The Vancouver Foundation has contributed $120,000 to support an aboriginal-focused adult basic education (ABE) program at Kwantlen Polytechnic University.
The program, which will be developed and implemented through a partnership between Phoenix Drug and Alcohol Recovery and Education Society and Kwantlen will begin intake this September.
The Phoenix Kwantlen Learning Centre (PKLC) is a unique adult literacy program designed to reach marginalized and multi-barrier learners. Operating for several years through an innovative partnership between Phoenix Drug and Alcohol Recovery and Education Society and Kwantlen, PKLC is able to engage and assist learners by virtue of its location within a special integrated addiction services environment created in the Phoenix Centre in the Whalley area of Surrey.
According to recent statistics, Surrey has the largest aboriginal population of any other city in B.C.
With funding from Vancouver Foundation, PKLC will develop an evening educational program to support the upgrading of literacy and numeracy skills through curricula based on aboriginal content, concepts, history, spirituality and elders’ teachings.