The Kimberley Daily Bulletin is supporting Literacy today by hitting the streets to Reach a Reader.

Literacy is supported year round in Kimberley by CBAL Kimberley Literacy. CBAL is the Columbia Basin Alliance for Literacy, a Columbia Basin-wide non-profit organization that acts as the leader, catalyst, coordinator, delivery partner and administrator of literacy programs and services.

Their mandate is to support literacy programs and services, assist communities to build literacy support and facilitate further community collaborations and development.

Simply defined, literacy means having the ability to understand and use printed information in daily activities, at home, at work and in the community

However, as Kimberley Literacy Coordinator Kim Roberts explains, there are several levels of literacy, from being able to read and understand complicated text, to being able to read a label at a supermarket.

"Literacy is not about whether one can read, but how well one reads," Roberts said. "It's a foundational skill upon which other skills depend. Literacy means communication for participation."

Literacy skills domains include prose and document reading, numeracy and problem-solving.

Statistics show that 37 per cent of British Columbians are at Level 3, a grade 8 to 10 skill.

About 40 per cent of adults (35 per cent of working age people) do not have the literacy skills today's world demands.

"This means that over 1,000,000 working-age British Columbians have difficulty with such tasks as reading safety information or recipes, Identifying the correct amount of medicine to administer or writing a résumé," Roberts said.

Roberts says that the latest research coming out shows that literacy is a key indicator of overall health.

"That's what researches are saying now. In the future, as we look to keep health care costs down, supporting literacy will be a big part of that."

Kimberley Literacy as an organization has been around since the 1990's. But it became a non-profit and joined with the West Kootenays to create CBAL ten years ago.

CBAL Kimberley Literacy offers programs suited to every age, from babies at the Baby Goose sessions to adult literacy programs. It is in all grades at Kimberley schools with One to One reading in elementary schools to the Selkirk Book Club. It offers computer literacy programs for seniors and ESL courses. CBAL Kimberley Literacy also runs the Strong Start and other early learning programs out of the basement of the former Blarchmont School building. And there is the annual charity golf tournament as well as various other literacy events.

"Everything we do is in partnership," Roberts said. "We have so much good support. School District 6 is amazing. We have our early learning centre at the Blarchmont School building, which is managed by the North Star Dream Team. Our library is amazing. We have our Community Literacy Committee which many groups partner on. We are very lucky in Kimberley that so many people want to work together."

Kimberley Literacy is making a difference.

"People in the programs have increased their literacy skills," Roberts said. "More families are attending program. There are more referrals from community agencies, there is an increased interest and a broader understanding of what "literacy" means and the impact it has on people's lives. There are more community partners working together to offer services and programs.

"Literacy is being seen as part of the solution in the areas of health, education, jobs, economic growth. There is an increased recognition of the value of both informal and formal learning opportunities."