has been growing over the past several months. Have you met our new staff and contract team? Please join us in welcoming: Project Manager Carolina Cohoon Carolina joins LLSC bringing years of experience in the fields of education and rehabilitation. Formerly with CNIB Deafblind Community Services, she is an advocate for inclusion and accessibility. We look forward to Carolina bringing her years of experience in public education, developing unique and inclusive programs, and project management to the team! Carolina will be supporting LLSC with a focus on our Skills for Success initiatives - please reach out to Carolina at carolina@llsc.on.ca . Project Manager Jan Gourley Jan brings her professional background in technical support, customer care, business management, operation and Early Childhood Education to LLSC. Jan is a trained Roots of Empathy instructor, MindUp curriculum educator, and Registered Early Childhood Educator who will be supporting LLSC with a focus on our Pathways into a Child Care and Early Years Career project. Please contact Jan at jan@llsc.on.ca . Program and Partnership Developer Rick Townend Rick joins LLSC with extensive experience in education serving school boards and post-secondary institutions across Ontario, most recently as an Academic Advisor and Consultant at Fanshawe College’s School of Access Studies. Rick truly demonstrates a passion for helping people achieve their goals, and his energy, vision and partnership development skills will be a great addition to our team! Please reach out to Rick at rick@llsc.on.ca . Marketing and Communications Specialist Sherry Lippincott Sherry brings years of content development, graphic design, social media management, marketing, and documentation experience to LLSC. She has a passion for producing quality communications, editing copy, and thinking of new ways to express ideas and concepts. Sherry will be supporting all of LLSC's projects, and will take a lead on our social media, marketing, and promotional initiatives. Please contact Sherry at sherry@llsc.on.ca . We are excited that our team is continuing to grow, and look forward to working with these excellent staff members in the year ahead! 

Skills for Success: Problem Solving

By Summer Burton • 12 Jun, 2023
The Skills for Success are the nine skills the Canadian government has identified everyone needs to be successful in work, learning and life. Today we're look at another one of the Skills for Success: Problem Solving . According to the Canadian government, we use identify and think about a problem, come up with solutions, and make decisions. Problem solving helps you to address issues, monitor success, and learn from the experience. For example, we use this skill to decide what tool we need for a job, how to fix things that aren't working, and how to get through a conflict with another person. Learn more about problem solving and the other Skills for Success here , and think about all of the problems you've solved recently. If you still have problems you'd like to solve, or you'd like to build your writing, digital, math, creativity, reading, and other Skills for Success, Ontario's adult literacy programs offer free, individualized training that can help. Contact us to find a program in your area!
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