According to the International Adult Literacy & Skills Survey (IALSS), 42% of Canadian adults have literacy skills that are less than adequate for work and life in an information-based society. To illustrate what these values can mean, a person with a score at level 1 might be unable to determine the correct amount of medicine to give a child from the information printed on the directions and while an individual at level 2 may have developed ways to handle everyday literacy tasks, their skills still pose a barrier when they are faced with novel tasks. For more than 20 years, the Literacy Access Network (LAN) has been working to improve the lives of individuals facing literacy difficulties in Toronto and York Region by helping them get to literacy and academic upgrading programs in their area.

As part of their 1986 Plan for Adult Basic Literacy, the Ontario Government held that it was integral to “provide information to the public, including a literacy hotline service.” To fill this need for Toronto and surrounding areas, a committee of the Metro Toronto Movement for Literacy (MTML) was brought together and by 1989 LAN was up and running on funding from the provincial government.

Unlike the two other hotlines starting around the same time in Ottawa and Hamilton “there was a different vision for Toronto,” recalls John MacLaughlin, one of the two original staff members with LAN, “this would be information and referral, not just a hotline.” The intention was to go beyond simply providing the contact information of agencies delivering literacy training in the area and to reach out to community partners working with individuals facing literacy difficulties. This way, LAN would help strengthen the entire culture of literacy referrals across Toronto and surrounding areas.

“How would you get yourself to a literacy program?” was the question being asked, says Harold Alden, who initially came onboard as a member of the committee charged with starting LAN. The plan was that LAN would always be there for learners and as a support for other agencies working in the community—wherever that may be—in case they were unsure of which program to refer a learner to. Equipping these points of first contact with the information and tools to make a proper referral greatly increases the chance that the learner will get to where they need to go. In the early days this meant making available a printed directory with quarterly updates, but LAN has both grown and streamlined the service to offer an online interactive map and database of all the programs available. In addition to the LAN hotline, tools like these help keep the community informed and sensitive to literacy issues and help intermediaries make the best possible referrals.

When two Information and Referral Worker staff positions were posted for LAN, Harold stepped down from the committee so that he could apply to stay involved after the foundation had been laid. In January of 1989 he and John started work at their new jobs by physically setting up LAN. They had state-of-the-art computers (for 1989) to set-up, office furniture to assemble, information to gather, publications to prepare and a community to inform, but by April of that year the LAN’s phone lines were open and receiving calls.

Hard copies have given way to websites and voicemail has replaced magnetic tape, but the Literacy Access Network remains an information and referral service—not simply a telephone hotline. LAN continues to evolve in ways to better serve the community. Today a database is kept of all the referrals made through LAN and more recent rounds of posters have been developed with the City of Toronto. Soon, MTML will be launching a new socially focused website, complete with an intuitive and effective program map, where anyone interested in adult literacy can contribute and get involved. Working together with the community, the Metro Toronto Movement for Literacy’s members and staff continue to better help individuals navigate the myriad of programs and services available to adult learners in hopes that someday 42% of Canadian adults will be 0% of Canadian adults.

Casey is the Literacy Access Network Coordinator with MTML.