November is an awesome month with many great things happening!

Thanks to the NSPGI sponsors who make these scholarship and bursaries possible, five adult learners will receive financial supports which helps to reduce the financial stress of returning to school. For some, it gives them the extra needed to pay bills, take care of their families, and to grab breakfast and lunch during their school day - all of which are important contributors to their learning success. Even still, we were only able to support a quarter of the eligible applications, which mean others will continue to struggle as they work hard to achieve their goals. Contact us if you want to support a learner.

Next week is Literacy Action Week (LAW) in Nova Scotia! This is an initiative started by Literacy Nova Scotia in the 90's and continues to be a time when individuals and organizations focus on spreading the word about the importance of literacy. Many learning organizations hold open houses during this week. We encourage everyone to jump on board our social media campaign as well. Tell us what you will be doing. We may be able to support your activity. LAW 2016 was a huge success last year with many sharing pictures on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Here’s some of the pics.

Hearing firsthand from adult learners is very inspiring and motivating for others who could benefit from improving their skills. Literacy Nova Scotia promotes these stories through the Learning Beacon. We will be launching our next edition next week which features videos and written stories by learner spokespersons. We also publish online ebooklets which include submissions to our Adult Learners' Week contest. To assist learners in writing their stories, we offer 6 writing workshops around the province with Jenni Blackmore. We’ve already held one and are on the road during November.

We are pleased to announce that Department of Labour and Advanced Education have provided funding to develop an Instructor Website. We have contracted with a web developer who will be outlining available features for such a website/database and gathering input from practitioners during the PD Conference on November 17 - 18. We’ve provided many networking opportunities for practitioners during the conference. Come prepared to share your best practices with your colleagues.

Please note: Bring your registration confirmation when you register at the conference on November 17th as it will indicate which days and meals you have registered for. If you do not have it, you are not registered! Ensure your name is on the registration list, which will be on our website soon. We’ve heard from a couple of people who thought they registered but they have not. Avoid disappointment and check the list! Deadline for registration is November 8th.

We held the 2nd Fashion Show for Literacy at Holiday Inn Truro on October 30th. Local businesses supported through the donation of prizes, individuals volunteered their time as models, Irene Gunn and Leah Palmer provided make-up, and Marj Hatherly dressed the models in consignment fashions.

My colleague, Amanda Beazley, Executive Director of PEI Literacy Alliance and I presented to the FINA, Standing Committee on Finance on October 17th in Charlottetown. This was a follow-up to a written submission the Atlantic Partnership for Literacy and Essential Skills had made in August. The partnership includes the Literacy Coalition of New Brunswick with an open position for a representative from Newfoundland and Labrador.
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I want to remind you of the opportunity to use the wide distribution of our eNews – LNS members can send in information about their programs, best practices, job postings, events, etc. The deadline to receive information is the last Friday of the month. LNS eNews comes out the first Wednesday of every month. If you aren’t currently an LNS member, it’s easy to join!