Literacy and Essential Skills Development in Inuit Nunangat: creating successful community partnerships to maximize impact - Mélanie Valcin & Krystyna Slawecki

(Northwest Territories and Nunatsiavut) in 1958. After a break in programming, Frontier College started collaborating with communities of Inuit Nunangat again in 2013 to support the literacy skills development efforts across the 4 territories. The goal was simple: to develop innovative literacy programming that respects the identity, diversity and aspirations of participating communities while leading to tangible literacy skills improvement for children, youth and adults.

In response to different needs expressed by communities, workplaces and local governments, four literacy program models were slowly developed over a period of 5 years in various regions/communities of Inuit Nunangat: Summer Literacy Camps in 25 communities, Math and Literacy Tutor program in 10 communities, a Literacy and Essential Skills for the Building Trades in one community and Community Literacy Catalyst projects in 2 communities. There are a few key elements that are at the core of the success of these programs: extensive literacy needs assessments conducted with elders/leaders/community members, hiring and training of local staff, adapting to specific needs and contexts and building strong community partnerships. These programs are all still in operations today.

During the presentation, the impact of these projects as well as key learnings and best practices regarding successful community partnerships around literacy skills developments projects will be presented.