A group of provincial politicians are converging on the city tonight, gathering feedback on the 2015 budget.
The select standing committee on finance and government services, which is chaired by Penticton MLA Dan Ashton and counts Prince George-Mackenzie rep Mike Morris among its 10 members, will hear local delegations at the Ramada's Cranbrook Centre room between 4 and 8 p.m.
Among those making their case to the panel will be Helen Domshy, the literacy outreach co-ordinator for Literacy Prince George.
At 5:30 p.m., Domshy hopes to have a contingent of supporters alongside her as she lays out just what makes literacy - and subsequently funding for her position - so important.
Literacy is more than just knowing how to read, said Domshy.
"That's your basis of literacy, reading and writing," she said. "But nowadays literacy is just not that defined."
Among the programs Literacy Prince George delivered last year included initiatives aimed at fostering attachment between parents and their children through oral rhymes and songs; tracking potential vision problems through reading instruction; preparing parents/caregivers and children for kindergarten; providing tutoring for children with learning difficulties; teaching adults about using plain and clear language and document design; and dealing with emotional and health literacy.
"It means so many more things now. It almost means your whole life," Domshy said, noting she's taken courses on things from cooking to computers as an adult. "You've got to keep learning. If you equate literacy with learning and life, they go together and they can't be broken."
Domshy's work as co-ordinator is funded through the Ministry of Education by way of Decoda Literacy Solutions, a non-profit literacy organization that supports a network of community groups across the province.
In 2012, Domshy came before the same committee to advocate for Decoda's funding to be reinstated to previous levels. And while they ultimately agreed with her, and recommended the province fund Decoda to the tune of $2.5 million, the 2013 budget only contained $1 million. That meant Domshy's own budget was slashed from about $30,000 to $13,000.
The backlash that followed provincewide boosted the money Decoda received from the ministry to $2 million, and Domshy's co-ordinator budget to $26,000.
The "hue and cry," as Domshy characterized the fallout, also sparked the generosity of an anonymous local donor who handed over $20,000 to help fund children's programming through Literacy Prince George.
"I still haven't gotten over it," Domshy said of the donation. "I was floored. Really floored."
The Prince George resident, who didn't want to be named, is helping to fill the implementation gap that Domshy said has existed for years.
The money Literacy Prince George receives from Decoda is for the co-ordination, not for the actual program delivery.
Those funds are typically grants through drives such as Raise A Reader. Last year the Prince George program was also one of the recipients of money through the Forrest Legacy Foundation.
But without the co-ordination piece, to which Domshy said she "officially" devotes 75 hours per month, many of those programs would be underutilized and there are potential connections that would never be made.
"We have in Prince George a lot of different services," said Domshy. "There are so many silos of information."
Literacy Prince George facilitators also handle shrinking budgets by creating and delivering programs themselves, doing everything from creating workbooks instead of purchasing resources and leading courses instead of bringing in costly instructors. Domshy said she also frees up some of her budget to help reduce or eliminate registration fees for those who require financial assistance to participate.
Domshy said she also wants to impress upon the committee that having to come back and do this every year is a waste of everyone's time.
"I want them to recommend the same thing this year," she said. "I want to impress on them how important this is and that we should have to fight for it every year and waste time."
