Literacy Link Niagara (LLN) participates in important research and community projects.  Members, Board and Staff are consulted to determine project priorities. 

For links to our current projects, please visit our Home page.

Project Ontario Works (POW)

Over the past decade, Literacy Link Niagara has operated an assessment and referral program for Ontario Works (OW) clients in the Niagara Region on a fee-for-service basis.  Other municipalities, literacy organizations and regional networks partner to better serve the literacy needs of Ontario Works clients across the province.  The result of these local relationships means that there aren’t consistent processes and procedures in place across the province.

This project wanted to address OW and literacy relationships that have developed in Ontario and ask

• how did these relationships develop?
• what were the challenges and what are the successes?

A goal of the project was to provide areas with limited partnerships with tangible evidence of how strong partnerships were developed (referrals, programming, supports, tools) as well as evidence of the partnerships’ successes.

This project also looked at the new population that is emerging within some OW caseloads – clients with strong histories of attachment to the labour market who have exhausted their EI and cannot find a place for their skill sets within the current economy.

Best Practices Guide

Final Report

Sensitive Language Tip Sheet

POW Quick-Screen

Skills Match Project

This project builds on remarkable information learned through the Niagara Workforce Planning Board’s (NWPB) Local Integrated Labour Market Planning process. 76% of Niagara businesses are small or medium sized (less than 10 employees). NWPB has identified clusters of declining industries and dominant jobs in these industries, and clusters of emerging growth industries and dominant jobs in those industries. Literacy Link has been working on identifying the Essential Skills Profiles of emerging dominant jobs. We would like to further research and develop the essential skills profiles of the declining jobs, and develop/compare them to those in the emerging jobs, to develop a skills matching system for employers hiring new staff and for laid-off workers trying to find new careers.  This new tool will allow people to find the best fit for their specific skills sets and needs.

Final Report

WESCan Project

We received news in late 2009 from PTP that we were one of five community organizations chosen from across the country to participate in a project that will share the knowledge and experience gained in delivering workforce literacy as well as the resources that comprise PTP's CAMERA system. WESCan, The Workforce Essential Skills across Canada project, will work with us to develop workforce literacy programming that is relevant and meaningful. To help effect this transition, PTP will train staff and provide on-going support. A workforce implementation guide will be produced for use by other
programs interested in developing literacy and essential skills programs for low-skilled learners or workers.

Easing Transitions/Supporting Transitions Project

In hopes of expanding our current information and referral to our EO partners that specialize in employment preparation, Literacy Link Niagara was been funded by MTCU to conduct some important research.

We wanted to better understand the literacy levels necessary to fully participate in the employment preparation programs offered. This knowledge will help ensure that literacy learners referred to employment programs will be appropriate and more likely to be successful. In the second phase of the project, we worked with partners to develop tools to help learners transition from LBS to Employment and vice versa.  The Links to Learning tool and pre-screen can be found at www.literacylinkniagara.ca/linkstolearning.htm

Easing Transitions Report

Supporting Transitions Report

Niagara Pathways Project

In October 2007, Literacy Link Niagara was funded to conduct research into the nature and best practices of partnerships between organizations in Niagara that support adult learning.Funding for the Niagara Pathways Project came from the Adult Education Policy Unit of the Ministry of Education, a unit dedicated to increasing access for adult students in Ontario. The Unit reports to the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, and also working closely with the Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration.The Niagara Pathways Project is one of 3 pilot projects, funded to understand the unique characteristics of adult learning partnerships in their distinct communities.  The other communities funded to do partnership research were Toronto and Timmins. 

Completion date for these pilot projects was June 30, 2008.Literacy Link Niagara is a not-for-profit charitable organization founded in 1992. Our values are Connection, Communication and Collaboration. Our core funder is the Ministry of Training Colleges and Universities. As a network organization with the mandate of planning and coordination of adult literacy programs in Niagara, Literacy Link was in a strong position to manage the project.