In Williams Lake, the end of the school day is only the beginning for children in an after-school program, Fostering Literacy.

The Fostering Literacy program brings elementary students together with paid secondary school tutors, families and educators in a model built around confidence, belonging and the belief that children need support at the moment they need it. Now, after years of helping learners find their footing, the program is unlikely to run next year.

Funding has declined, a major community partner can no longer contribute, and staff capacity is stretched. For Carla Bullinger, who has worked in literacy for more than thirty years, the loss will be visceral for the children served. Each year, 14 elementary students and 7 secondary school tutors take part, along with the families connected to them.

At the end of the school day, the teenage tutors walk a few blocks to meet the younger children they are paired with, then continue together to Cariboo Chilcotin Partners for Literacy. The tutors ask about the child’s day, listen, talk and begin building the relationship that carries into the reading session ahead. By the time they arrive, the child has been seen, heard and welcomed.

Each student brings a book bag filled with books they can almost read independently and others they have chosen for their mentor to read aloud. Together they work on reading, comprehension and vocabulary, while stories open conversations about ideas and experiences the children might not otherwise encounter.

The teenagers are learners too. They receive training, employment support and financial literacy workshops on reading a paycheque, understanding deductions, communicating clearly and taking responsibility for a job. Some discover an interest in working with children. Others gain confidence knowing a younger person is counting on them.

Families are part of the work as well. Parents arrive a few minutes early, sit with the tutor and their child, play a game and hear what happened during the session. Those conversations keep families connected through every reading session and give them practical ways to support their children at home.

Bullinger says the work is grounded in the Circle of Courage, a model centred on belonging, mastery, independence and generosity. For her, belonging comes first. Children learn when they feel connected, trust the people around them and begin to believe they belong in the room.

That belief changes how a child sees themselves as a learner, and behind that change is a network of literacy support reaching communities across British Columbia.

Decoda Literacy Solutions helped make that local model possible. As B.C.’s provincial literacy organization, Decoda supports Literacy Outreach Coordinators with funding, resources, training and connections, giving communities room to design programs around the people they know and the needs they see.

That flexibility allowed Williams Lake schools, teachers, families and literacy workers to shape Fostering Literacy around their own community.

The need has not disappeared because the funding has. Bullinger continues to hear from families searching for affordable help, while private tutoring remains out of reach for many.

Children who struggle do not have the luxury of waiting until support becomes easier to fund. They need it while confidence is still taking shape, while reading still feels possible, while one encouraging relationship can change how they see themselves.

Fostering Literacy gave children that chance while giving teenagers room to lead, work, listen and discover what they were capable of giving someone else.

That is what stands to be lost along with a tutoring program: a place where a child’s next chapter often began with someone simply showing up for them.

Your Gift. Their Next Chapter.

Your support helps community literacy programs across B.C. give children, youth and families the skills, confidence, connection and opportunities they need when they need them most.