Province gives $500K to Raise-aReader
Donation caps off another strong literacy campaign
The Vancouver Sun’s annual Raisea-Reader literacy campaign officially winds up Friday with news of continued provincial funding to keep instilling the love of reading in British Columbians of all ages.
“It’s really about helping young kids appreciate reading and about bonding with their parents,” said B.C. Education Minister Rob Fleming.
Fleming announced on Friday the province would invest $500,000 to the campaign to enable the main providers of literacy programs to continue delivering them across the province.
Fleming recently visited Zeballos, an isolated village of 109 people on the northwest coast of Vancouver Island that’s accessible by driving 40 kilometres down a gravel road, and was pleased to see it had a literacy outreach program thanks to the funds raised through Raise-a-Reader.
“It’s really important in the smaller communities that don’t have their own fundraising,” Fleming said.
Literacy skills are “so important in terms of developing critical thinking and communication skills that will help young people become successful in school and beyond,” said Fleming, who said his own love of reading began with favourites like Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak, and anything by Dr. Seuss and Richard Scarry.
He also read the fairy tales of Hans Christian Andersen, something he as a parent has read to his own children.
Fleming, whose present literary tastes include biographies, usually of political figures, has recently read FDR and his Enemies, by Albert Fried, and also John le Carre’s latest thriller, A Legacy of Spies.
The provincial investment brings to $7.4 million the total the B.C. government has offered to Raise-a-Reader since its launch in 1997 to support literacy programs through libraries, Indigenous organizations, schools, family resource centres and community literacy groups. The funds are co-ordinated through Decoda Literacy Solutions, the only provincewide literacy organization in B.C.
“The B.C. government’s ongoing support for literacy and learning makes a profound difference for children and families,” said Decoda program manager of community and literacy development, Margaret Sutherland.
She said last year 67,741 children and their caregivers attended family literacy programs supported by Raise-a-Reader.
Those programs included the Columbia Basin Alliance for Literacy’s Come Read With Me Program in Nelson, a two-hour workshop for parents to learn strategies to support their child’s early reading skills; North Coast Literacy Now’s Celebrating Literacy Event in Prince Rupert, which each year brings together representatives of local educational Indigenous and child-care groups to offer community and school readings, storytelling sessions and children’s art workshops; and Your Literacy Connection Westshore’s Books for Breakfast and Literacy for Lunch Programs on the west shore of Vancouver Island, monthly programs featuring music, storytime, play-based activities, a snack and a children’s book to take home.
The 2018 Raise-a-Reader campaign included stories in The Vancouver Sun’s print and online editions to highlight some of the programs it has funded.
Last year, Raise-a-Reader funds were used to host 5,452 literacy sessions, attended by 67,741 people, five times the number of attendees than in 2016.
“Supporting early literacy programs is an investment in the future, helping young children develop essential skills that have a lifelong impact on their quality of life, health and well being,” said Christina de Castell, chief librarian at the Vancouver Public Library.
“Thanks to ongoing funding from The Vancouver Sun Raisea-Reader campaign, VPL has
It’s really about helping young kids appreciate reading and about bonding with their parents.
been able to provide vital literacy programs — like VPL’s Man in the Moon and Mother Goose — to children and their caregivers,” she said.
“This means that we are able to help more families ensure that children are ready to succeed in an increasingly complicated and information-driven world.
“We are thrilled that the provincial government recognizes the importance of supporting family literacy in British Columbia,” said Jean Rasmussen, executive director of the Canucks Family Education Centre.
“The centre is proud to serve over 500 individuals each year and annual government funding like this allows us to continue offering our barrier-free programs,” she said.