Certainly it's been our model of working for many years. But I think it's also where literacy issues are first identified. I have a story from Winnipeg, where the women were coming in for their food basket, and they were changing the system by which they had to apply. They had to fill out a form and phone it in. There was a great kerfuffle when we were there handing out information, talking to the women; they were going to come on Thursday, when the class was starting. What we realized is that the great kerfuffle was that these women couldn't fill out the applications to renew their food bank access. So of course we took that form as part of our course work and that tutorial session later in the week.
Over and over, that's where people are identifying their own low literacy issues, and community agencies have an opportunity. So why aren't there more programs in which families are accessing their basic needs for food and also having classes where their children can read better and get homework help and they can develop workplace literacy as well, so that people can come in and learn to read and write better?
There are so many barriers to saying or identifying that you have a low literacy issue. These people will get into the second career program in Ontario, but first they need to feel comfortable about where they access literacy programming. It's probably in their community. They're not going to walk through a door that says “I have low literacy skills”, but they will walk through a door that perhaps provides support for their child with their reading or homework, and then the adults might feel more at home in accessing that kind of help as well.