Access to literacy programs across the province including Prince George received a boost.

Over $2.4 million dollars will be shared among 94 community adult literacy programs including the Native Friendship Centre that runs the Literacy Circle Indigenous Program.

Alison Anderson is the Dean of School University Studies and Career Access at the College of New Caledonia who spoke with MyPGNow.com.

“The one at the friendship centre focuses on literacy for people who might struggle with language or have had barriers to learning so this is a really important step for the community to grow literacy skills.”

Anderson adds we often forget about adults that do struggle with literacy as over 700-thousand BC residents have significant literacy challenges.

Fifty-two percent of adults in the province also struggle with certain daily living tasks due to limited numeracy skills.

“We actually know from our demographics that a significant number of adults do in fact struggle with basic literacy and we just make the assumption that everybody has a basic literacy level and it’s very important when bringing high self-esteem and communication for people.”

“Yes, we do forget about adults and programs like this allow people to become more confident to deal with stress and time with the simple things literacy can allow them.”

Forty-five percent of adults in BC have some difficulty with daily tasks due to limited literacy skills, which could include difficulty understanding newspapers, reading health information and following instruction manuals.

Anderson adds while the financial aid may not seem like much on the surface, she is appreciative the government is tackling the issue slowly but surely.

“Any money we can get for literacy is very, very important. It is a forgotten thing for a lot of people and it’s not really on a lot of people’s radar and that amount of money, although small, is really helpful to our participants.”