SANDRA M STANWAY
Brooks Bulletin
After 40 years the Newell Adult Education Centre continues to offer programs to keep minds active while helping people to make their way in the workforce.
Last month the education centre held its annual general meeting to highlight some of the changes and successes from the past year.
The focus of the centre is literacy and foundational learning which is made up of basic literacy, including English as a Second Language, numeracy and transferable skills while its goal is to provide a workspace where staff can deliver, literacy and foundational learning to members of the community.
Board chair Kelly Christman said the Newell Education Centre serves residents in the county and is similar to Brooks Community Adult Learning Centre which supports city students.
One of the main changes is that the sub-office in Duchess closed in September but the main office remains open in Bassano.
“We just wanted to try it to see if it would increase traffic. We found that it wasn’t worth having two offices. The volunteers are across the county,” said Christman.
The centre is made up of a seven member volunteer board which focuses on governance and results, two trained managers, one for literacy and one for programs who supervise the volunteers and the volunteers who are paired with students throughout the county.
Over the past couple of years the operation numbers have continued to increase and as of June 30 there were learners between the ages of 18 and 55.
Adults who are interested can register for basic literacy, numeracy, digital and transferable skills. There are courses for PAL certification (Possession and Acquisition Licence) as well as human interest courses such as stain glass window making as well as cooking classes which have included perogies.
“They do those courses as well to invite and to encourage and to meet people that may need basic literacy or for fun,” said Christman.
