After 44 years of serving the community, the Bonnyville Community Learning Council (BCLC) is exploring their options, following the province’s decision to deny them funding through Alberta Advanced Education’s Community Adult Learning Fund.
Disappointing, heartbreaking, and disheartening were words used by the BCLC board to describe the news that their organization may be forced to dissolve after four decades in Bonnyville.
“To have to disband an organization that has been so successful is hurtful,” said Ina Smith, vice-chair of the board.
During their annual general meeting on Thursday, Sept. 27, the BCLC board decided to consider what’s next, now that they know provincial funding won’t be coming their way.
If the board had been notified sooner, they would have looked at alternative methods of funding, but according to Nicole Ferbey, former executive director for the BCLC, “it was too little too late.”
When the BCLC went to apply for funding for their next fiscal year, they were told their application simply didn’t cut it.
“I think the thing that’s extremely disappointing, is they aren’t being very transparent with the reason, other than just saying ‘your application wasn’t strong enough,’” expressed Smith. “We just feel like there’s something else behind it, but we don’t know what.”
“When I first heard about the BCLC not receiving Alberta funding, at first, I was alarmed and dismayed. It’s like a bull in a china shop. If we get this wrong, it’s real people who are going to be affected,” exclaimed Bonnyville-Cold Lake MLA Scott Cyr. “Adult literacy is just one of those things that we just can’t play with.”
According to Cyr, the BCLC approached him in July with their concerns that they may not be granted funding this year.
Cyr reached out to the province’s post-secondary ministry office, and put in some legwork on his end.
“They had said that they had gone to a new application process. I’m all-for making sure we make it easier for organizations to get funding,” he detailed, adding under the new grant method the province expanded their funding to a three-year model.
This was one of the reasons why the ministry went with a new application process.
“There was confusion around what was expected within the new application. It’s frustrating that they put forward an application, and didn’t really counsel organizations, like the BCLC, on how to fill it in properly. What ended up happening, is the Alberta government decided to reach out to different organizations within the Lakeland and see if there would be an interest for others to fulfill this mandate,” explained Cyr.
He added, in the end, it was decided that another organization would get the funding.
The BCLC provided additional learning opportunities for adults in Bonnyville for 44 years, and relied on the province’s dollars to operate.
Smith said they offered volunteer tutoring, and programs to enhance math, reading, and writing skills. The organization also held English as a Second Language courses, Spanish classes, and worked with other community groups to host events such as the Bonnyville Community Registration Night.
Family Literacy Night, Gardener’s Day, and the local Community Garden were just some of the projects the BCLC spearheaded.
“All of these things are in jeopardy, or someone else will have to take them over,” Smith noted.
She added, the operating funds the BCLC would normally receive have been granted to another organization within the area.
Board chair Chris McCord said she is aware of a Portage College program opening up in the Centennial Centre, but to what degree they will operate isn’t clear.
“I do believe there is going to be a gap, not so much with the foundational learning aspects of it, but more about the community engagement.”
Portage College confirmed they did receive funding from Alberta Advanced Education under the Community Adult Learning grant. The money is being used to host adult literacy-based programming in the area.
For the BCLC, their plans are still not concrete.
“There will be a transition. Potentially, a literacy society will be able to fill some of that gap,” McCord expressed.
The idea of transferring their resources, materials, assets, and funding to a Bonnyville and District Literacy Society was discussed, and seems to be the most viable option for the board, although they’re weary of the fact that a society runs solely on volunteers, while the BCLC utilized paid staff.
“Right now, we’re just trying to wrap-up the BCLC and figure out our next steps,” stressed Smith. “We’re thinking (a literacy society) might be an opportunity to take over some of the things, not the foundational learning, but some of the other things we did such as the community capacity building, organizing events, or literacy-based events.”
Smith, who has been a member of the BCLC board for 13 years, finds it hard to believe this is the end of the BCLC.
“I’m extremely disappointed. I think we’ve worked hard to provide quality services and have been a community that has been looked up to.”
She continues to hold the belief that the BCLC was “blindsided” by the government’s decision.
“I don’t think we were dealt with much transparency,” she expressed.
Any of their questions and invitations to Advanced Education went unanswered, leaving the board feeling left in the dark.
McCord noted, “It’s very disappointing. I think the most disappointing part of it, is we weren’t able to get an answer to our questions on why.”
Bonnyville Mayor Gene Sobolewski said there were “a number of issues that the province had identified.”
He added, while it’s sad to see the group shutter, he feels there are other plans in place that will ensure adult learning opportunities continue to be provided in the area.
